While trying to find out if there could be life on Mars Lovelock first started thinking about what establishes life on Earth, and how you can find it. He came across the idea that just as we would leave a certain chemical signature in the atmosphere from breathing in oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide if there was life on Mars there would be a certain pattern in the atmosphere there. With his partner Dian Hitchcock he studied the chemical makeup of Mars and discovered that the atmosphere there

The Gaia theory has received a lot of criticism and lots of people are not so quick to accept that the planet is alive. Many scientists argue that if the planet is alive where is its need to reproduce and transfer its genes onto future generations?

There was also the argument of the general definition of life, and that no single definition could satisfy all the fields in which it was used. The most successful definition was created by Maturana and Varela 1987. this is as follows along with how it applies to the Gaia theory: “Life is a network which constantly makes itself. The simplest autopoietic system is the living cell. For something to be alive by this definition, there is no requirement that it grow or reproduce or pass on DNA. Since, as Vernadsky observed, 99.9% of the different molecules on Earth have been created in the life process of Earth, the Earth would seem to qualify as a self-making organism.”

The Earth and Gaia theory can be compared to the human body once again but in a different sense when it comes to its relationship with the environment. If you were to reroute the path of arteries and veins in the body to places in which they do not naturally travel or occur then your body may not function properly and it could cause damage to other parts of the body that are related and connected to those veins and arteries. This is just like when governments or companies decide to block off, reroute, or dam up rivers. When the rivers are rerouted or dammed up it causes problems in the environment. When dams are placed in a river they can stop the flow of nutrients down through the river and interfere with the growth of other life downstream that would usually receive these nutrients to help them grow. Much like a blood clot would prevent the proper nutrients from reaching other parts of the body. Rerouting a river would send the nutrients into the wrong area and could prevent the original are from receiving the nutrients it needs and could waste the nutrients in the new area.

“Is Gaia a testable scientific hypothesis or little more than a metaphor? If only a metaphor, does it still have a role in scientific discourse? To what extent is Gaia an expression of modern environmental consciousness? An affirmation of 'female' values of community and cooperation (vs. 'male' values of individualism and competition)? Can an idea with profound religious implications be credible in the scientific arena? If Gaia is an accurate way of viewing Earth, what are the implications for human stewardship of the planet?”

Some topics in this essay:
Dian Hitchcock, Gaia” Gaia, Lovelock's Gaia, Earth Gaia, Gaia Anthropocentrists, James Lovelock, Mars Lovelock, Maturana Varela, Earth Earth, DNA Vernadsky, gaia theory, black daisies, carbon dioxide, function properly, giant super-organism, life mars, earth giant super-organism, connected else, course earth, temperature earth, controlling atmosphere, ecology connected else, blood donor clinic,