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The Gaia Hypothesis is about the theory that the earth is self-regulating system meaning it is a living organism that is changing whilst we live in it. And we are not the rulers or tenants of the earth but are merely inhabitants whose actions have an effect on the earth and the earth adapts to suit our needs and try and keep itself hospitable for human life.
The Gaia hypothesis was first introduced when James Lovelock working with NASA in 1965 was involved in an expedition to find life on mars. While undertaking tests to find life on mars he analysed the structure of mars’ atmosphere. Mars showed to be in the chemical equilibrium state meaning all reactants involved were in a state of concentration that was not likely to change any time soon confirming that no life could exist as activity of life forms would most likely change the chemical equilibrium state of the atmosphere.
The earth however was in what Lovelock recognised was a state of disequilibrium far greater than could be just a result of human influence on the atmosphere, but the earth itself must be actively maintaining conditions to accommodate human life. Lovelock’s theory was supported by a novelist William Goulding who recommended the theory be called Gaia after the Goddess of the Earth.
Because earth is the only planet we know containing human life it is not possible to test the theory that the atmosphere is the way it is through human influence or because of the theory the earth is alive. However, one piece of evidence could be the knowledge of oxygen in the atmosphere since scientists maintain the earth’s atmosphere did not always contain oxygen. Another factor that supports the Gaia theory is the regulation of carbon dioxide, the idea that the earth controls the level of carbon dioxide in the air to a level which is tolerable for humans and plants to survive. As without the Greenhouse Effect we could not live with such cold conditions.
The earth being a living organism it works to maintain the oxygen and carbon dioxide levels in the air to a level best for its environment. If the earth dropped its carbon dioxide concentrations it could then not absorb the solar radiation from the sun and therefore regulates the temperature to a bearable degree also. The earth may also control its natural weathering which controls the amount of salt introduced to the ocean.
We have a big impact on the sustainability of the earth, we create so much water pollution. Of all the water on earth 2.5% is freshwater. And of that % only 1% is available for us to use. Only 2% of farmers are organic which leads to the contamination of 69% of our water. We also create pollution to the land with industrial activities such as the production of plastic and illegal dumping of chemical-laden products.
127 million people live somewhere that exceeds quality standards. So much air pollution is produced by the burning of fossil fuels. It is difficult to reduce the amount of air pollution we produce since on earth so much energy is needed to be generated and cars are driven everyday so it is harder to promote the more sustainable alternatives of wind or solar power and the use of more electric cars.
In conclusion I believe the Gaia hypothesis is true, as it supports many things we know about the earth. We know no other planets that have any form of life and yet the earth perfectly regulates the amount of Co2 and 02 we need to survive. Although it is understandable that many scientists had trouble believing this theory as there isn’t a lot more evidence than this and being that the earth is the only planet we know containing any form of life we have nothing to compare it too and therefore can only theorise.

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You have not fully analysed

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More needed on the history of the ideas for the Gaia hypothesis.

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You have not fully analysed wheather or not the hypothesis is stilol a good model today

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You well explained the Gaia hypothesis but did not gain P2 as didn't mention the history of the hypothesis or different views on it.

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you need to fully analyse the Gaia theory

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FEEDBACK for Zac Boucher - Gaia Hypothesis 

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FEEDBACK for Zac Boucher - Gaia Hypothesis 

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Explained thoroughly the first bullet point however you haven't discussed the conclusion amongst scientists so you haven't gained P2.

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The Gaia hypothesis (Gaia comes from the name of a Greek goddess of the earth) is the idea that everything on the world is like one big organism and all that is living on the planet here are like micro-organisms, all working together to help the conditions of the earth to thrive.
"This idea of the Gaia Hypothesis is the same to the thermostat in your home. You set the thermostat in your home to 65 °F in order to keep a comfortable living environment. When the temperature falls below this, the furnace is switched on."
James lovelock, and Lynn Margulis were the founders of the idea, and the idea was widely accepted. Margulis was a micro-biologist at Boston university in the 1970s, this gave him the background knowledge to be able to put forward the idea. It's obvious that life on earth strongly depends on non-biological forces like volcanic eruptions, Climate change, storms, and the continents moving.
There are more than one Gaian hypothesis', influential Gaia, co-evolutionary Gaia, homeostatic Gaia, Technological Gaia, and Optimizing Gaia.
Examples of Gaia can be found in the earths Oxygen and CO₂ levels as well as temperature. The Oxygen levels are kept at a level optimum for animals to respire. Life on earth Is thought to be what changes temperature on the earth as there has only been a 10°c change in 3 billion years. CO₂ concentration is maintained at an optimum level by all of the organism on the Earth.
The hypothesis states the stable conditions, for example Oxygen levels and climate, as proof that living organisms maintain a life-sustaining environment. James lovelock and Lynn Margulis first explained their theory like this. "Life, or the biosphere, regulates or maintains the climate and the atmospheric composition at an optimum for itself."
In my opinion, the theory sounds viable, because whilst most species living on the earth will usually fend for themselves, we are, without knowing it, continuing to make the right conditions for us to survive and thrive, for example by animals respiring, they reimburse nutrients into the earth, thus continuing the cycle, because you can see and provide evidence for their theory, it makes it still true in the modern day.
Some of the main threats to sustainability are, widening the gap between the rich and the poor, 840 million people being malnourished, world population: 6 billion+ and pollution, all of these are what we need to prevent or eradicate if we are to have the world in a sustainable state.
As population has increased, we have had more of a need for food, land and water, because of this the gap between the rich and poor has increased because the minorities are kept that way by richer countries, all just so the rich countries can remain with the power of trade.
As Humans have adapted more to the Earth, e.g hunting and farming, we immediately started to impact the environment, by over fishing for example, to try and prevent most of the fish to go extinct, there has been a fishing quota introduced which limits the amount of fish you can hunt.
The amount that we fish severely effects the soil that we farm on, for example, the nutrients are completely exhausted in soil from growing crops, and to make more space for crop farming and animal farming, we are cutting down rainforests, as well as the impact of oxygen being produced in that area, we are also forcing 1000 different species to move habitat per hectare, this means we are destroying ecosystems.
If the theory that the world is an organism is correct, than we have to try a lot harder to return its conditions, to what they were before, because any organism without the correct conditions to survive, will do something drastic to create better conditions, for example, freak weather like hurricanes or tsunamis.

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Thomas Tangen The Gaia theory
The Gaia theory (Gaia being the Greek god of earth) was founded by British scientist James lovelock. The theory states the idea that the earth is a singular living system that can self-maintain and regulate. The theory works by the organic and inorganic parts of the earth evolved together to form one singular living organism which Isa self-regulating and self-living system, and that this singular system has control over aspects such as global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity and other factors that maintain its habitability.  to sum up the theory in a phrase “life maintains conditions suitable for its own survival” for example the earths heat source has increased by 30% since life began.  At first the theory was discarded by other but over time through yielding compelling evidence such as the earths ability to maintain the balance of gases in the air. The major difference from the Gaia theory and other theory’s such as Darwinism is that organisms don’t just adapt they change to provide and suit the ideal conditions for life.

The evolutions stated by the theory found backing in the 1970’s by Lynn Margulis, now an
evolutionist at the University of Massachusetts. She had discovered her own theory of “endosymbios cell evolution” which in turn her research led to more information about microbes that underlies the understanding of how life controls Planet Earth’s climate, ocean salinity and atmospheric content which gave hard evidence backing James lovelock. Lynn went on to give this statement on lovelocks work “My primary work has always been in cell evolution, yet for a long time
I've been associated with James Lovelock and his Gaia hypothesis. In the early seventies, I was
trying to align bacteria by their metabolic pathways. I noticed that all kinds of bacteria produced
gases. Oxygen, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, ammonia — more than thirty different
gases are given off by the bacteria whose evolutionary history I was keen to reconstruct. Why did
every scientist I asked believe that atmospheric oxygen was a biological product but the other
atmospheric gases — nitrogen, methane, sulfur, and so on — were not? 'Go talk to Lovelock,' at
least four different scientists suggested.” And so their work was closely in twined and developed closely.

Other effects on sustainability are human effects such as we are burning through fossil fuels at an alarming rate which Polluting the atmosphere as well we unbalancing the earths balance
Because we are using up a non-renewable source of fuel which will eventually run out but burning the fuel isn’t the only issue to mine the sources alone take a great deal of power which needs fuel in its self which causes pollution before we have even gained the fuel so this is not a sustainable way of living.  Other human behaviour which is unbalancing the earth is co2 emission we are producing more c02 every year then the last through use of motorised machinery and vehicle without thinking about the consequences. It is so easy for us just to go get in the car and drive somewhere where as it’s not so easy to undo the damage cause from the co2 from driving around. Lastly human behaviour which leads to the global temperature to rise which in a chain reaction cause the ice caps to melt causing catastrophic consequences such as sea level rising and animals being made vulnerable and homeless which all effects the organisms balance and prevents earth from self-sustaining as there is an artificial input altering the balance and the earth cannot change and adapt drastically enough to counteract this input.

