surviving

Vanishing Face of Gaia, 8-9

1. How did Lovelock's childhood awaken his love of nature? What does he say is the value of knowing the common names of plants?

2. How did Lovelock "accidentally start" the '70s environmental movement? What was his "disastrous encounter with biofuels"? What did he decide was the "proper thing to do"? "Why was it a mistake to plant trees?" Why didn't his "snake-and-potato farm" succeed?

3. What's Lovelock's objection to "environmentally friendly energy"? What does he (did he?) prefer instead?

4. What "watershed" was marked by the publication of Silent Spring? What kind of "green" is Lovelock? What made environmentalism militant, partisan, and contentious? What part does Lovelock say he played in that?

5. How does Lovelock think liberal humanism distorts environmentalism? What's wrong with the iconography of windmills? What does the "benign ethic" of Southern Baptists have to do with environmental issues?

6. What must we do to be "truly environmentally friendly"? What must we do to "Go West" in the near future?

7. What might have been the climatological impact of the use of fire by early humans? Should we feel guilty about it?

8. What's wrong with the concept of a "tipping point" for climate change? How great is the chance that we might reverse it? Are renewability and sustainability (etc.) constructive goals?

9. Optimistically, how long might Gaia take to recover from the current looming catastrophe? What is her "most inflexible" rule? How long might life continue, if "some bright intelligence" succeeds us?

10. What does E.O. Wilson's "super-intelligent alien" say about life on Earth? How do we thwart our best intentions? What kind of intelligence do we need?

11. What caused the current crisis? Wherein lies our best hope? What kind of animal are we? What kind of  "great and proud future" can we still have? Who should select humanity's survivors?

Let Gaia do it?

Vanishing Face of Gaia, 3-5

1. Why does James Lovelock call efforts to stabilize CO2 and global temperature "no better than planetary alternative medicine"?

2. What does the normal respiration of earth's inhabitants contribute to the climate crisis? What would "great and powerful" leaders do about that?

3. How does magical thinking cause people to ignore scientifc evidence, according to Shermer? (Are you afraid of your mobile phone?)

4. What can we hope to accomplish if we (i.e., if enough of us) move to cooler and more temperate regions? What's our "duty"? Who does Gaia help? What will life be like for the average upstate New Yorker in 2030?

5. What's Lovelock's reply to critics who say he's a sentimentalizing anthropomorphizer?
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6. What alternative energy form has a chance of helping offset climate change? Why isn't wind a sensible choice? Why wouldn't all be well if we just improved our carbon footprint? What energy form "could see us through the troubled times ahead"? Why isn't Lovelock concerned about radiation?

7. Why are scientists "reticent"? What's the fundamental division within environmentalism? What's the comparison between nuclear energy and Silent Spring?

8. Why isn't [wasn't?] Lovelock more concerned about "serious accidents in Japanese nuclear power stations"?

9. What did Lovelock take away from his meeting with Stewart Brand's friend in the coal industry?

10. What's the Rousseau-inspired energy myth? What's wrong with the concept of renewable energy? What's the only entirely nonpolluting source?

11. Who was C.P. Snow? What's Lovelock's food dream? How can walking help?
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[Geoengineering: what is it? What's Gaian engineering? What's better about naturally evolved ecosystems? What must we ask before we start geoengineering? What's our alternative?]