Scientists Debate Gaia ─ The Next Century

Scientists Debate Gaia is a multidisciplinary reexamination of the Gaia hypothesis,which was introduced by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the early 1970s. The Gaia hypothesisholds that Earth's physical and biological processes are linked to form a complex, self-regulatingsystem and that life has affected this system over time. Until a few decades ago, most of the earthsciences viewed the planet through disciplinary lenses: biology, chemistry, geology, atmospheric andocean studies. The Gaia hypothesis, on the other hand, takes a very broad interdisciplinaryapproach. Its most controversial aspect suggests that life actively participates in shaping thephysical and chemical environment on which it depends in a way that optimizes the conditions forlife. Despite intial dismissal of the Gaian approach as New Age philosophy, it has today beenincorporated into mainstream interdisciplinary scientific theory, as seen in its strong influence onthe field of Earth System Science. Scientists Debate Gaia provides a fascinating, multi-facetedexamination of Gaia as science and addresses significant criticism of, and changes in, thehypothesis since its introduction.In the book, 53 contributors explore the scientific,philosophical, and theoretical foundations of Gaia. They address such topics as the compatibility ofnatural selection and Gaian processes, Gaia and the "thermodynamics of life," the role of computermodels in Gaian science (from James Lovelock's famous but controversial "Daisyworld" to moresophisticated models that use the techniques of artificial life), pre-Socratic precedents for theidea of a "Living Earth," and the climate of the Amazon Basin as a Gaian system.

Stephen H. Schneider was Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology at Stanford University. He was also Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC's working group on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from 1997 to 2001, and, with his IPCC colleagues, was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in 2007. He was the author or editor of many books, including Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate and Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century (MIT Press, 2004).