Evolution has also effected sustainability as we have evolved we have increased the population drastically and lead to over populations causing strain on the self-sustaining earth and lead to run down of over populated areas also as we have evolved we have discovered and made products and resources that benefit us at the cost of the earth such as cars fossil fuel and the rate that we use is much greater than the rate we try prevent the destruction of the earth. Causing the sustainability of the earth to be very difficult. Also the carbon cycle levels are increasing due to the decomposing of non-carbon neutral substances which more and more have been  discovered over the history of evolution.

All quotes and sources of information from : http://www.gaiatheory.org/

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The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Lacey Hollingsworth.

The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory, Gaia principle or The Gaia paradigm, is an ecological hypothesis that proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic self-regulating, complex system that helps to stabilize and perpetuate the many conditions for life on the planet. Which also includes the evolution of life and how that effects the stability of global temperatures, biosphere, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere, the maintenance of a hydrosphere of liquid water and other environmental variables that have a massive impact in the habitability of Earth. Overall it’s a theory that suggest that just a single living entity, can evolve and actually control and maintain all of life's surroundings and suit them with what they actually need.
The origin of The Gaia Theory begun after the earth was understood when they went in outer space on an exploration and finally started to understand that Earth provides us with what we need to survive.
It all started in the mid-1930's when Dr James Lovelock was by a NASA worker who then asked him to help in searching for life on Mars. Then five years down the line, Lovelock suggested that some physical tests for determining whether Mars had life on it or not. He decided he needed to get a top-down view of the planet to analyze the composition of the planets atmosphere, then he would be able to see if life was able to exist on it by looking at the atmosphere and seeing if its close to a chemical equilibrium, were as the earth has a state of extreme chemical disequilibrium.
Together with scientists, Dian Hitchcock, Lovelock examined the atmosphere data, and it suggests its just as they predicted it to be, being in a stage of stable chemical equilibrium, which is not habitable for any kind of life forms.
"The chemical and physical condition of the surface of the Earth, of the atmosphere, and of the oceans has been made fit and is actively made fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself."

There is little conclusive proof of the presence of an active planetary control system on Earth. Sadly, geological evidence stretching back through Earth history is too patchy to provide any reliable confirmation of the Gaia hypothesis. Although Gaia does suggest how the Earth may react to bad things that happen to it. Until recently, Earth has had to adapt to natural changes; Such as significant impact from humans, through air pullulation and a man-made opponents changing the Global climate.
Things that impact sustainability are separated into three different columns, which are Human issues, Evolutionary issues and Global issues. Starting with the Human issues there are many variables such as: Deforestation, which is basically demolishing and destroying forests or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use, and they have many ways of removing animals habitats and our oxygen givers.
Another human made issue is water pollution which is caused by all our sewage and rubbish at the bottom of our oceans and all the toxic waste being dumped in there, killing tones of living organisms.  Air pollution is another example, such as greenhouse gasses, with all the cars and carbon dioxide producers, it all gets trapped and causes things like Global warming.The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F)rather than the average of 15 °C (59 °F). When sunlight reaches Earth's surface some is absorbed and warms the earth and most of the rest is radiated back to the atmosphere at a longer wavelength than the sun light. Some of these longer wavelengths are absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere before they are lost to space. The absorption of this longwave radiant energy warms the atmosphere, and melting the icecaps and causes Global warming and ultimately rising sea levels.
We've also used up all our natural resources, natural resources exist without the actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, and electrical properties and forces. Then we are forced to use unnatural resources that cause global issues, such as oil production ,habitat destruction and producing too much waste and rubbish which will just come back and effect us in the future. The Earth is also affected by our population increasing
dramatically, which then causes more problems because more humans = more waste, pollution and man made issues.

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The Gaia
Hypothesis                                                                                                                  
Zoe Carter

 

James
Lovelock was thinking about the unlikely combination of gases in Earth’s
atmosphere that caused a planet to be suitable and sustainable for human life
and the reason why Mars didn’t have these gases to sustain life after working
with NASA to find whether Mars could sustain human life. By the end of the
1960’s Lovelock had organised and concluded his theory on the earth, this
theory was called “The Gaia Hypothesis”. 

James
Lovelock and others created and developed a theory which is called “The Gaia
Hypothesis” (Named after the Greek Goddess of the Earth). This is the idea that
everything on Earth works together as a single unit to organize and keeps
itself in balance for continuous life. The Gaia Hypothesis is that everything
on Earth such as humans, the sea, the air, rocks and other animals live in
coexistence together to work in unison. The hypothesis also links that how
species have evolved to ensure survival is because of the environment and
conditions it was in.

 

 

What is
sustainable development?

Sustainable
development means building our communities so that we can all live comfortably
without consuming all of our resources but over the years humans have impacted
the Earth in such a way that sustainable ways of living are being only just
being created as how people are currently living it is not sustainable way of
life and people are only just realising that the things we have done is
impacting the earth and causing problems. However, creating a sustainable
environment is not that simple. People want to change to improve the
environment but businesses and governments aren’t doing as much as they can
because even though sustainable development creates long-term economic
stability it doesn’t create short-term profits which is what the businesses and
governments care about as in their mind once there is a serious need for major
sustainability work they won’t be there. There have been many attempts to bring
the urgency to have major sustainability plans placed such as “The Earth
Summit” in 1992 which was attended by 152 world leaders, brought the subject of
creating national sustainability plans and strategies. Despite these types of
conventions, no major efforts seem to have come from this.

 

Impact on
sustainability

Humans have impacted sustainability of the environment
greatly. Most of these impacts are negative such as water pollution, land
pollution and air pollution. This has caused the environment around us to
change into conditions we have made them. Each of these issues have been cause
by humans. The main problems with humans creating theses drastic impacts on the
earth is that humans now rely on very specific conditions that we have created
within the environments we are in and unless humans take fast action then the
question changes from whether earth can sustain the human impact on the
environment to will we change the environment to cause extinction to humans and
others.

 

Social problems with sustainability include the difference
between the rich and the poor and for the people living in much poorer
conditions than others they simply wouldn’t be able to afford having a different
way of life to achieve a sustainable way of living

# data[].attributes.subject
The Gaia
Hypothesis                                                                                                                  
Zoe Carter

 

James
Lovelock was thinking about the unlikely combination of gases in Earth’s
atmosphere that caused a planet to be suitable and sustainable for human life
and the reason why Mars didn’t have these gases to sustain life after working
with NASA to find whether Mars could sustain human life. By the end of the
1960’s Lovelock had organised and concluded his theory on the earth, this
theory was called “The Gaia Hypothesis”. 

James
Lovelock and others created and developed a theory which is called “The Gaia
Hypothesis” (Named after the Greek Goddess of the Earth). This is the idea that
everything on Earth works together as a single unit to organize and keeps
itself in balance for continuous life. The Gaia Hypothesis is that everything
on Earth such as humans, the sea, the air, rocks and other animals live in
coexistence together to work in unison. The hypothesis also links that how
species have evolved to ensure survival is because of the environment and
conditions it was in.

 

 

What is
sustainable development?

Sustainable
development means building our communities so that we can all live comfortably
without consuming all of our resources but over the years humans have impacted
the Earth in such a way that sustainable ways of living are being only just
being created as how people are currently living it is not sustainable way of
life and people are only just realising that the things we have done is
impacting the earth and causing problems. However, creating a sustainable
environment is not that simple. People want to change to improve the
environment but businesses and governments aren’t doing as much as they can
because even though sustainable development creates long-term economic
stability it doesn’t create short-term profits which is what the businesses and
governments care about as in their mind once there is a serious need for major
sustainability work they won’t be there. There have been many attempts to bring
the urgency to have major sustainability plans placed such as “The Earth
Summit” in 1992 which was attended by 152 world leaders, brought the subject of
creating national sustainability plans and strategies. Despite these types of
conventions, no major efforts seem to have come from this.

 

Impact on
sustainability

Humans have impacted sustainability of the environment
greatly. Most of these impacts are negative such as water pollution, land
pollution and air pollution. This has caused the environment around us to
change into conditions we have made them. Each of these issues have been cause
by humans. The main problems with humans creating theses drastic impacts on the
earth is that humans now rely on very specific conditions that we have created
within the environments we are in and unless humans take fast action then the
question changes from whether earth can sustain the human impact on the
environment to will we change the environment to cause extinction to humans and
others.

