It's not a new idea. There's James Lovelock's and William Golding's Gaia Theory (Earth as a single organism), and books by Asimov, Orson Scott Card, the Helliconia trilogy, and many more. That doesn't mean that "it" cannot be "done" again.
We've all spoken of "Mother Earth", or "Mother Nature" but, I wonder, would a planet be male or female or hermaphrodite or a barren neuter?
The Earth breathes. It breaks out. Its skin crawls and wrinkles and shifts. It has warm flashes and cold spells. Frozen, liquid filled, life bearing comets might or might not be compared to spermatozoa... should I compare planets to giant clams in the oceans? A star's life cycle might be compared to that of the mythical phoenix.
Before the eruption, I was developing a thought about the arrogance of mankind, not merely politicians at Kyoto or Copenhagen, but of all of us to think that we have changed or could change the climate. It is true that a sufficient overpopulation of fleas can kill a dog. I accept that. But, I think we're more of the order of lice.
Entertaining gateway page to information about headlice
http://www.headlice.org/faq/index.htm
Fascinating piece on how volcanoes have shaped human history
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8622520.stm
If you look at the cross-section of an animated volcano, you may be struck by its similarity to a pustule
I've no idea if a host's acne outbreak is disastrous for headlice, but volcanic eruptions are potentially very serious for humans.
In Europe it is feared that the eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull will set off one of the Earth's most dangerous volcano systems: Katla, and perhaps Hekla. It sounds counter intuitive, but if the weight of a glacier keeps an icy lid on a volcano, and that glacier is melted, then there could be a chain reaction.
http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/03/21/icelandic-fissure-eruptuon-triggers-worries/
http://globalwarming-arclein.blogspot.com/2010/03/icelandic-volcanic-eruption-cycle.html
"Eyjafjallajokull has blown three times in the past thousand years," Dr McGarvie told The Times, "in 920AD, in 1612 and between 1821 and 1823. Each time it set off Katla." The likelihood of Katla blowing could become clear "in a few weeks or a few months", he said.
Maybe life will end in December of 2012! This cycle could go different ways for us, but either way, there's not a lot we can do about it. We cannot stop volcanoes from erupting.
Apparently, the volcanic cloud over Europe is too high to be seen from the ground at least from southern Britain, and the white clouds of it as seen from the air are quite pretty. The problem for aviation, apart from visibility, is the glass in the clouds. Glass is what can melt in the extra heat of an engine, then solidify again. However, it is now possible to fly below the cloud and around the periphery, and the cloud will thin as it spreads.
The high level, and very white volcanic ash-and-glass clouds could reflect heat away from Earth.... (by the way, one can now buy sunscreen in the form of a face powder!) in which case, "global warming" will be mitigated.
Or, the subsequent eruptions could be violent enough to jolt the Earth off her current axis, in which case, the North Pole will shift (if it hasn't already). Or, the subsequent eruptions could cause "insta-melt" of a lot more than the glacier in which Eyjafjallajoekull is set. Eyjafjallajoekull has four vents, I'm told, and it erupted through a glacier which may have caused larger grit lumps and a greater volume of steam than might otherwise have been the case. If the next round --if there is a next round-- causes a great deal of insta-melt, there could be tsunamis and flooding.
Maybe Mother Nature will wash the lice out of her hair. Was Noah's flood related to the Icelandic volcanoes? It's interesting to reflect that an Eyjafjallajoekull eruption has been know to last for two years, and that 5.33 million years ago, the Mediterranean sea is thought to have filled within a mere two years. Like a storm drain. And 9,500 years ago, a small flood created the Black Sea. Was that global warming? Or an Eyjafjallajoekull effect.
Just to digress a little more, next winter --or the one after that-- could be cold enough to freeze the Mississippi.
"Iceland’s Laki volcano erupted in 1783.... The winter of 1784 was also one of the longest and coldest on record in North America. New England reported a record stretch of below-zero temperatures and New Jersey reported record snow accumulation. The Mississippi River also reportedly froze in New Orleans."(news.yahoo)
On the other hand, if global flooding and famine and cooling are (or may be) coming, are our priorities as science fiction, alien romance, and Romance writers in the right place?
Footnote.
Lovelock's initial hypothesis
James Lovelock defined Gaia as:
- a complex entity involving the Earth's biosphere, atmosphere, oceans, and soil; the totality constituting a feedback or cybernetic system which seeks an optimal physical and chemical environment for life on this planet.
See more at Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis
PS, Rusty's link to his tongue-in-cheek blog on a similar topic is http://unitedstatesofscamerica.blogspot.com/2010/04/iceland-saves-earth.html
All the best,
Rowena Cherry
SPACE SNARK™ http://www.spacesnark.com/
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