Tag Archives: Mother Earth

How Termites Challenge Darwinism Theory of Evolution

Modern science lacks a unifying, interdisciplinary theory of life. In other words, current theories are unable to explain why life is the way it is and not any other way.

Dr. David Grinspoon writes about Charley Lineweaver’s review of “Scientists Debate Gaia,” a collection of essays gathered from an American Geophysical Union conference and by the published by MIT press. Charles H. Lineweaver is a Senior Fellow at Australia National University’s Planetary Science Institute.

Gaia author James Lovelock
Gaia author James Lovelock

He explained that James Lovelock (shown) proposed the Gaia hypothesis, in which Earth is an organism or system capable of self-regulation. He wondered: Can the existence of life be recognized from the chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere? What would the Earth be like now, if life had never evolved on it? Would there be oxygen in the air? Would the surface temperature be hot like Venus or cold like Mars? In the mid-60’s, NASA consulted James Lovelock to assist in developing instruments for the Viking spacecraft to detect life on Mars.

He concluded that it wasn’t necessary to send a spacecraft to Mars. All you needed was to determine the composition of the Martian atmosphere –- if life was there, the atmosphere should be in chemical disequilibrium as it is on Earth. Recent observations, have detected methane on Mars indicating life.

Determining what life is and how to recognize it is the Holy Grail of astrobiology. To make progress, we need to explore the Martian subsurface and analyze the atmospheres of the nearest terrestrial planets. Lovelock’s Gaian chemical equilibrium test for the presence of life is fundamental to these efforts. Both NASA and ESA are putting their astrobiological money into interferometric infrared spectroscopy to look for the traces of chemical disequilibrium in planetary atmospheres as the primary biomarker.

Don't be fooled by your perspective- we all live on a rotating ball traveling through space!
Don’t be fooled by your perspective- we all live on a rotating ball traveling through space!

Lovelock thought that terrestrial life didn’t just passively produce chemical disequilibrium. There seemed to be some element of control or regulation. In 1978, he published a book called “Gaia” that described how the entire biosphere behaves like a living creature suggesting our Earth is alive.

Gaian science and astrobiology have very similar programs. Astrobiologists look at the stars and ask “What has life done to the planets out there and how can we recognize it?” Gaian scientists have been looking at the Earth for decades asking “What has terrestrial life done to our planet and how can we recognize it?” Astrobiology and Gaian science often remain separate fields of inquiry. Astrobiology attracts mainly astronomers and biologists, while Gaian science attracts atmospheric chemists, geologists and concerned ecologists.

The thin Martian atmosphere is mainly composed of carbon dioxide. Planetary scientists have studied the atmosphere of Mars for any signs of gases such as methane that could be generated by life. In this collection, Gaian scientists believe that over the past four and a half billion years, the Sun’s luminosity has increased by about 30 percent, but the temperature of the Earth’s surface doesn’t seem to have followed in step. Lovelock hypothesized that the biosphere regulates the Earth’s surface temperature. There are two obvious ways to do this: Regulate the albedo (light reflected by the planet) and/or regulate the abundances of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Creationist Cartoon

Lovelock invented the parable of Daisyworld to demonstrate that the biosphere could regulate the albedo. A nice Gaian extension of this idea is J. Scott Turner’s analysis of the thermo-regulation of termite colonies. So if a termite ecosystem can evolve to do it, why can’t a big one like the Earth? Thus, Gaia does what good scientific ideas are supposed to do. It extends and extrapolates a fundamental theory, from individuals to groups to ecosystems, up to the entire biosphere.

The central debate of this book is: How can Gaia (Earth) be selfish? How can it do anything “for” itself? Will it protect itself from human destruction of the environment by causing earthquakes, earth lights, an ice age, or a great flood?

Tyler Volk’s book “Gaia’s Body” “Gaia is Life in a Wasteworld of By-products.” He proposed that the atmosphere is one giant waste dump. Life produces wastes, and these wastes build up and affect the environment. They become intolerable for some forms of life, but then along come new forms of life who take advantage of these waste products. Volk’s point is that poop just happens. Thus the effects of the biosphere’s wastes are certainly “by” but not necessarily “for” the biosphere..

Volk suggests using cycling ratios to measure “by and for the biosphere” and to determine how beneficial for life something may be. A cycling ratio is the amount of an element cycling through the Earth and biosphere, divided by the amount that would be cycling through the Earth in the absence of life. Volk estimates the cycling ratio of carbon to be about 200 times more carbon flowing through the veins of Gaia than would be cycling through an Earth without life from plate tectonics and volcanism.

A collection of observations by the Earth Observing System flagship Terra were stitched together into a seamless true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet.