 

Social problems with sustainability include the difference
between the rich and the poor and for the people living in much poorer
conditions than others they simply wouldn’t be able to afford having a different
way of life to achieve a sustainable way of living

# data[].attributes.headline
The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Lacey Hollingsworth.   The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory, Gaia principle or The Gaia paradigm, is an ecological hypothesis that proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic self-regulating, complex system that helps to stabilize and perpetuate the many conditions for life on the planet. Which also includes the evolution of life and how that effects the stability of global temperatures, biosphere, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere, the maintenance of a hydrosphere of liquid water and other environmental variables that have a massive impact in the habitability of Earth. Overall it’s a theory that suggest that just a single living entity, can evolve and actually control and maintain all of life's surroundings and suit them with what they actually need. The origin of The Gaia Theory begun after the earth was understood when they went in outer space on an exploration and finally started to understand that Earth provides us with what we need to survive. It all started in the mid-1930's when Dr James Lovelock was by a NASA worker who then asked him to help in searching for life on Mars. Then five years down the line, Lovelock suggested that some physical tests for determining whether Mars had life on it or not. He decided he needed to get a top-down view of the planet to analyze the composition of the planets atmosphere, then he would be able to see if life was able to exist on it by looking at the atmosphere and seeing if its close to a chemical equilibrium, were as the earth has a state of extreme chemical disequilibrium. Together with scientists, Dian Hitchcock, Lovelock examined the atmosphere data, and it suggests its just as they predicted it to be, being in a stage of stable chemical equilibrium, which is not habitable for any kind of life forms.  "The chemical and physical condition of the surface of the Earth, of the atmosphere, and of the oceans has been made fit and is actively made fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself."  There is little conclusive proof of the presence of an active planetary control system on Earth. Sadly, geological evidence stretching back through Earth history is too patchy to provide any reliable confirmation of the Gaia hypothesis. Although Gaia does suggest how the Earth may react to bad things that happen to it. Until recently, Earth has had to adapt to natural changes; Such as significant impact from humans, through air pullulation and a man-made opponents changing the Global climate. Things that impact sustainability are separated into three different columns, which are Human issues, Evolutionary issues and Global issues. Starting with the Human issues there are many variables such as: Deforestation, which is basically demolishing and destroying forests or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use, and they have many ways of removing animals habitats and our oxygen givers. Another human made issue is water pollution which is caused by all our sewage and rubbish at the bottom of our oceans and all the toxic waste being dumped in there, killing tones of living organisms.  Air pollution is another example, such as greenhouse gasses, with all the cars and carbon dioxide producers, it all gets trapped and causes things like Global warming.The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F)rather than the average of 15 °C (59 °F). When sunlight reaches Earth's surface some is absorbed and warms the earth and most of the rest is radiated back to the atmosphere at a longer wavelength than the sun light. Some of these longer wavelengths are absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere before they are lost to space. The absorption of this longwave radiant energy warms the atmosphere, and melting the icecaps and causes Global warming and ultimately rising sea levels. We've also used up all our natural resources, natural resources exist without the actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, and electrical properties and forces. Then we are forced to use unnatural resources that cause global issues, such as oil production ,habitat destruction and producing too much waste and rubbish which will just come back and effect us in the future. The Earth is also affected by our population increasing dramatically, which then causes more problems because more humans = more waste, pollution and man made issues.  

# data[].attributes.subject
The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Lacey Hollingsworth.   The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory, Gaia principle or The Gaia paradigm, is an ecological hypothesis that proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a synergistic self-regulating, complex system that helps to stabilize and perpetuate the many conditions for life on the planet. Which also includes the evolution of life and how that effects the stability of global temperatures, biosphere, ocean salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere, the maintenance of a hydrosphere of liquid water and other environmental variables that have a massive impact in the habitability of Earth. Overall it’s a theory that suggest that just a single living entity, can evolve and actually control and maintain all of life's surroundings and suit them with what they actually need. The origin of The Gaia Theory begun after the earth was understood when they went in outer space on an exploration and finally started to understand that Earth provides us with what we need to survive. It all started in the mid-1930's when Dr James Lovelock was by a NASA worker who then asked him to help in searching for life on Mars. Then five years down the line, Lovelock suggested that some physical tests for determining whether Mars had life on it or not. He decided he needed to get a top-down view of the planet to analyze the composition of the planets atmosphere, then he would be able to see if life was able to exist on it by looking at the atmosphere and seeing if its close to a chemical equilibrium, were as the earth has a state of extreme chemical disequilibrium. Together with scientists, Dian Hitchcock, Lovelock examined the atmosphere data, and it suggests its just as they predicted it to be, being in a stage of stable chemical equilibrium, which is not habitable for any kind of life forms.  "The chemical and physical condition of the surface of the Earth, of the atmosphere, and of the oceans has been made fit and is actively made fit and comfortable by the presence of life itself."  There is little conclusive proof of the presence of an active planetary control system on Earth. Sadly, geological evidence stretching back through Earth history is too patchy to provide any reliable confirmation of the Gaia hypothesis. Although Gaia does suggest how the Earth may react to bad things that happen to it. Until recently, Earth has had to adapt to natural changes; Such as significant impact from humans, through air pullulation and a man-made opponents changing the Global climate. Things that impact sustainability are separated into three different columns, which are Human issues, Evolutionary issues and Global issues. Starting with the Human issues there are many variables such as: Deforestation, which is basically demolishing and destroying forests or stand of trees where the land is thereafter converted to a non-forest use, and they have many ways of removing animals habitats and our oxygen givers. Another human made issue is water pollution which is caused by all our sewage and rubbish at the bottom of our oceans and all the toxic waste being dumped in there, killing tones of living organisms.  Air pollution is another example, such as greenhouse gasses, with all the cars and carbon dioxide producers, it all gets trapped and causes things like Global warming.The primary greenhouse gases in Earth's atmosphere are water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, and ozone. Without greenhouse gases, the average temperature of Earth's surface would be about −18 °C (0 °F)rather than the average of 15 °C (59 °F). When sunlight reaches Earth's surface some is absorbed and warms the earth and most of the rest is radiated back to the atmosphere at a longer wavelength than the sun light. Some of these longer wavelengths are absorbed by greenhouse gases in the atmosphere before they are lost to space. The absorption of this longwave radiant energy warms the atmosphere, and melting the icecaps and causes Global warming and ultimately rising sea levels. We've also used up all our natural resources, natural resources exist without the actions of humankind. This includes all valued characteristics such as magnetic, gravitational, and electrical properties and forces. Then we are forced to use unnatural resources that cause global issues, such as oil production ,habitat destruction and producing too much waste and rubbish which will just come back and effect us in the future. The Earth is also affected by our population increasing dramatically, which then causes more problems because more humans = more waste, pollution and man made issues.  

# data[].attributes.headline
The Gaia
Hypothesis: a review by Jasmine Leggo         

 

A well renowned hypothesis created by Dr.
James Lovelock (1960’s) that suggested Earths living system including organic
and inorganic components is self-regulatory. Including factors such as Global temperature,
atmospheric content and ocean salinity, the idea of the Gaia system has been
around for years. It suggests that the Earth is more than what was perhaps
expected for a planet found amidst Mars and Venus when relating to our Earths
global temperature state and composition. 

 

Between this current day way back to
billions of years ago, the Earths radiation underwent a series of large
changes. Factors that contributed to this included the suns output increasing
from 30 to 100% and the levels of hydrogen escaping from the Earth’s atmosphere
into space. These two factors affected the Earths over all radiation balance
which would suggest why we have global warning as an issue now. 

 

One focus area for scientists in
particular with the theory itself is the idea of components on Earth being
balanced through Equilibrium Chemistry. This is where all compounds are
identified as isolate rather than presented as more than one such as N2 being a singular element and 02. However, the idea that Earth violates
some of these equilibrium chemistry rules has been proven as found containing
02 and CH4 which for a planet found in between mars and Venus, shouldn’t
theoretically be proven true. Instead it has been said that Earth gases do not
fit the equilibrium as combustion products much like Mars and Venus, rather it
contains a combustible mixture. An example of a compound found on Earth would
be the suggestion that Nitrogen (N03- ion), derived from the oceans, shouldn’t
be present when gaseous nitrogen shouldn’t theoretically be present never the
less this has been proven to be anomalous by Hutchinson (1954) and Sillen
(1966) yet this still remains un noticed by some. 

 

Furthering into the 1960’s, Hitchcock and
Lovelock came up with the theory that it was possible to prove how Earths
system would carry on with or without life’s presence which was later applied
to the idea of anomalies in chemical distribution, suggesting that to common misconception
the chemical distribution of gases where perhaps not so anomalous after all and
in fact each held a different purpose in order to sustain life on Earth. 

 

Similarly, individual living entities
regulate the chemical composition, surface pH, and climate on Earth all of
which are a part of the biosphere and help maintain Earths homeostasis state
through being an ‘active adaptive control
system’- Lovelock (1972). Never
the less, the lack of knowledge and evidence makes it hard to prove this theory
true. The idea of the recognition of life itself to us humans doesn’t always
come forehand as we have learnt to become immune to the question which is why
when a new species is found, the question the Gaia theory asks is whether or
not this new species is life, not what is this species? This could be said as
the route of the theory. A furthering explanation for this would be how the
theory appoints the idea that we are dependent on physical evidence rather than
biological, such as within ecosystems and how they rely on each other which
suggests little doubt surrounding the idea that everything is on earth for a
reason; to help support the system. 

 

In addition, being able to define Gaia as
a whole requires the definition of the boundaries within life itself. Space
being perhaps the most frequently defined boundary for life, we have to
question as to whether or not the entropy within these regions is reduced or
not. This includes the flux at which long wave length infra-red radiation is
apparent between Earth and space which we can say is a physical justification.
The outer and inner boundaries on the Earth are considered as ‘putative life’. Which further goes on to
help justify as to whether the Gaia theory can be proven true. Moreover, Evans
(1969) demonstrated that ‘entropy and
free energy share the exact information as theoretic equivalents’, expressed as the equation I = S0-5 which too further
went on to support the Gaia theory. A Further element that affects the trueness
of the Gaia theory is the size of the disequilibrium within the components in
life and also how this is measured and whether it is recognised as a separate
identity. 

