WHAT IRONY?:

Environmental Guru Lovelock Urges Expansion of Nuclear Energy: James Lovelock is attracting attention again with his provocative ideas. The former hero of the environmental movement has called for an end to "green romanticism." The only way to delay climate catastrophe, says the environmental guru, is through the massive expansion of nuclear energy. (Marco Evers, 2/02/07, Der Spiegel)

[James] Lovelock is a chemist, inventor, author and visionary environmental guru. Using a detector he invented himself, he was the first to provide evidence of ozone-consuming fluorochlorohydrocarbons (FCHC) in the atmosphere. More importantly, Lovelock is the inventor of the famous "Gaia hypothosis," which holds that the planet (which he named after the Greek goddess of the Earth, Gaia), constantly controls all of its systems on land, in the water and in the air in such a way as to preserve life -- almost as if the earth itself were a living organism.

Lovelock's fellow scientists were initially appalled by the New Age nature of his theory. But now his ideas have not only become a cornerstone of the environmental movement, but have also acquired a new name: "Earth System Science." [...]

According to Lovelock, it will at best be possible to delay the catastrophe for a while -- primarily through the massive expansion of nuclear energy.

Lovelock presents his bold theories in his shocking page-turner "The Revenge of Gaia," which will be published in German in February. The gist of Lovelock's message is that humanity must begin an "orderly retreat" involving smart planning and technology if it hopes to save its most precious asset: civilization itself. [...]

Lovelock, the apocalyptic prophet,...sits in his study on his estate eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate. The stream outside used to freeze over almost every winter, he says, but this hasn't happened since 1991. England's first commercial olive grove was recently planted, and vineyards are also becoming established there. Scorpions will soon be indigenous to Kent, which has always enjoyed the kind of mild climate that has made its gardens famous. Botanists say that palm trees and eucalyptus will be part of England's future landscape.

Lovelock believes that the world needs different political leaders, politicians who are willing to accept the unavoidable and stop pretending that they can do something to stop global warming.

In November, the British Environmental Agency published a list of 100 people who have made significant contributions to saving the world. Lovelock, the Gaia Nostradamus, is fifth on the list, which puts him ahead of environmental activists like Al Gore and Prince Charles. French President Jacques Chirac recently offered him a position on a senior French climate committee. Lovelock will travel to Paris in February.

One is struck by the similarity to Edward Larson's description of Darwin:

By the 1870s, Darwin was an international celebrity. Even if people did not believe they descended from apes, they talked about it--and about Darwin. And for many of those who did believe, Darwin became a kind of secular prophet or high priest. Secluded in his remote country home at Downe, perpetually ill or supposedly so according to some, Darwin played the part of hermit sage receiving favored guests on his own terms. [...] Surveying the scene, Huxley sent Darwin a sketch of a kneeling supplicant paying homage at the shrine of Pope Darwin. Given their almost visceral contempt for Catholicism, both Huxley and Darwin surely enjoyed the irony.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 2, 2007 10:10 AM