Dorion Sagan and Jessica Hope Whiteside’s “Gradient Reduction Theory: Thermodynamics and the Purpose of Life” discussed the second law of thermodynamics as the purpose of life. Agnostics looking for purpose in their lives would do well to digest this chapter with Lovelock’s suggestion that agnostics worship Gaia to fill their religious vacuum. There is grandeur and universality in this thermodynamic view of life that can be applied to life anywhere in the universe.

I’d like to see Gaian scientists recognize that Gaia is part of a larger whole – that the Earth is not a closed system and that Gaia has a mother. We begin to wonder whether our Galaxy is a life form called Galactea.

“It is a must read for any life form that is even pretending to look for extraterrestrial life. /

– See more at: http://www.astrobio.net/ Note: It’s logical Mother Earth or Gaia feels totally threatened by environmental abuse from Earth’s humans and that those humans who are not loving to Mother Earth may be removed.

*Main image for this post courtesy of http://fourthdimension-celestialdreams.blogspot.ca

First Nations reader sends letter outlining FIPA Canada-China trade concerns

November 1, 2012 His Excellency the Right Honourable David Johnston, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D. Governor General

Your Excellency:

I am going to start with this quote i read today “I am a Canadian, free to
speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I
think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, and free to choose those
who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold
for myself and all mankind.” – John Diefenbaker.

Now as a proud First Nations citizen of Canada, I strongly urge you to use
your discretionary reserve powers as the Head of State of this country and
to suspend Stephen Harper as Prime Minister and to dissolve Parliament in
order to preserve and protect our democracy. The method in which Prime
Minister Harper negotiated in secret the Canada-China Foreign Investment
Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) and his refusal to have any
debate or discussion on it in the House of Commons is extremely
undemocratic. There are many who believe he no longer nor ever acted in
the true benefit of Canada as a whole, i speak for myself and for my
peoples, as i know many will be, or would have wanted to, sending letters.
The First Nations are only just getting word out with regards to the full
effect this will have on our peoples. We are begging for our
Constitutional Rights given to us through our treaties. I see Elders
crying, these people lead our communities not the false leaders imposed on
us. i cry as i write this…our Elders gave a unanimous decision to reject
any deals to use our lands. We have been closed out of any trade
agreements, some based on technicalities…now to quote from of the
government documents our growing youth population (which is getting
healthier) is excepted to be “400,000” these children are what we fight
for. Our beliefs are that we are here as maintainers or caretakers of this
land. Mother Earth will be here long after we leave, our children’s
children should not have to “maintain” our messes. I was raised outside
the First Nations community, taken away as a child isolated(almost
literally) from people for around 6 years of my life, i had school and i
had my sister but i was forced to spend a lot of time alone, plus
physical/psychological abuse, i am one of the lucky ones. But our
communities are only just starting the healing process, and on top of that
educating ourselves. We need to be able to Listen to our Elders, our
Elders are begging for our Treaty rights and I do know “hear” news of our
tribal leaders asking for the same.

All citizens of Canada have a democratic right to be informed and consulted
on any such far reaching agreements especially when they have the potential
for very dire repercussions as does FIPA. In ratifying this agreement,
which provides communist run corporations the power to sue Canadian
governments at all levels should our laws and policies impede their
expected profits, it is not only completely contrary to the best interest
of Canadians it in fact serves to undermine the very core of our democracy.
By ratifying this agreement, Prime Minister Stephen Harper is providing
Chinese corporations the ability to challenge and overturn our laws and
strike down our democratic process and that is without question an attack
on our democracy and our ability to be sovereign country. The vast majority
of Canadians strongly oppose this agreement but their Conservative Members
of Parliament choose to follow party lines rather than to represent their
constituent’s wishes. The people of Canada have lost confidence in the
Harper Conservative Parliament and our elected representatives refuse to
act accordingly. One of the Governor’s General most important
responsibilities is to ensure that Canada always has a prime minister and a
government in place that has the confidence of the people who elected the
Parliament. For the sake of Canada and Canadians, please execute your
duties and suspend Stephen Harper as Prime Minister and dissolve Parliament.

The above is a quote from a fellow citizen, but I have done research.
Everything I have been looking up over the last month with regards to
environmental amendments and First Nation goals are extremely disturbing,
and to mention on top of those are budget indiscretions and the
environmental impact he has allowed to happen. I am not someone that can
sit on the sidelines and not do something or say something when you know
something being done is wrong. What the Conservative government is doing
to Canada is wrong, what he has planned for the First Nations communities
is wrong. This government can not be allowed to continue on with it’s
agenda.

Sincerely
Lenore Gold
From the Cree Nation and a Canadian Citizen

*The Silo is a non-partisan online and print publication and welcomes open-forum debate and comments. The opinions expressed in letters to the Silo are not necessarily those of the Silo.