 

Thermodynamic evidence to prove the Gaia
theory to be true, could be made through comparing Earth’s atmosphere with that
of Mars and Venus’s or comparing Earths present atmosphere with the atmosphere
expected IF life was said as ‘deleted’ from Earth. This links to the idea of
removing the majority of N2 (nitrogen) from Earth and how if done so, mass
amounts of Oxygen would do so too. This however is counterbalanced by the vast
water source (H20) and C02 found on Earth which could in fact allow the
nitrogen to leave with oxygen still present, this however would end with the
dominant element being left as C02. This is another example of disequilibrium
within the elements. 

 

In a similar manor, the idea that earth
couldn’t survive without nitrogen whereas Mars can, suggests that the gases
within the Earths biosphere are all dependant on each other. On the other hand,
we can also suggest that the Earth’s atmosphere was perhaps merely a neutral
back ground source of materials in which the life created amongst it, is able
to recycle.

 

Concluding the theory as a whole, the Gaia
supports the idea that every component on earth has the ability to adapt to the
drastic changes that have taken place over billions of years, whether it be
chemically or physically and how due to these changes, each component can
support surrounding components in order to sustain what we know as ‘life’ on
this planet we call Earth. 

 

 

Part 2

 

Different aspects of life on Earth affect
the sustainability of the Earth itself. One of the key factors that accounts to
this would be the living human race. Human life is estimated to grow by at
least 200,000 per day, which allows for bigger families, therefore more jobs
and resulting in a source of income for the world’s economy. However due to
rapid increase in a selective amount of years (from the beginning of life on
Earth) the amount of space and natural resources left for us to use becomes
limited. This results in issues with the overall health and basic requirements
in order for a human life to survive. 

One of these issues comes with demolishing
huge amounts of plant filled areas, forests being a key component here. Never
the less believed by many is the idea that humans must dominate nature in any
hierarchal society, resulting in the abomination of any forest filled area. As
we know from previous knowledge, trees provide us with key elements within our
Earth such as the production of oxygen which allows us as humans to breath, and
the taking in of carbon dioxide when it is exhaled or produced whether it be by
humans or other machines.  When we take
this away from an area of mass components, we are bound to find some downfalls.
One of the main negatives being the eco system of a vast selection of species
is eliminated thus resulting in extinction for selected animals/ insects. A
second issue would be that the surrounding air is no longer clean which in turn
holds negative impact on any living form contained within that area. 

 

Alongside other factors of nature that are
included within the sustainability of life itself comes the un sustainable
amount of water used up by humans and other species. Water is a natural source
that we have believed to have been here since the beginning of time, upon this
Earth never the less the amount of water used from over the years has increased
at an extremely rapid and non-sustainable rate. Not only from over usage of the
source itself have we made it difficult to sustain, but through development
also. Half of the worlds wetlands have been lost due to mass development which
equally degrades the quality of the source itself, having a huge impact on Eco systems
that rely on it hugely. 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Gaia
Hypothesis: a review by Jasmine Leggo         

 

A well renowned hypothesis created by Dr.
James Lovelock (1960’s) that suggested Earths living system including organic
and inorganic components is self-regulatory. Including factors such as Global temperature,
atmospheric content and ocean salinity, the idea of the Gaia system has been
around for years. It suggests that the Earth is more than what was perhaps
expected for a planet found amidst Mars and Venus when relating to our Earths
global temperature state and composition. 

 

Between this current day way back to
billions of years ago, the Earths radiation underwent a series of large
changes. Factors that contributed to this included the suns output increasing
from 30 to 100% and the levels of hydrogen escaping from the Earth’s atmosphere
into space. These two factors affected the Earths over all radiation balance
which would suggest why we have global warning as an issue now. 

 

One focus area for scientists in
particular with the theory itself is the idea of components on Earth being
balanced through Equilibrium Chemistry. This is where all compounds are
identified as isolate rather than presented as more than one such as N2 being a singular element and 02. However, the idea that Earth violates
some of these equilibrium chemistry rules has been proven as found containing
02 and CH4 which for a planet found in between mars and Venus, shouldn’t
theoretically be proven true. Instead it has been said that Earth gases do not
fit the equilibrium as combustion products much like Mars and Venus, rather it
contains a combustible mixture. An example of a compound found on Earth would
be the suggestion that Nitrogen (N03- ion), derived from the oceans, shouldn’t
be present when gaseous nitrogen shouldn’t theoretically be present never the
less this has been proven to be anomalous by Hutchinson (1954) and Sillen
(1966) yet this still remains un noticed by some. 

 

Furthering into the 1960’s, Hitchcock and
Lovelock came up with the theory that it was possible to prove how Earths
system would carry on with or without life’s presence which was later applied
to the idea of anomalies in chemical distribution, suggesting that to common misconception
the chemical distribution of gases where perhaps not so anomalous after all and
in fact each held a different purpose in order to sustain life on Earth. 

 

Similarly, individual living entities
regulate the chemical composition, surface pH, and climate on Earth all of
which are a part of the biosphere and help maintain Earths homeostasis state
through being an ‘active adaptive control
system’- Lovelock (1972). Never
the less, the lack of knowledge and evidence makes it hard to prove this theory
true. The idea of the recognition of life itself to us humans doesn’t always
come forehand as we have learnt to become immune to the question which is why
when a new species is found, the question the Gaia theory asks is whether or
not this new species is life, not what is this species? This could be said as
the route of the theory. A furthering explanation for this would be how the
theory appoints the idea that we are dependent on physical evidence rather than
biological, such as within ecosystems and how they rely on each other which
suggests little doubt surrounding the idea that everything is on earth for a
reason; to help support the system. 

 

In addition, being able to define Gaia as
a whole requires the definition of the boundaries within life itself. Space
being perhaps the most frequently defined boundary for life, we have to
question as to whether or not the entropy within these regions is reduced or
not. This includes the flux at which long wave length infra-red radiation is
apparent between Earth and space which we can say is a physical justification.
The outer and inner boundaries on the Earth are considered as ‘putative life’. Which further goes on to
help justify as to whether the Gaia theory can be proven true. Moreover, Evans
(1969) demonstrated that ‘entropy and
free energy share the exact information as theoretic equivalents’, expressed as the equation I = S0-5 which too further
went on to support the Gaia theory. A Further element that affects the trueness
of the Gaia theory is the size of the disequilibrium within the components in
life and also how this is measured and whether it is recognised as a separate
identity. 

 

Thermodynamic evidence to prove the Gaia
theory to be true, could be made through comparing Earth’s atmosphere with that
of Mars and Venus’s or comparing Earths present atmosphere with the atmosphere
expected IF life was said as ‘deleted’ from Earth. This links to the idea of
removing the majority of N2 (nitrogen) from Earth and how if done so, mass
amounts of Oxygen would do so too. This however is counterbalanced by the vast
water source (H20) and C02 found on Earth which could in fact allow the
nitrogen to leave with oxygen still present, this however would end with the
dominant element being left as C02. This is another example of disequilibrium
within the elements. 

 

In a similar manor, the idea that earth
couldn’t survive without nitrogen whereas Mars can, suggests that the gases
within the Earths biosphere are all dependant on each other. On the other hand,
we can also suggest that the Earth’s atmosphere was perhaps merely a neutral
back ground source of materials in which the life created amongst it, is able
to recycle.

 

Concluding the theory as a whole, the Gaia
supports the idea that every component on earth has the ability to adapt to the
drastic changes that have taken place over billions of years, whether it be
chemically or physically and how due to these changes, each component can
support surrounding components in order to sustain what we know as ‘life’ on
this planet we call Earth. 

 

 

Part 2

 

Different aspects of life on Earth affect
the sustainability of the Earth itself. One of the key factors that accounts to
this would be the living human race. Human life is estimated to grow by at
least 200,000 per day, which allows for bigger families, therefore more jobs
and resulting in a source of income for the world’s economy. However due to
rapid increase in a selective amount of years (from the beginning of life on
Earth) the amount of space and natural resources left for us to use becomes
limited. This results in issues with the overall health and basic requirements
in order for a human life to survive. 

One of these issues comes with demolishing
huge amounts of plant filled areas, forests being a key component here. Never
the less believed by many is the idea that humans must dominate nature in any
hierarchal society, resulting in the abomination of any forest filled area. As
we know from previous knowledge, trees provide us with key elements within our
Earth such as the production of oxygen which allows us as humans to breath, and
the taking in of carbon dioxide when it is exhaled or produced whether it be by
humans or other machines.  When we take
this away from an area of mass components, we are bound to find some downfalls.
One of the main negatives being the eco system of a vast selection of species
is eliminated thus resulting in extinction for selected animals/ insects. A
second issue would be that the surrounding air is no longer clean which in turn
holds negative impact on any living form contained within that area. 

 

Alongside other factors of nature that are
included within the sustainability of life itself comes the un sustainable
amount of water used up by humans and other species. Water is a natural source
that we have believed to have been here since the beginning of time, upon this
Earth never the less the amount of water used from over the years has increased
at an extremely rapid and non-sustainable rate. Not only from over usage of the
source itself have we made it difficult to sustain, but through development
also. Half of the worlds wetlands have been lost due to mass development which
equally degrades the quality of the source itself, having a huge impact on Eco systems
that rely on it hugely. 

