gaier.html - The Earth viewed as a vast self-regulating organism, in which the whole range of living matter defines the conditions for its own survival, modifying the physical environment to
suit its needs. Used especially in Gaia hypothesis or Gaia theory, the theory that this is how the global ecosystem functions. Etymology: Named after Gaia, the Earth goddess in Greek mythology (the daughter of Chaos). History and Usage: The
term was coined by the British scientist James Lovelock, who first put forward the hypothesis at a scientific meeting
about the origins of life on Earth in 1969; the suggestion that it should be named after the goddess Gaia had
come from William Golding. Although not especially well received by the scientific community, the theory reached a wider audience in the eighties and early nineties and proved very attractive both to environmentalists and to the New
Age movement , with its emphasis on holistic concepts and an Earth Mother. Gaia is used as a proper name for the hypothetical organism itself, and also as a shorthand
way of referring to the Gaia hypothesis. Gaian (as an adjective and noun) and Gaiaist (as an
adjective ) have been derived from it. 'The Biosphere Catalogue' expresses a kind of spirituality in science, a metaphysical belief in the
biosphere as an entity which
has been dubbed 'Gaia', as if to acknowledge
its divine qualities. Los Angeles Times 15 Dec. 1985, p.
12 Gaians (to use an
abbreviation popular at the meeting) argue that this
state of affairs is indeed evidence of the interconnectedness of life on Earth, and that it would be foolish to expect to find a series of isolated and independent mechanisms. Nature 7 Apr. 1988, p.
483 Will tomorrow
bring hordes of
militant Gaiaist activists enforcing some pseudoscientific idiocy on the community? New Scientist 7 Apr. 1988, p.
60 It is at the core of the current debate over the 'Gaia hypothesis', which holds that the planet is one huge organism in which
everything interacts to sustain and maintain life on Earth. Christian Science Monitor 30 Jan. 1990, p.
12 Understanding Gaia means
understanding that the survival of the plants, trees and wildlife which live on this planet with us
is crucial to our own survival. Debbie Silver & Bernadette Vallely The Young Person's Guide to Saving the Planet (1990), p. 52
