Gaia

THE IDEA THAT nature is a holistic unity has been constantly existent throughout human history. The major reemergence of the idea took place in the early 20th century in the name of holism. This reappearance of holism became the foundation of the Gaia hypothesis, the most recent recurrence of the ancient belief of the harmonious interconnectedness among natural phenomena on the Earth. Originally stated by the English atmospheric scientist James Lovelock in the 1970s, this hypothesis and related arguments dominated the academy in the second half of the 20th century. Lovelock insisted on the existence of a single planetary ECOSYSTEM in the universe, Gaia.

Gaia includes all organisms: flora, fauna, and their surroundings, such as the land, waters, and atmosphere. Moreover, Gaia functions as a single organism, a self-regulating system that is capable of controlling deviations in climate, correcting chemical imbalances, and recovering from any other environmental damage. According to this hypothesis, the Earth is a living organism. Humans, of course, are part of Gaia, and if we become too harmful to our habitat, the system will automatically act to bring us to extinction. The microbiologist Lynn Margulis supported this hypothesis, and the novelist William Golding endowed the name, Gaia, upon it. This concept is named after the ancient Greek Earth-Mother goddess in respect to her dual characteristics: a maternal figure to nurture beings who adapt to the environment and, in contrast, a harsh destroyer of lives who do not obey her governance. This goddess figure is a metaphor of a process that we call natural selection.

Using the study of ancient myth and spiritual traditions of Plato, Johannes Kepler, and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe regarding the Earth’s origin, the nurturing power of Mother Earth is revealed in the general beliefs that the Earth is a self-regulatory organic whole and that humans need to adapt to the ecosystem for survival. Gaia became a very popular idea in environmental determinism, the belief that the physical environment is the dominant force in shaping cultures and that humankind is essentially a passive product of its physical surroundings. This idea eventually developed into ethical issues of stewardship, trusteeship, and importance of sustainable living. In the Gaia hypothesis, humans are not the owners, tenants, or even the passengers of this superorganism. We are simply surviving our species’ “allotted span,” as Lovelock put it.

The Gaia hypothesis has emerged as the ideas of several cultures from antiquity, but there were no scientific predecessors to prove the accuracy of the theories. Today, Gaia hypothesis is also used among nonscientists to refer to theories of the Earth as a self-regulating organism that inspires humanistic perspectives as well. Some scientists viewed the concept of Gaia difficult to accept as a scientific theory about Earth, and Lovelock’s initial hypothesis encountered much antagonism in this respect.

Although Gaia as a concrete concept has its origin in scientific background, it provides a fitting framework to bridge the gap between PHYSICAL and HUMAN GEOGRAPHY as a whole. The core of environmentalism seeks reconciliation of binary divisions, and the concept of Gaia serves as an example of this current in hypothesis is well accepted in the studies of the Earth, including geography, and no controversy exists. Therefore, Gaia is the origin of the idea we gained that life and the environment enjoy a two-way relationship. 

THE EARTH AS AN ORGANISM

The idea of a living Earth—the Earth as an organism— is not new but is quite ancient. With the metaphorical association of Gaia with the goddess and Earth Mother, we have lost this understanding only since the advent of objective science that clearly separated the domains of nature and culture. There were some predecessors who advocated the idea of a living Earth even in the scientific period. James Hutton, the Scottish father of geology, was aware of the Earth as a kind of superorganism. Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, French biologist and botanist, proposed a theory of biological evolution with awareness of the all-encompassing power of the Earth.

Goethe suggested that the planet was an organism of the world soul that permeates and gives teleology to the dynamics and metamorphosis of the overall matter. His idea that life on planet Earth is not just a layer over the lifeless ground but makes a dynamic living whole with the planet (as a global organism) influenced the making of the Gaia hypothesis. Alexander von Humboldt, the father of ecology, was the first to take on the study of the relationship between organisms and their environment. And the Russian scientist Vladimir Vernadsky introduced the concept of the BIOSPHERE. He recognized life as “a geological force” and the atmosphere as an extension of life. As a synthesis of these ideas, much truth exists in the Gaia hypothesis.

The idea of Gaia is based on an environmental perception of nature that varies from one culture to another. We must understand that nature itself is a culturally formulated concept that has different meanings to different peoples. There are two major subsets in viewing nature: organic and mechanistic. In the organic view, held by many traditional groups, people are part of nature. Every habitat possesses a soul and is filled with organisms and thus requires respectful treatment. On the other hand, most Western peoples tend to recognize the mechanistic view of nature. In this perspective, humans are separate from and hold dominion over nature. Along this line, the environment became an integrated system of mechanisms controlled by external forces according to natural laws and understood by the human mind. The Gaia hypothesis is praised for its questioning the dominant mechanistic view of humans that justifies ultimate human control over nature.

The Gaia hypothesis has a close association with ecofeminism as a part of ecotheology. Although the Judeo-Christian tradition elevated a sky-god to a remote place from the Earth, the harmonious relationships between people and the habitat, sky and the Earth, and male and female should not be disrupted. Emergence of teleology was not avoidable as a result of the disappearance of the Corn Mothers and all other female deities. Thus, the Gaia hypothesis subscribes to this spirit of ecofeminism by revisiting an ancient holiness of ecosystem as a whole.