# data[].attributes.body
The  Gaia  theory  proposes  that  organisms  interact  with  the

ir  surroundings  on

Earth  to form one complex system  that  helps  maintain

the  conditions  needed

for  life  on  Earth.  This  has  evolved  over  millions  of  yea

rs.  This  includes  how

evolution of   life   forms   affect   the   stability   of   global   t

emperature, ocean

salinity, oxygen in the atmosphere. This was proposed by Ja

mes Lovelock in the

1960s.

The  Gaia  hypothesis  suggests  that  the  Earth's atmospher

ic  composition,  (e.g.

what makes it up) is kept at a steady state by the presence of li

fe. This balances

out  with  humans  breathing  oxygen  in  and  plants  releasin

g  oxygen  and  vice

versa.

The  hypothesis  was  widely  criticized  when  it  was  first  r

eleased  by  many

famous scientists. Lovelock put this down to a lack of unders

tanding.

# data[].attributes.headline
Jessica Scutchings - GRF Gaia Hypothesis

# data[].attributes.subject
Jessica Scutchings - GRF Gaia Hypothesis

# data[].attributes.body
The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Jessica Scutchings

The Gaia hypothesis suggests that “living organisms and their inorganic surroundings have evolved together as one single living system that greatly affects the chemistry and conditions of Earth’s surface”. Some scientists believe that this system regulates the global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity, and other factors that are essential for us to survive.

The Gaia hypothesis was first scientifically formulated in the 1960s by the independent research scientist James Lovelock. He proposed the idea when he was working for NASA looking for life on other planets. When doing this he was looking at all the components needed on a planet to sustain life, for example temperature, atmospheric content. He noticed that Earth had an unstable balance of these things and yet it is capable of sustaining life. He then released that the Earth must be able to regulate the things needed to survive. The theory is named after the ancient Greek goddess of the earth Gaia.

Humans have a massive impact on sustainability. We are constantly polluting the water, air and land. When you think about all the water on earth only 2.5% is freshwater and out of that less than 1% is available for us (United Nations Environment Programme). Only 2% of farms are organic, which means that almost 69% of our freshwater supply is being polluted by chemical pesticides, herbicides, and chemical fertilizers, while also being contaminated with fossil fuels and emissions from heavy farming machinery (Organic Farming Research Foundation).

The land is polluted by humans when for example natural habitats are removed to make room for communities, usually without planning it properly or with the use of chemical fertilizers, herbicides and pesticides on farms.

Air pollution is caused by fossil fuels or emissions from factories, cars and other vehicles, to name a few. All these ways that humans are polluting the planet is making it less sustainable for the future and therefore future generations are going to suffer for it. For example we need breathable air and drinkable water and if we keep polluting it then we won’t have these to survive.

References –

http://www.gaiatheory.org/overview/

http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/gaia/esp_gaia01.htm

http://www.sustainablebabysteps.com/human-impact-on-environment.html

# data[].attributes.body
The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Katie

The Gaia theory was first composed in 1960 by John Lovelock, which was then supported by microbiologist Lynn Margulis and has since had many supporters including Vaclav Havel and John Todd. However, the contemplation of the relationship between people and the earth is ancient dating back 2500 years ago which is the Chinese philosophy of Feng-Shui, which took into account the patterns of nature whilst building villages.
The Gaia theory is a scientific understanding of earth as a living system which takes in account of cultural understanding of human society. Furthermore it shows that the earth isn't just "a piece of rock" and is in fact a living organism; an example of this is that even though the suns luminosity has increased by 30% our living system has reacted so that human life can still remain. It also studies how climate change, energy, health agriculture and the effects the earth. It is thought that the Gaia system self regulates temperature, ocean salinity and the content of the atmosphere in an automatic manner, which humans have adopted similar automatic processes which is also known as geomimicing. Mainly in the past 20 years many self- regulating mechanisms have been discovered which includes the patterns of clouds forming over open ocean which was originally thought to be a chemical or physical process but has later been found to be caused by waste gas also.

There are a few human issues that reduce the overall sustainability of the world. One of the main issues that effects social sustainability is gender inequality, which effects many women across both MEDCs and LEDCs; where in some LEDCs women and girls aren't even allowed to go to school and get an education. Humans also have an impact on economic sustainability, this is again split significantly between MEDCs and LEDCs. This is because MEDCs consumption and the waste product produced is very high, much of them having high GDPs and a stable economy meaning their economic sustainability can be seen as negative as much more if taken and produced than is needed meaning there is two extremes between the very rich and very poor.
An emphasis on this two speed world is that many LEDCs such as Ghana go without sanitation and clean water; even though the economic climate is very different between LEDCs and MEDCs LEDCs still can have a negative economic climate even though they aren't producing mass amounts of waste products. This is often because these countries have corrupt governments meaning that the people in charge are keeping most of the money to benefit the rich and leaving very little for the poor. This can also be linked to the effect on social sustainability as it is inforcing a class system, which is causing people to be separate from one another.
Humans also have a very large impact on the environmental sustainability as well. The main part being the excessive amounts of greenhouse gases which are being emmitted from things such as car and factories. These are produced because fossil fuels are still being burnt to supply energy rather than converting over to more environmentally sustainable energy sources such as windfarms.
However, it isn't just humans that are impacting the sustainability of the earth, there are also some evolutionary impacts. A social impact that has occurred is that due to intellegence that has developed over time it has allowed us to be able to connect with anyone, anywhere in the world, this can be seen as a positive as it makes trading between countries much easier which also means there is a positive economic impacts. But, due to the trading across seas it has caused a very negative impact on the environment, with a lot more water pollution occuring as well as GHGs being emmitted still.
The impacts are also happening on an even large scale still, there is global issues that are impacting our sustainability. One of the major social sustainable issues is the large amount of countries which are at war. An example of this is World War 2 where around 60 million people died. A more current war that is occurring is in Syria where many are fleeing their homes and trying to illegal get into other countries just so they can become safer. This is having a very negative impact on social sustainability as whole cities/ villages are being destroyed and families are being split up.
A two speed world is a phrase commonly used to describe how some countries are developing or have developed much faster than others have, making it seem like two places are almost in completely different eras. This is having a negative impact on the environment as the MEDCs, as mentioned earlier, are producing significantly more pollution than the smaller LEDCs. This has tried to be combatted with schemes such as the kyoto protocol but have become less effective over time as countries have began to trade to get more credits leaving them able to still produce more GHGs then the guidelines suggested.

# data[].attributes.body
The Gaia hypothesis is the idea that ‘the organic and inorganic components of plant Earth have evolved together as a single living, self-regulating system.’

The Gaia hypothesis was conceived by James Lovelock in the 1960s whilst he was working on NASA’s Mars Viking project. Lovelock was working on designing and making the instruments that would be used to search for and hopefully find evidence life on Mars.

During this project he had to first decide on what should be measured in order to find evidence of life. To solve this he envisioned himself on Mars looking at Earth and how could he tell that Earth was sustaining life. The answer was the atmosphere.

Planet Earth’s atmosphere has high levels of oxygen. Oxygen of which is being converted from carbon dioxide, via photosynthesis, by one organism to then be used by another organism to metabolise. Lovelock says that all these chemical reactions and processes make Earth’s atmosphere lively and possible to support life.

On the other hand, Lovelock describes Mars’ atmosphere as being almost dead; this inactivity led him to the conclusion that Mars probably doesn’t support life due to its atmosphere not showing evidence of any.

This led to a recommendation he gave to NASA about scrapping the Viking project as life on Mars was very improbable due to the atmosphere’s composition and inactivity.

This correlation between the atmosphere and life was the beginning of the Gaia hypothesis.

The name for the hypothesis, Gaia, was suggested by William Golding, a Nobel Prize winning author. The word originates from Gaea, the Greek goddess of Earth.

Lovelock came to meet a certain microbiologist called Lynn Margulis. She was the husband of one of Lovelock’s colleagues and, unlike her husband, she shared Lovelock’s belief in this idea of Gaia.

Lovelock and Margulis co-authored paper, ‘Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: the gaia hypothesis’. This was the first paper which properly introduced and started to explain the hypothesis, Lovelock did publish a brief paper on Gaia previous to this however.

‘The notion of the biosphere as an active adaptive control system able to maintain the Earth in homeostasis we are calling the ‘Gaia’ hypothesis, Lovelock (1972).’

The ‘biosphere’ is defined as “the regions of the surface and atmosphere of the Earth or another plant occupied by living organisms.”

This extract from the paper shows how the hypothesis has matured as Lovelock and Margulis have done more work and research into how the Gaia hypothesis works.

The hypothesis originally just stated that organic components had an effect, but it now states that the inorganic environment also plays its part in a biosphere’s self-regulating system.

The two early areas of research which showed promising evidence of how the Earth is self-regulating are the Sun & the oceans.

The Sun has been and will carry on to increase its heat output yet ever since the Earth has started supporting life, the Earth’s surface temperature has always managed to stay at comfortable levels to sustain life.

