Dying Gaia dream (1999)

     The intricate systems and complex balance of gases, liquids, minerals, plants, animals, insects, and all that composes Earth’s living environment has been altered to a large enough extent as to warrant redefinition.  Though the wind still blows, the tides still ebb and flow, and the seasons change, there are fundamental alterations that call for a new way of seeing what is taking place.   The days of drinking from a faucet are gone, and many species have gone from the Earth since the Dodo bird became extinct in 1681.  Even something as natural as rain can be a dangerous thing in modern times.  A different system now exists in a battle of mother nature and human nature.

     In the 1970’s, James Lovelock, British scientist, suggested that the Earth seemed to behave as a giant single organism.  Temperature and humidity were regulated; wastes and toxins were recycled or disposed of maintaining an environment conducive to life.  Using the name of the Greek Goddess of the Earth, Gaia, the Gaia Hypothesis was put forth. 

     More and more over the past few hundred years, and especially after the industrial revolution into the age of high tech, humanity has altered natural processes on Earth.  From river dams to pesticides, from pollution to nuclear detonations, humans have waged war against nature.  The natural processes and systems of Mother Nature have given way to human control, intervention, interference and accidents at an ever-increasing rate.

     If one were to take a small globe of the Earth and mark it with black x’s, using a marking pen, for every oil spill, nuclear explosion, toxic waste site, major sewage pipe running into the ocean, areas with more than 100 cars per square mile, and so forth, the globe would become very densely marked up.  Even areas with little or no markings would still be under attack by acid rain, floating debris, introduction of non-native species, etc., making human nature a global phenomenon.

     The time for new terms and understanding about life on Earth has come.       

     The state of Earth’s environment has changed over the past few decades in ways unprecedented in the history of humanity rendering the overall composition of the planet radically different. The very makeup of the air, water and soil have been altered to such a degree that these basic elements, relative to specific proportions and original definitions as a whole, have become virtually extinct.  The planetary system of weather and seasonal patterns has become more chaotic and unpredictable.   The catalog of life forms has also become smaller and less diverse over this period, and what was once defined as Gaia is no more.

     In smaller scale terms, it is more clearly seen when an ending has occurred.  When a forest has been clear-cut and a housing development is put in it’s place, it is no longer called a forest.  A new name is made for this place and new terms are used.

     Overall, it is not Mother Nature in charge of man-made systems.  Humankind has altered natural processes enough that the global process no longer resembles that of a single living organism, but rather a chaotic mess of human error, interference and destruction.

     The Earth’s Kingdom of The Redwoods, for example, no longer exists.  The old growth redwood forests were incredibly complex and irreplaceable.  New forests planted in recent times lack the myriad of life systems of fungus, moss, insects, birds, and etc. that were integral parts of the entity of the forest (much like the Gaia Hypothesis, an Old Growth Redwood Forest worked as one massive organism of many symbiotic systems).

     Once a forest complex is destroyed, be it redwood or tropical rainforest, that particular entity will never exist again.  Regardless of humankind’s choice to continue to use the same terms, what is there to replace what is lost is a very different thing.

What was once considered “natural” (clean air and water, growing ones own food, making ones own clothing, etc.) has become old fashioned.  It is now common place to zip along highways at 70 miles per hour, through air that is brown from pollution, and buying water in plastic bottles, etc.).  There is a new kind of “natural” or common way of living now.

   Especially people who have grown up not knowing anything different, the modern environment and way of living seems natural and normal.   Since there have been many types and flavors of bottled water in stores all their lives, it does not seem odd to purchase something that was once drinkable and fresh from the faucet within ones own home.  Drinking out of the faucet seems weird and unnatural.

   It has become second nature to see foam in the ocean surf, or to see brown rivers and sky.

Dead cow theory

    In brief, I dreamt that tiny organisms living in and on a living body would not notice it’s demise for a period of time, and that this period of time, while measured in minutes, hours, and days using a cow as an example, would extend to be months, years and decades for a much larger living system such as a planetary one.  For perhaps even centuries, inhabitants might ponder whether or not things have really changed that much, in terms of the weather, seasonal changes in plants, insects, fish and animals, etc., and if this really constituted something drastic having occurred.  By the time the entities noticed how much had really changed, the living system might have been altered (dead) for a very long time. 

    A cow is used in this analogy primarily because the cow has become an animal that exists for the use of humankind.  This phenomenon is relatively new on the face of the Earth, for it was once common for masses of wild animals to roam free.  It is no longer possible, due to the incursion of human populations into virtually every habitat on Earth, for large animals to use the migration routes necessary to their ways of life.  Elephants, for example, are forced to live in small areas in which there is little opportunity to move long distances, and the noise pollution curtails their low frequency contact and communications.

    To make the analogy simple, and to remain true to a particular dream, a single cow will be used in this story rather than a group along with its habitat.  A single cow shall represent the entire living environment of Earth.

    Just as a life form, such as a cow, is declared dead when it’s heart stops beating, even though there is still a myriad of life there (blood cells, bacteria, etc.) the collective system that once was called a cow is no more.  The dead cow lying in a field goes through the process of decomposition in which microscopic living organisms break down materials making simpler compounds. For a time, the carcass teams with life.  Immediately after the pronouncement of death, there is still a cow there.  The process by which it is converted into other materials takes time.

    The overall environment of the Earth may in fact be in such a stage.  The air, water and soil have been altered to such an extent that what was once a living thing is now in the, relatively slow for its large scale, process of converting into something else.  Trees are diseased for no apparent reason.  Populations of animals, such as Sea Otters, turn up sick or dead, for no apparent reason other than disease and pollution (from cat feces one study found in the case of the Otters).  Weather patterns have changed; ocean temperature is fluctuating;  rivers are dying; species are disappearing; all indications that the environment is not what is once was. 

    The once living thing is now a carcass teaming with life with the appearance somewhat the same, only it is deceased.

     The wondrous, resilient and living system called Gaia has now moved into the realm of mythical entities.  She is more a part of belief, art and poetry than reality now. The smoky engines of modern times have reformed the goddess of Earth.

     Visit any large, modern city today and what you are breathing there is a collection of atmospheric gases generally known as “polluted air”.  It is a very different thing than natural, clean, fresh air, though it is defined as “air” since people can still breathe it and survive.  Even on the most beautiful spring day after rain and wind have “cleared” the air, the exhaust from the thousands of cars and trucks is still present.  Definitions are evolving, or devolving, as changes occur in the environment even though the same terms may be employed.

     Were a human body to be altered to the extent the Earth has, while still living, it might be redefined as something else – a Cyborg for example.  Perhaps we are living in Cyborg Gaia now.

     Humans have many definitions and names for air, water and soil, beyond merely “good” and “bad”, but there is a basic quality and a list of requirements that limit how much change can occur before it is no longer that thing.  This is obvious to someone in a small enclosed space for too long as the breathable air runs out.  It is much less obvious on a planet as large as Earth.  Along with political and socioeconomic pressures, advertising and lifestyle influences, and growing populations, there are simple phenomena at the heart of what has taken place.  It may be part of human nature to look on the bright side of things and to avoid some of the darker aspects of life, even though this avoids taking much needed action needed to stem the serious cumulative effects of mass actions such as flushing toxic wastes down the drain.