THE GAIA HYPOTHESIS* *makes interesting dinner conversation.

There is an interesting paper that was put forth by a British Chemist which was called The Gaia Hypothesis. Dr. James Lovelock caused quite a stir in the scientific community when he first proposed that the planet Earth had been transfigured and transformed by a self evolving, self-regulating, living system. In view of the nature of this activity, Earth seemed to qualify as a living being in its own right, in his tentative assumptions.

Dr. Lovelock was originally noted for his scientific work in atmospheric sciences. He was asked to work with other scientists on a method of finding life on Mars through observation and instrumentation. As he thought about this, he wondered "What would an extraterrestrial look for if it were scanning Earth on a similar search for life?" This 'Gaia' thing is what esulted.

The whole theory may seem like a load of bunk but it reminds me of my first view of the class of life which includes the jellyfish. (This was at a remarkable aquarium in Newport, Oregon.) Now here is a life form that boggles my mind! If my memory serves me, this is not a true individual animal but a colony of organisms working cooperatively as a single entity. It collectively has no heart, blood, brain, gills, eyes, skeleton and basically no organs. It however lives, hunts, eats, controls its mobility, defends itself, and still manages to reproduce.

If this Gaia hypothesis is viable then I have to add my personal two cents worth. Humankind is acting very much like a nasty intruder bent on destroying this singularity that has been nicknamed 'Gaia'. This Earth (or Gaia if you wish) is our host, or hostess. (I try not be chauvinistic.) It is our only source of sustenance.

Like a parasite, we take everything and give only problems in return for sustenance.

Like a insidious virus we seem bent on destroying this 'host mother' without any regard for future survival of either the victim or ourselves.

Like cancer we are multiplying in our numbers beyond the capabilities of the life support system of the host.

For example, we are destroying the forests, which are the lungs of the planet; the very trees that clean the air and give us oxygen back to breathe.

In the place of the trees we plant grass and bring in domesticated animals. (Cattle alone now outweigh the entire human species of the planet, and use more of the earth's resources than the entire six billion human beings; but that is another story for later.)

We have become so greedy that we are scooping every last fish from the seas, and using the land as if tomorrow didn't matter in the least.

We are corrupting the seas and the fresh water, which is the blood of the planet.

We kill everything from the smallest microbe in the soil to the largest beasts with our chemicals, carelessness, for our personal satisfaction and to satisfy our personal view of how things should look.

The pure air that has been made to sustain us is polluted with the effects of our wasted energy and manmade chemicals.

These manmade chemicals and gases are destroying the planet's capability to control the earth's surface temperature.

These same unrelenting gases are eating at the ozone in the stratosphere and are destroying the shield that keeps out the dreaded ultraviolet C radiation which has the capacity to destroy protein and DNA.

Most everything that we create for our own personal gratification and profit ends up doing damage to nature: damage that we never give time to heal before we inflict a new insult.

Some believe that if Gaia is indeed an entity, then we are part of the reasoning power of it. If this is true, heaven help it.

This may be a little off the topic, but it may give an insight into our nature. This is an anecdote that I heard many years ago. --- There was a poor Amerindian who was asked his views on the arrival of the white man. He replied, "First the white man came into the forest, and took all of the animals and left nothing but the trees. He then came back and took all of the trees and left nothing but the rocks. He then came back and took the rocks."

Have a nice day.