The concentration of salt in the ocean, salinity, stays low and consistent to support aquatic life, although large amounts of salt enter the seas and oceans every year.

Both of these events that affect the biosphere have been made examples of to demonstrate that the Earth can and does self-regulate as a singular body as if the temperature and oceanic salt concentrations weren’t kept at similar levels then life would be lost and have subsequent effects on the rest of the Earth.

There have been many studies to further provide evidence but also there have been smaller samples done on particular substances found in the water to give evidence of this regulation by looking at levels of chemicals and other substances in the ocean for example.

All organisms, especially humans, have an impact on the environment and the sustainability of a particular action or process, or lack of, can have major consequences.

The burning of fossil fuels for energy has many side effects that hinder the environment. The rate at which coal, oil and natural gas are being used is not sustainable, it takes millions of years for them to properly form from dead organisms. The human race are essentially burning through a finite resource without the means to replace the energy needs when we run out.

The burning of fossil fuels also releases harmful by-products into the atmosphere which can contribute to acid rain, which can causes serious harm and damage to the environment and its wildlife, and greenhouse gases which contribute to climate change.

Deforestation is an incredibly unsustainable act. Large areas of the rainforests are being cut down for farmland. Deforestation affects the local and global ecosystem as it changes the water cycle, the makeup of our atmosphere and causes the loss of countless species of organisms.

The destruction of habitats and areas at this rate is not sustainable as the levels of replantation do not come close to the levels of deforestation.

Over fishing can quickly and negatively affect numerous ecosystems. The rapid reduction of one piece of the food chain can lead to a major imbalance. The organism that the overfished species would have preyed upon will increase greatly in numbers due to the lack of predators which can have a multitude of effects, for example this organism may release a potent toxin into the water supply. On the other hand, the organism which would eat the overfished species will decrease in numbers rapidly due to no longer having enough food to sustain their numbers, and depending on the food chain this could affect one or three other species.

Overpopulation is also becoming a pressing issue, not just for the human race but for the whole planet. There is already an imbalance where some people have access to everything they could possibly need whereas others do not have access to a bottle of clean water.

Overpopulation is not sustainable as the population is greater than one you can support with the resources you have. ��6�l�

# data[].attributes.headline
The Gaia Hypothesis – a review by Ewan Harrison

The hypothesis states that on Earth living organisms and their
surroundings have evolved together as a single living system changing the
chemistry and conditions of the earth’s surface. It is believed that these
systems regulate global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity and many
other factors. Earth’s living conditions keeps the conditions perfect for many
organisms to coexist. The Gaia hypothesis states that planet earth has evolved
together with natural and man-made substances to create a self-regulating
system; regulating the oceans, atmosphere, temperature and others and doing so
to maintain its own habitability. Living organisms will only live where they
are able to adapt and change to survive.  

The history of the Gaia hypothesis begins with its
development in the late 1960’s by Dr James Lovelock; a hypothesis which gained interest
among other scientists whom were keen to expand his work. Their research began with
the basics of how the earth regulates itself. The earth regulates its temperature
partly from its cloud cover, however clouds do more than just increase the
Earth’s temperature. The water cycle also moves nutrients though the cycle of
the earth though the cloud cycle. The Gaia hypothesis still maintains its
relevance in current scientific affairs, allowing scientists to extend their
research of model human activities; with which the hypothesis helps to design
economical, kinetic, social and governmental systems.

The Earth wouldn’t be able to self-regulate unless the
conditions such as temperature, oceans, atmosphere, carbon cycle are suitable.
The earth’s oceans need to be at specific salinity, correct levels of gases in
the atmosphere and the right temperature for life to grow, let alone sustain
itself. With oceans, their salinity has been at an average 3.5% for ages, as
this has been stable for such a long time it gives the organisms time to adapt
and survive in these conditions. This also means that if salinity increases or
decreases, by even a small margin of 1-2%, these life forms won’t be able to
continue doing their jobs to help sustain the oceans/earth. Things like the
food chain could be affected killing off many species of animals, with less
animals in the sea less birds in the air, less birds in the air less predators
that eat birds. This is a cycle that can be drastically altered if the
conditions aren’t met. The salinity of the ocean is a mystery; scientists
believe it’s the oceans convection currents of water passing though the
basaltic rocks emerging at hot water vents on mid-ocean ridges. 

The Earth’s atmosphere is kept at a relatively steady state,
like the salinity of the water, for life to grow and evolve in it. All of the
gases, apart from the noble gases, are created by the organisms that live or
lived on earth, or a by-product of them. Oxygen wasn’t always on the earth,
only until life forms were created could oxygen be produced. The Earth’s
atmosphere contains roughly 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039%
carbon dioxide and very small amounts of other gases such as methane. Methane
is a gas that reacts with oxygen and combusts, with oxygen and methane levels
how they are now the atmosphere is stable, but if oxygen was to exceed 25%
there would be a large increase in wildfires. 

Temperature is another key factor of how the world runs and
sustains itself. The earth has had to adapt slowly to the increasing
temperature of the sun, its energy has increased by 25% to 30%. You would
expect that the surface temperature would change due to this but it hasn’t. This
is due to the earth’s system regulating the planets temperature allowing life
forms to still inhabit it. There are key aspects that stop the world from
overheating. Greenhouse gases, although portrayed as a bad thing can, in small
doses, be a good shield for keeping the sun’s rays out and maintain the
temperature of the planet inside. But like everything, too much or too little
can be fatal and can severely damage our planet. Humans are starting to have
impacts on the sustainability of the world. With more of the world becoming
industrialised, more greenhouse gases are surrounding the globe. This is
increasing small factors; albedo, sea temperature, crust temperature and other
general and more minuscule factors. 

There are many cycles affecting Earth that makes it
self-sufficient. The carbon cycle is one of the larger ones. Figure 1 clearly
shows the basics of how each environment sustains the others. With too much or
too little from specific areas of this cycle, it can imbalance it. For example,
deforesting, air pollution from humans and many other factors need to be precise
for this to continue. The human race as a population can affect areas of this
carbon cycle, by increasing population it increases carbon dioxide output from
humans, but also the livestock needed to supply us with food. It can also lead
to deforesting areas to make the space for agriculture and living
accommodation. The more the world grows and industrialises, the more pollution
we make. If everyone is slowly increasing their carbon footprint the greenhouse
gases are going to be affected soon, causing temperature change and other
problems such as natural catastrophes. With the greenhouse layer increasing it
is slowly warming the atmosphere below it as the sun’s rays are reflected and
kept inside warming the globe. This combined with the lowering of the albedo,
is absorbing more of the sun’s rays into the darkened earth instead of
reflecting it and maintaining temperature.

Humans impact the planet drastically. Every topic I have
covered can be altered in a positive or negative way, unfortunately most of
them negatively. With problems hitting the Earth such as increases in
population growth, carbon footprints and pollution rates worldwide, over
industrialisation and many others. The sea is affected by humans dumping and
polluting the oceans. This is altering the food chains and animals are dying
due to incidents such as oil spills and the use of plastic microbeads in
cosmetics. Where smaller areas are affected this slowly affects the larger
areas of the planet because of their numbers. The atmosphere is easily polluted
by the amount of pollution we make as humans from industrialisation and other
means. Polluting harmful gases such as methane and carbon dioxide can alter the
balance of the atmosphere. Within certain thresholds these gases, along with
all the others, are vital in atmospheric sustainability, but increases could
see increases in forest fires and general global warming. This is the main
concern we have today with groups such as the Kyoto protocol, trying to prevent
this from happening. 

Without all of these factors working in sync, the world
wouldn’t be habitable. So to allow the earth to maintain its self-sufficient
ways, we need to preserve these aspects and each individual area. Personally
this cycle is a key basis of understanding and continuing processes in life. It
is a good basis for research to continue off of and develop new ideas around
it. The whole idea allows us to understand that the world has thresholds in its
environment. With too much or too little on each of these sections keeping the
earth self-sufficient, it can have massive impacts. This allows humans to
develop new ways of keeping these thresholds in the specific area to continue
sustainability. 

 

# data[].attributes.subject
The Gaia Hypothesis – a review by Ewan Harrison

The hypothesis states that on Earth living organisms and their
surroundings have evolved together as a single living system changing the
chemistry and conditions of the earth’s surface. It is believed that these
systems regulate global temperature, atmospheric content, ocean salinity and many
other factors. Earth’s living conditions keeps the conditions perfect for many
organisms to coexist. The Gaia hypothesis states that planet earth has evolved
together with natural and man-made substances to create a self-regulating
system; regulating the oceans, atmosphere, temperature and others and doing so
to maintain its own habitability. Living organisms will only live where they
are able to adapt and change to survive.  

The history of the Gaia hypothesis begins with its
development in the late 1960’s by Dr James Lovelock; a hypothesis which gained interest
among other scientists whom were keen to expand his work. Their research began with
the basics of how the earth regulates itself. The earth regulates its temperature
partly from its cloud cover, however clouds do more than just increase the
Earth’s temperature. The water cycle also moves nutrients though the cycle of
the earth though the cloud cycle. The Gaia hypothesis still maintains its
relevance in current scientific affairs, allowing scientists to extend their
research of model human activities; with which the hypothesis helps to design
economical, kinetic, social and governmental systems.

