Introducing Gaia

In the way, way back, thousands of years before even Common Era (CE), humans lived in communities that were deeply connected to the natural world around them, recognizing everything as animate and living in reciprocal harmony to support and sustain a healthy balance that worked for all. Over time, in Western cultures things changed dramatically. Our world views became focused on the individual, the masculine, the mechanical, the scientific, and the religious (not so much the spiritual). The natural world came under the control of humans, which saw it as theirs to use, without regard for balance.

Though a focus on and reverence for the natural world went underground, views of Earth as the Great Mother who provides all nevertheless remained, surviving through the storylines of ancient cultures that modernized but never forgot their roots. In the 1970s scientists Lovelock and Margulies put forth what was called the Gaia hypothesis, the suggestion that the Earth's biosphere was a vast system of profoundly complex interactions that worked together, automatically in perfect balance, to allow the conditions for sustaining life on planet Earth, or Gaia. The name Gaia comes from the Greek goddess of Earth, who was seen as the mother of all life.

Although some scientists refute the Gaia hypothesis, it has become known as Earth System Science and is now accepted by many ecologists and environmental scientists, as well as those engaged in earth-based spiritual practices. Unfortunately, in today's world Gaia or Earth is seen to be profoundly out of balance due to the effects of human over-production, over-consumption, waste, and degradation, and its ability to recover and continue to sustain life as we have known it is seriously in question. We have arrived at a time in human history when many are wondering whether we can learn from our mistakes and still help Gaia re-find balance, or whether it is too late.

Ever the optimist, I persist in believing humanity can still pull Mother Earth back from the brink of permanent loss of livability for human generations to come. But it's Go Time, and it's all hands on deck. We no longer have the luxury of seeing PEB (pro-environmental behaviors) as leftist fringe activities, the niche of tree huggers, nature lovers, or lentil weavers (I just learned that last one, pretty funny!). So my question to you is, what do you think it's going to take? I'd love to know your thoughts.