In his last book, The Vanishing Face of Gaia: A Final Warning,[1] James Lovelock of the Gaia hypothesis notoriety likens the human species to a disease that afflicts the earth: “Individuals occasionally suffer a disease called polycythaemia, an overpopulation of red blood cells. By analogy, Gaia’s illness could be called polyanthroponemia, where humans overpopulate until they do more harm than good.”[2] The infection began long time ago, when we started using fire and tools, but the incubation period ended with the Industrial Revolution. The earth’s homeostasis has failed by now. It has plunged into a deep crisis.

And the rest of the book? Gaia will survive, and it will flourish again in due time. Decimated, the human species will survive, too, albeit only in several places, such as Siberia, where the heat will still be bearable and where there will be enough water for bare survival. Nothing can be done about any of this, though. All attempts to divert the horrors to come will be in vain at best. However, the human species will eventually emerge rejuvenated. It may in time evolve into a species much more in tune with old Gaia. And so on, and so forth.

Lovelock is most damning when it comes to overpopulation. This is where he does not give an inch even to the most sympathetic reader. In the end, this is what polyanthroponemia is all about. There are too many humans on the planet, and marginal improvements in their habits cannot make any difference when it comes to Gaia’s illness. No matter how green we all become, and no matter how fast we change our dreadful ways, it is our numbers that are dead against us. And we still keep growing. Anyhow, the only disappointment with this book is its subtitle. Except when one considers the archaic reading of the beguiling “warning” as a humble “notice.”

Footnotes

1. London: Allen Lane, 2009.

2. Op. cit., p. 151.