The Earth wouldn’t be able to self-regulate unless the
conditions such as temperature, oceans, atmosphere, carbon cycle are suitable.
The earth’s oceans need to be at specific salinity, correct levels of gases in
the atmosphere and the right temperature for life to grow, let alone sustain
itself. With oceans, their salinity has been at an average 3.5% for ages, as
this has been stable for such a long time it gives the organisms time to adapt
and survive in these conditions. This also means that if salinity increases or
decreases, by even a small margin of 1-2%, these life forms won’t be able to
continue doing their jobs to help sustain the oceans/earth. Things like the
food chain could be affected killing off many species of animals, with less
animals in the sea less birds in the air, less birds in the air less predators
that eat birds. This is a cycle that can be drastically altered if the
conditions aren’t met. The salinity of the ocean is a mystery; scientists
believe it’s the oceans convection currents of water passing though the
basaltic rocks emerging at hot water vents on mid-ocean ridges. 

The Earth’s atmosphere is kept at a relatively steady state,
like the salinity of the water, for life to grow and evolve in it. All of the
gases, apart from the noble gases, are created by the organisms that live or
lived on earth, or a by-product of them. Oxygen wasn’t always on the earth,
only until life forms were created could oxygen be produced. The Earth’s
atmosphere contains roughly 78.09% nitrogen, 20.95% oxygen, 0.93% argon, 0.039%
carbon dioxide and very small amounts of other gases such as methane. Methane
is a gas that reacts with oxygen and combusts, with oxygen and methane levels
how they are now the atmosphere is stable, but if oxygen was to exceed 25%
there would be a large increase in wildfires. 

Temperature is another key factor of how the world runs and
sustains itself. The earth has had to adapt slowly to the increasing
temperature of the sun, its energy has increased by 25% to 30%. You would
expect that the surface temperature would change due to this but it hasn’t. This
is due to the earth’s system regulating the planets temperature allowing life
forms to still inhabit it. There are key aspects that stop the world from
overheating. Greenhouse gases, although portrayed as a bad thing can, in small
doses, be a good shield for keeping the sun’s rays out and maintain the
temperature of the planet inside. But like everything, too much or too little
can be fatal and can severely damage our planet. Humans are starting to have
impacts on the sustainability of the world. With more of the world becoming
industrialised, more greenhouse gases are surrounding the globe. This is
increasing small factors; albedo, sea temperature, crust temperature and other
general and more minuscule factors. 

There are many cycles affecting Earth that makes it
self-sufficient. The carbon cycle is one of the larger ones. Figure 1 clearly
shows the basics of how each environment sustains the others. With too much or
too little from specific areas of this cycle, it can imbalance it. For example,
deforesting, air pollution from humans and many other factors need to be precise
for this to continue. The human race as a population can affect areas of this
carbon cycle, by increasing population it increases carbon dioxide output from
humans, but also the livestock needed to supply us with food. It can also lead
to deforesting areas to make the space for agriculture and living
accommodation. The more the world grows and industrialises, the more pollution
we make. If everyone is slowly increasing their carbon footprint the greenhouse
gases are going to be affected soon, causing temperature change and other
problems such as natural catastrophes. With the greenhouse layer increasing it
is slowly warming the atmosphere below it as the sun’s rays are reflected and
kept inside warming the globe. This combined with the lowering of the albedo,
is absorbing more of the sun’s rays into the darkened earth instead of
reflecting it and maintaining temperature.

Humans impact the planet drastically. Every topic I have
covered can be altered in a positive or negative way, unfortunately most of
them negatively. With problems hitting the Earth such as increases in
population growth, carbon footprints and pollution rates worldwide, over
industrialisation and many others. The sea is affected by humans dumping and
polluting the oceans. This is altering the food chains and animals are dying
due to incidents such as oil spills and the use of plastic microbeads in
cosmetics. Where smaller areas are affected this slowly affects the larger
areas of the planet because of their numbers. The atmosphere is easily polluted
by the amount of pollution we make as humans from industrialisation and other
means. Polluting harmful gases such as methane and carbon dioxide can alter the
balance of the atmosphere. Within certain thresholds these gases, along with
all the others, are vital in atmospheric sustainability, but increases could
see increases in forest fires and general global warming. This is the main
concern we have today with groups such as the Kyoto protocol, trying to prevent
this from happening. 

Without all of these factors working in sync, the world
wouldn’t be habitable. So to allow the earth to maintain its self-sufficient
ways, we need to preserve these aspects and each individual area. Personally
this cycle is a key basis of understanding and continuing processes in life. It
is a good basis for research to continue off of and develop new ideas around
it. The whole idea allows us to understand that the world has thresholds in its
environment. With too much or too little on each of these sections keeping the
earth self-sufficient, it can have massive impacts. This allows humans to
develop new ways of keeping these thresholds in the specific area to continue
sustainability. 

 

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The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Lloyd Butcher
The Gaia hypothesis written by James Lovelock in 1970, the Gaia hypothesis is based on aboriginal ideas that the earth is a living entity. Lovelock believes that humanity is not essential to the earth’s survival and that the planet regulates itself in favour of life through a sense of intelligence which it uses to survive itself. The book explores the idea that if humans do not respect Gaia and don’t confront environmental issues that have arisen through human negligence then we will be made extinct by Gaia.  Essentially if a species are a threat to Gaia then it will be eradicated from the earth.

Humans have had a substantial and harmful impact on the entire planet, with the average global population increase being 80 million per year; such a rapid growth has caused an increased demand for all resources (food, electricity, water etc.).  These demands have lead to the depletion of massive amounts of natural resources, the best example of this depletion in resources would be fossil fuels which at current rates of production, oil will run out in 53 years, natural gas in 54, and coal in 110. The extreme use of these resources does not come without its consequences; burning fossil fuels releases green house gases which are a direct cause of global warming. More human’s means that more food has to be produced causing excessive breeding of animals, one such animal is the cow which produces large quantities of methane - a green house gas and a main contributor to global warming. Moreover, space is needed to breed animals. Need for more breeding space has caused large areas of forests to be cleared in order to make room for the growing livestock.

Deforestation is also an environmental crisis caused by humans; the earth’s total forest area has been decreasing by 13 million hectares per year. Deforestation causes the destruction of countless habits consequently affecting the local wild animal population.

Over recent years rising temperatures has caused the polar ice caps to shrink dramatically, this has lead to rising sea levels, When sea levels rise rapidly, as they have been doing, even a small increase can have devastating effects on coastal habitats. As seawater reaches farther inland, it can cause destructive erosion, flooding of wetlands, and agricultural soils, and lost habitat for fish, birds, and plants. Another issue involving the issue is the excessive dumping of plastic and other non biodegradable products has caused serious issues for ocean life who can consume or become entwined by the plastic. Overfishing is also a large threat to the oceans wildlife, Overfishing occurs when more fish are caught than the population can replace through natural reproduction  The results of overfishing not only affect the balance of life in the oceans, but also the social and economic well-being of the coastal communities who depend on fish for their way of life.

.Sulphur dioxide dissolves easily in water to form sulphuric acid which is a major component of acid rain.  Acid rain can cause issues to both human health and the environment, acid rain can be linked to asthma and chronic bronchitis as well as pneumonia, and additionally it can harm forest lakes and streams. Acid rain dissolves the nutrients in soil that trees need to be healthy also it causes aluminium to be realised in the soil which makes it difficult for trees to take in water.  Equally acid rain lowers the pH of lakes and streams also the aluminium in the soil caused by acid rain seeps into the water, unfortunately this increase in acidity and aluminium levels can be deadly to aquatic wildlife, including phytoplankton, mayflies, rainbow trout, small mouth bass, frogs, spotted salamanders, crayfish, and other creatures that are part of the food web.

Increased global temperatures have lead to warmer water temperatures which can result in coral bleaching. When water is too warm, corals expel algae living in their tissues causing the coral to turn completely white, if the algae loss is prolonged and the stress continues the coral will eventually dies.

Landfills cause pollution to the local environment by contaminating groundwater, contaminating the soil and producing methane which is 21 times more powerful then carbon dioxide.

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The Gaia hypothesis : a review by Leia Aucock

From what I have seen the Gaia theory is the idea that each planet is a living organism and that it is able to fix and replenish itself to create a sustainable climate and regulate its temperature. Equally it is the idea that unless organisms occupy a planet extensively and evolve with it as a single system the conditions of their tenancy are not met. Equally the evolution of a species and the evolution of their environment are tightly coupled together as a single inseparable process. The earth is a super organism and Gaia is the research that as we inhabit the earth it makes changes to the planetary atmospheric composition. This all makes sense when put into the perspective that the cycling of nutritious elements such as nutrients in the soil or the movement of water is the same as that in the circulation of blood, and although this theory has not yet been prove, it is only a hypothesis, even a “let’s suppose” they realise it may not be 100% accurate but it is just an idea.

The writer of the book came to the idea that earth is alive naming it the Gaia theory. After sharing his theory the director of nasa sent him a letter to share his ideas with him.

