[Tuike]

Author: James Lovelock
Title: The Vanishing Face of Gaia - A Final Warning

The book is about climate change. The author has made a theory that the Earth is a living being and calls her Gaia. The theory is not explained very throughly, the author uses a lot of pages defending his theory, as his theory as been criticized as madness or worse. The dangers of climate change have been explained briefly. He has commented the recent economic doom as the industrial production collapses, aerosols disappear from the air which reflect heat from the sun back to space and when aerosols are gone, climate change accelerates. We are damned whatever we do. He explains how electricity run everything in a big city like London and if power was cut off most of city inhabitants would die within a week. Therefore he promotes nuclear power. There are 162 pages of actual text, if you discount index and reference pages. The author concentrates mostly on UK matters, not World affairs. I liked more of al Gore's and Fred Pearce's Climate Change books, but if you want the most new info, then this is it as the book came out in February 2009.

[KevO]

Lovelock's new book 'The Vanishing Face of Gaia' is more doomer than the very worst peak oil die off predictions.
His science (now accepted by the wider scientific community) sees climate change being as catastrophic as global thermo nuclear war and he has published that is probably already too late and the world must prepare for huge migration with an estimated 100 million population for the UK within decades if not less!
The disappearance of Holland, Florida and many other places and London being un-inhabitable meaning 10 million Londoners moving to the rest of the UK mostly into the Home Counties and the South West.
He explains why the IPCC forecast is severely underestimating the sea level rise and its timing due to pressure from oil producing countries before the agreement was signed.
But he says we are damned either way because aerosol and vehicle pollution has created a film in the atmosphere that is keeping temperatures down by 2 to 3 degrees C. (Global dimming) and If we go to renewables and oil is stopped being burnt the warming would be massive and fast.
Now there's food for thought.
I cannot recommend this book enough regardless of your current standpoint on peak oil and climate change.
It has been called by Andrew Marr, the most important book for decades and it will probably scare you.
see reviews at link

[americandream]

The BOE has just called for more debt and consumerism (posted as a new forum item..The paradox of thrift). In a similar vein, Ken Fisher is calling for more US consumer debt (link attached):

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/ar ... bt,spy,dia,^gspc,udn,uup&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=

[aldente]

On Wikipedia it states that James Lovelock was born 1919.
Is he truly still among us, and if so , why would he be such a doomer?


Ranking on the Hawkins scale fell probably from the 400`s to the low 90's or so.

[americandream]

I don't see what his date of birth has anything to do with his ability to logically arrive at the conclusions he believes he has arrived at. Do you? Unless of course you believe he is senile in which case say so.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('aldente', 'O')n Wikipedia it states that James Lovelock was born 1919.
Is he truly still among us, and if so , why would he be such a doomer?


Ranking on the Hawkins scale fell probably from the 400`s to the low 90's or so.

[Arthur75]

And at the same time he is planning a "space trip" as a present from Branson because he wants "to see the earth from outside" (as if pictures were not sufficient and the same), and why going in a fucking shuttle at 90 or something.

Saw a couple of interviews, really not impressed by this guy, and he is not a climatologist, there is no "his science" about that.

[americandream]

This will not do. Where do you disagree with his quite reasonable Gaian view which I think is sufficiently convincing science? I need you to attack his ideas with something that turns me around to your view, not these meaninles and empty assertions. Why, I could argue that the Queen of England is a reptile by your style of debate.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', 'A')nd at the same time he is planning a "space trip" as a present from Branson because he wants "to see the earth from outside" (as if pictures were not sufficient and the same), and why going in a fucking shuttle at 90 or something.

Saw a couple of interviews, really not impressed by this guy, and he is not a climatologist, there is no "his science" about that.

[mos6507]

The guy is not senile. He's actually a very eloquent speaker, and surprisingly upbeat for someone predicting such doom and gloom. I mean, if I really felt the way he did, I'd be on a cocktail of depression meds and come across like Pink from Pink Floyd: The Wall. But then again, he won't live to see the worst of it, even if he gets to 100.

[Revi]

I read Lovelock's latest book. I agree that we are turning the planet into a desert with coca-cola for seas, but what can we do about it? Much better worrying about peak oil because there are things you can do about it.

We cut our fossil fuel by half in the past 5 years, but nobody else seems like they even want to attempt that around here.

Great rant, though.

I am definitely a Gaian.

I would say it's my religion.

[americandream]

I think we underestimate the power of dissension. In fact it's dissenter's who burn the flame of opportunity in the midst of conformity. I have to keep reminding myself of that on those occasions when I am just about ready to throw the towel in and to hell with the world.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Revi', 'I') read Lovelock's latest book. I agree that we are turning the planet into a desert with coca-cola for seas, but what can we do about it? Much better worrying about peak oil because there are things you can do about it.

We cut our fossil fuel by half in the past 5 years, but nobody else seems like they even want to attempt that around here.

Great rant, though.

I am definitely a Gaian.

I would say it's my religion.

