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The consciousness of humanity of our impact on the planet has fundamentally changed the system of self-regulation of the Earth, said two scientists. Timothy Lenton and Bruno Latour believe that by becoming aware of our impact on the planet, humans have created a "new ground state" of Gaia – the hypothetical system that has maintained habitable conditions on Earth for billions of years. ; years.
Gaia's hypothesis was first introduced by the British chemist James Lovelock and was developed with colleague Lynn Margulis throughout the 1970s. This suggests that all life on Earth is part of a self-regulating system. which has allowed living conditions to exist since the birth of life, about 3.8 billion years ago.
This hypothesis was initially greeted with hostility, but has since been recognized as opening a new field of earth sciences – so much so that in 2006, Lovelock received the prestigious Wollaston Medal from the Geological Society of London.
Nearly 20 years later, Lenton and Latour say that Gaia needs an update. In an editorial for Science magazine, the researchers have proposed Gaia 2.0 – a new version that takes into account the self-awareness of humanity with regard to the impact we have on the planet. They say that by realizing the effect of our actions – through greenhouse gas emissions or plastic pollution, for example – we have fundamentally changed the Earth's self-regulation system. We are no longer passive gears in the machine.
Lenton, from the University of Exeter, UK, and Latour, from Sciences Po in France, say that by recognizing our role in the health of the planet, Gaia 2.0 "could be an effective framework for promoting sustainability World '.
"Before the Anthropocene, Western societies saw themselves as the only conscious agents in a passive material environment. Today, they have to deal with the brutal reactions of living organisms that continually reshape their environment, partly creating their own survival conditions. Gaia thus establishes a new continuity between humans and non-humans that was not visible before – a relationship between free agents. This understanding offers the opportunity to learn Gaia's features to create a Gaia 2.0. "
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Scientists say we should learn from Gaia's original hypothesis to inform us about how we can help maintain a human Earth. However, this should be supported by humans who want to create positive change – and all human activities do not allow it.
"Maintaining a self-regulating planet, a carrier of human life, is not the primary goal of some dominant modes of collective human activity," they write. "Despite a flood of surveillance information, today's industrial societies seem less able to track changes in their environment than the life forms that make up Gaia, because this information is often ignored by those who hold power. It is as if the absence of purpose has passed from the natural domain to the social domain. "
They continue: "If in politics the blind lead the blind, then the hope lies in finding the best way to activate the white cane to fumble in the dark". In conclusion, they argue that it is up to "the scientific establishment" to provide evidence and work with activists and politicians to "realize where things go wrong".
Commenting on the editorial, Cock van Oosterhout, professor of evolutionary genetics at the University of East Anglia, Newsweek that Lenton and Latour present "very interesting ideas" and that it is an "insightful view" that solves some of the problems related to Gaia's original hypothesis.
He said that evolutionary biologists have always viewed Gaia skeptically as a self-regulating system, as it seemed to be too theological and "goal-oriented". That's why, he explains, Gaia 2.0 is so interesting. "If you integrate the human perspective, you realize that the regulation of biogeochemical cycles and nutrient cycles can be manipulated and managed by humans," he said.
"It makes the idea of self-awareness and self-regulation easier to achieve. Of course, humans are not real drivers of this self-awareness or self-regulation, and this article stresses that scientists, citizens and activists will have to convey this awareness to politicians so that they become aware of the system. .
"This is a contemporary problem, especially in the political arena, which seems to be going in extreme directions with short-term gains detrimental to global long-term security – food security, environmental security. I think it's such a serious issue now that it's a very important article. "
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