Gaia hypothesis: Is the world a living organism?

The Gaia hypothesis was first proposed by Dr. James Lovelock in the 1970s and published in 1979. It takes its name from the Greek goddess Gaia, who is known as the Mother Earth. At first, many scientist ignored it. Then, it began being popular among scientists. Gaia hypothesis sees the world as an organism with systems that interact with each other. These systems interacting with each other are atmosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere, and lithosphere. They are all self-evolving, self- regulating, and self-sustaining to maintain.

Some of the reasons that led to the occurrence of this hypothesis are as follows;

Stability of Atmosphere;

In the early years of the world, CO₂ was the prevailing element in the atmosphere with the results of volcanic activities. After the beginning of life with bacteria, the balance in the atmosphere started to change. With the addition of Nitrogen (bacteria) and Oxygen (plants), the world became suitable for life.

The stability of the atmosphere is formed as a result of chemical reactions on planets without life. However,  the situation is a little different on our planet. All the atmospheric gases, except for noble gases, are produced or processed by the organisms on our planet. Also, the stability of the atmosphere is supplied by the living organisms either.

Salinity of the Oceans

The living creatures in the oceans require a stable salinity to maintain their lives. Rivers carry salt from rocks to seas and, later, to oceans. Of course there are other factors affecting the salinity. These are precipitation, melting of ice, and basaltic rocks. According to observations, considering these factors the salinity of the ocean should be much more than the present. However, ocean salinity has remained constant at around 3.4% for a very long time. In such a situation, it is hard to explain the stability of salinity without thinking the role of organisms.

Surface Temperature of Earth

Since the beginning of life, the energy provided by the Sun has increased by 25% – 30%. It is suggested that even before the formation of the ozone layer, the Earth provided protection and somehow maintained homeostasis through methanogens.

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere trigger the temperature increase in the atmosphere. In today’s world everyone has growing concerns about it. James Lovelock predicts that this could lead to mass human deaths following the global warming.

Could Coronavirus Be A Symptom Of  Sickness Of Gaia?

In December 2019, the first case of coronavirus is seen in Wuhan. After a while, it spread across the whole world and changed our lives. We were stuck at homes, we could not go to our workplaces, we could not travel. During this time, most factories reduced working shifts or temporarily shut down, crowded streets became empty, and transportation systems almost stopped.

Some people, including Inger Andersen, the UN environmental chief, see the coronavirus as a message from the world to us. Andersen asserted that humankind applies enormous pressure to the nature. As a result, it is not absurd to get a feedback from the nature. She indicated that while our priority is protecting people from the virus, we should concern about biodiversity loss in a long term.

“There are too many pressures at the same time on our natural systems and something has to give. We are intimately interconnected with nature, whether we like it or not. If we don’t take care of nature, we can’t take care of ourselves. And as we hurtle towards a population of 10 billion people on this planet, we need to go into this future armed with nature as our strongest ally.” -Inger Andersen

On the other hand, Lovelock, the creator of the Gaia Hypothesis, also underlines that the main issue we have to worry about is climate change, not coronavirus. During his speech, he also emphasized the importance of alternative energy sources and nuclear energy that will not disrupt the self-regulating of the world. According to his opinion, Gaia changes the Earth to its own purposes.

Self-Healing of the Gaia During The Quarantine Period

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