[mos6507]

It helps to have a partner. If it weren't for another person a couple towns over from me getting the ball rolling, I wouldn't have lifted a finger, at least not here. Not that I've really accomplished anything tangible yet, but not giving up in a sense is a little victory in and of itself.

[americandream]

Agreed. I don't think we're going to be feted for our contrarian views whilst things are still on a fairly even keel. In fact I would venture that being contrarian is a darn sight harder and, if the truth be told, possibly not the best option at the moment due to the lack of options. There's no real reward as such other than having an awareness that most don't share or agree with and of course, the role of informed dissension.

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('mos6507', 'I')t helps to have a partner. If it weren't for another person a couple towns over from me getting the ball rolling, I wouldn't have lifted a finger, at least not here. Not that I've really accomplished anything tangible yet, but not giving up in a sense is a little victory in and of itself.

[Homesteader]

Why don't you read his books before slamming one of the most influential scientists of our time. Only farkin idiots wouldn't at least consder what Lovelock has to say.

Besides being listed as one of the worlds top 100 thinkers he has the following:

In 1948 Lovelock received a Ph.D. degree in medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Within the United States he has conducted research at Yale, Baylor College of Medicine, and Harvard University.[2]

[edit] Career
A lifelong inventor, Lovelock has created and developed many scientific instruments, some of which were designed for NASA in its programme of planetary exploration. It was while working as a consultant for NASA that Lovelock developed the Gaia Hypothesis, for which he is most widely known.

In early 1961, Lovelock was engaged by NASA to develop sensitive instruments for the analysis of extraterrestrial atmospheres and planetary surfaces. The Viking program that visited Mars in the late 1970s was motivated in part to determine whether Mars supported life, and many of the sensors and experiments that were ultimately deployed aimed to resolve this issue. During work on a precursor of this program, Lovelock became interested in the composition of the Martian atmosphere, reasoning that many life forms on Mars would be obliged to make use of it (and, thus, alter it). However, the atmosphere was found to be in a stable condition close to its chemical equilibrium, with very little oxygen, methane, or hydrogen, but with an overwhelming abundance of carbon dioxide. To Lovelock, the stark contrast between the Martian atmosphere and chemically-dynamic mixture of that of our Earth's biosphere was strongly indicative of the absence of life on the planet.[4] However, when they were finally launched to Mars, the Viking probes still searched (unsuccessfully) for extant life there.

Lovelock invented the electron capture detector, which ultimately assisted in discoveries about the persistence of CFCs and their role in stratospheric ozone depletion.[5][6][7] After studying the operation of the Earth's sulfur cycle,[8] Lovelock and his colleagues developed the CLAW hypothesis as a possible example of biological control of the Earth's climate.[9]

Lovelock was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1974. He served as the president of the Marine Biological Association (MBA) from 1986 to 1990, and has been a Honorary Visiting Fellow of Green Templeton College, Oxford (formerly Green College, Oxford) since 1994. He has been awarded a number of prestigious prizes including the Tswett Medal (1975), an ACS chromatography award (1980), the WMO Norbert Gerbier Prize (1988), the Dr A.H. Heineken Prize for the Environment (1990) and the RGS Discovery Lifetime award (2001). He became a CBE in 1990, and a Companion of Honour in 2003.

link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lovelock

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', 'W')hy don't you read his books before slamming one of the most influential scientists of our time. Only farkin idiots wouldn't at least consder what Lovelock has to say.

[Homesteader]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', 'W')hy don't you read his books before slamming one of the most influential scientists of our time. Only farkin idiots wouldn't at least consder what Lovelock has to say.

[AgentR]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', 'S')o in the end it's about building models and running them on a computer, don't think Lovelock has done that, so that his predictions are just that, predictions.

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Homesteader', '
')
Lovelock has responded to these criticisms with models such as Daisyworld, that illustrate how individual-level effects can translate to planetary homeostasis.""

[Arthur75]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', '
')
Just a note on this, all models are, are predictions of their designers with a level or two of indirection between them and the results.

[americandream]

I'm a lawyer and predictive modelling in expert testimony is very much a high science. To then deride the method on the basis that it's test model is much too big and complex for us to understand is nonsense. There is a scientifc method to the tool notwithstanding it's evident limits and I think most professionals value the method as rigorous and reviewable notwithstanding these unavoidable limitations.


$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Arthur75', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AgentR', '
')
Just a note on this, all models are, are predictions of their designers with a level or two of indirection between them and the results.

[KevO]

Lovelock is being called the Einstein of his day. He is one of the world's leading scientists leaps and bounds ahead of his contempories. His discovery of the Gaia principle, now accepted by mainstream science was groundbreaking and now certain, what were accepted laws, are having to be grudgingly re-written including Darwinism and Biology. Official and qualified. History will see him in the same bracket as Newton and Galileo.
Don't miss out on the chance to read his book whilst it's still pre history and he and you are still alive - like reading all about 911 in 1995.
The future had it survived would have seen Lovelock statues in all the great squares of all great cities.