The first public expression of this idea was by a Scottish scientist names James Hutton in 1785 at a meeting of the royal society of Edinburgh. Many people were cautious about believing this idea as it went against many ideas they already had in their scientific perspective. Many people were unable to find out about having similar ideas with other countries due to the deafness that English speaks had to any other language leading to common knowledge not being shared between different countries. For example the Russian speaking world shared many views of Gaia but English speakers were unaware of such information.

• As humans we are causing many unsubstaianble choices which impact this planet for example things as simple as taking baths? Or not recycling your rubbish? Can that really impact us/ the answer is yes. Statistically UK households produced 30.5 million tonnes of waste in 2003/04 this means that as a community we are causing all this land pollution. Here are some facts to explain whats going on and put it into visual terms 1 recycled tin can would save enough energy to power a television for 3 hours.

• 1 recycled glass bottle would save enough energy to power a computer for 25 minutes.

• 1 recycled plastic bottle would save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for 3 hours.

• 70% less energy is required to recycle paper compared with making it from raw materials.

With this in mind it shows us that over time this is causing such a large impact on our planet.

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Environmental Sustainability Getting Ready For
The Gaia hypothesis
The Gaia hypothesis consists of the idea that the Earths ecosystem acts to maintain an equilibrium of the entire planets physical conditions, for example; composition of the atmosphere and temperature etc. Due to the philosophical nature of the theory it is typically classified as a failed hypothesis at best and otherwise a pseudoscience at worst. Also known as the ‘Gaia theory’ or ‘Gaian Science’ it further proclaims that the physical components and systems of earth itself are all linked together in a system that allows Earth to maintain an internal stability.
The origin of the Gaia theory composed by Dr James Lovelock, in fact started from an exploration of outer space. After being approached by NASA, in 1965, whom asked him for help in searching for life on Mars, Lovelock proposed various physical tests in determining whether mars contained life or not. The used would analyse the composition of the planet’s atmosphere. If the planet held no life, then the planet would have an atmosphere close to the chemical equilibrium state, whereas a planet with life would result in an atmosphere far from the chemical equilibrium state due to the metabolic activities of the atmosphere. In the analysis of both Martian and the Earth’s atmosphere, Lovelock began to assume that an unlikely combination of gasses withheld by Earth indicated a balance of the Earths biosphere that maintains the environmental conditions habitable for life.
An example of a Gaian process is Lovelock suggests how Gaia is constantly at work to keep our oxygen content within the atmosphere high and within a range of all living oxygen-breathing animals. This can be supported by the fact that the atmospheres of our two closest neighbouring planets (Venus and Mars) contain 0.00% and 0.13% of free oxygen.
Human impacts on sustainability
In perhaps being the most negative human impact on sustainability is water pollution. This evident through facts such as: of all water on Earth only 2.5% is freshwater, of the 2.5% less than 1% is in fact available to us and furthermore 70% of freshwater goes to irrigation. In only 2% of all farms being organic this equates to 69% of our freshwater being contaminated by chemical pesticides, herbicides and chemical fertilisers, whilst also compounded by fossil fuels and heavy farming emissions. These chemical compounds also contribute to acid rain and therefore have harmful effects on plants, animals, aquatic life, as well as human life and building structures.
Furthermore, land pollution and the depravity of the Earths surfaces and soil is also caused by human activity and a misuse of natural resources. One cause of land degradation is urban sprawl in which habitats are removed to make room for human communities, where usually coupled with irresponsible planning, urban sprawl generally results in a waste of land area for unused development.
Despite more than 80% of people living in areas that monitor air pollution are exposed to air quality levels that exceed the World Health Organisation limits, our human impact on the environment from air pollution is lowering and therefore air quality is increasing. Since 1990–2008
• Ozone has decreased by 14%
• Lead decreased by 78%
• Nitrogen dioxide decreased by 35%
• Carbon Monoxide decreased by 68%
• Sulfur dioxide decreased by 59%
Although more than 127 million people live in areas that exceed quality standards, and some of the quality standards are far from ideal including the ozone statistics. However, in contrary practises have been put into place to overcome and eliminate the major polluters, such as
• Better public transport including; electric cars, rail and city planning to replace heavy commutes, fossil fuels and air travel.
• Upgrading existing factories with greener technology including solar panels and air filtration systems
• Removing animals from factory farms and therefore raising them on natural diets and rotating grazing to deduce methane emissions and pollution

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The Gaia Hypothesis: a review by Lucy Reynard

James Lovelock first began to think of the Earth as a self regulating complex 'superorganism' in 1965 .The name came from William Golding (famous author who won a Nobel Prize for writing). Golding was interested in science and suggested Gaia as it is personification of the earth as a Greek goddess. Greek mythology works in a way that tries to makes sense of big things through stories. For example explaining storms, lightning, thunder etc..
The Gaia hypothesis is the idea that Earth is a living organism and can regulate its own environment. This idea argues that Earth is able to maintain conditions that are favourable for life to survive on it, and that it is the living things on Earth that give the planet this ability.
Examples of science based Gaia thinking include the way ocean clouds are produced by algae living on the surface of the sea which release gases that go into the sky and oxidise. Water droplets form around them and reflect sunlight. Without these clouds, the Earth would be hotter. Also, carbon dioxide is removed from the air by plant life and it is plant life that converts carbon dioxide into oxygen and animal life that converts oxygen into carbon dioxide. The combination of these also help to regulate the atmosphere. Lovelock quotes global warming as a real example of change and damage
Lovelock arrived at this hypothesis by studying Earth's neighbouring planets, Mars and Venus. Mars especially as he was invited to join NASA in the USA to help with their Mars project to find out whether life was possible on Mars. Suggesting that chemistry and physics seemed to argue that these planets should have an atmosphere just like Earth, Lovelock stated that Earth's atmosphere is different because it has life on it. Both Mars and Venus have an atmosphere with about 95 percent carbon dioxide, while Earth's is about 79 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. He explained this dramatic difference by saying that Earth's atmosphere was probably very much like that of its neighbours at first, and there was hardly any life on it.
This theory has always been challenged but has gradually been accepted by more scientists. We now know more about the systems that interact and the theory has predicted a number of things that have actually happened. It is now commonly called Earth System Science and describes the inter-relationship between the organic and non-organic in sustaining life on our planet.

Sustainability

The three aspects are of sustainability are economy, society and environment. The Earth is currently suffering from a degrading environment, climate change, overconsumption, population growth and societies' desire of economic growth at any cost. However, humanity is beginning to realise that the damage we are doing to our planet is increasing faster than ever before and there is increasing determination to make improvements and do less damage.
Radical population growth has meant there is less to go around and the vast majority of wealth is owned by an incredibly small few. There are many nations who cannot afford to do the right thing for the planet. For example, the majority of countries in the world agree that to minimise the use of fossil fuels, oil, gas and coal is important to the environment. However, poor countries such as India, have to burn coal for energy regardless of the impact.
Economic growth is another factor and China is a good example. Until 2015 China was the world's fastest growing economy averaging 10% each year for the past 30 years. China is a global centre for manufacturing and the largest exporter of goods in the world. High carbon emissions and toxic waste were only recently considered to be something the Chinese should work to change. They are slowly moving towards cleaner and more high tech industries.
Humans are modifying the world in many ways to suit ourselves. These changes often cause challenges to animals, plants and microbes from the introduction of poisons to the introduction of invasive species. An example could be the introduction of grey squirrels originally imported from USA in the 1870s as fashionable additions to estates- they have now killed almost all of the British Red squirrels except for in a few areas like the Isle of Wight and some areas of Scotland.
In ecology, long living wetlands and forests are examples of sustainable biological systems as are coral reefs and clean oceans and rivers. Coral Reefs exist around the world, not just warm exotic locations. These are being steadily destroyed by man through destructive fishing techniques, overfishing, careless tourism and pollution and Climate change.
Humanity needs to take global responsibility for the protection of our planet. Whilst it the responsibility of us all, it falls to the richer and better educated to take the lead.

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Watch this video to get the low-down

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Stuff They Don't Want You To Know - HowStuffWorks

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How interrelated is life on Earth? Could it be possible that the entire planet is a single superorganism? Tune in and learn more about the Gaia hypothesis. SUBSCRIBE | http://bit.ly/stdwytk-sub WEBSITE | http://bit.ly/stdwytk-home AUDIO PODCAST | http://bit.ly/stdwytk-audio-itunes TWITTER | http://bit.ly/stdwytk-twitter FACEBOOK | http://bit.ly/stdwytk-fb EMAIL | Conspiracy@HowStuffWorks.com STORE | http://stufftheydontwantyoutoknow.spreadshirt.com Here are the facts.

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Online resources to help with P2 Gaia assignment

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Online resources to help with P2 Gaia assignment

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http://www.globalchange.umich.edu/globalchange1/current/lectures/Gaia/

https://courses.seas.harvard.edu/climate/eli/Courses/EPS281r/Sources/Gaia/Gaia-hypothesis-wikipedia.pdf

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Global Change Lecture Notes: The Gaia Hypothesis

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"The Gaia hypothesis says that the temperature, oxidation state, acidity, and certain aspects of the rocks and waters are kept constant, and that this homeostasis is maintained by active feedback processes operated automatically and unconsciously by the biota." - James Lovelock, The Ages of Gaia