James Lovelock
James Lovelock
James Ephraim Lovelock CH CBE FRSis an independent scientist, environmentalist and futurist who lives in Devon, England. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis, which postulates that the Earth functions as a self-regulating system...
NationalityEnglish
ProfessionScientist
Date of Birth26 July 1919
against data ghost holy literally quite science sin whatsoever
Fudging the data in any way whatsoever is quite literally a sin against the holy ghost of science. I'm not religious, but I put it that way because I feel so strongly. It's the one thing you do not ever do. You've got to have standards.
science data games
No one who has experienced the intense involvement of computer modeling would deny that the temptation exists to use any data input that will enable one to continue playing what is perhaps the ultimate game of solitaire.
believe data mind
I would only have been too pleased if someone had asked me for my data. If you really believed in your data, you wouldn't mind someone looking at it. You should be able to respond that if you don't believe me go out and do the measurements yourself.
condition fever given soon state suffer took
We have given Gaia a fever and soon her condition will worsen to a state like a coma. She has been there before and recovered, but it took more than 100,000 years. We are responsible and will suffer the consequences.
adapt changes clearly earth emerges entity environment life material tightly
Life clearly does more than adapt to the Earth. It changes the Earth to its own purposes. Evolution is a tightly coupled dance, with life and the material environment as partners. From the dance emerges the entity Gaia.
beehive degrees english-scientist itself matter minus regulate
The beehive regulates its temperature as well as we do. The hive will regulate itself to 37 degrees no matter if it is minus 20 degrees outside.
cells earth way
Humans on the Earth behave in some ways like a pathogenic micro-organism, or like the cells of a tumor.
whales atmosphere needs
The entire range of living matter on Earth from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae could be regarded as constituting a single living entity capable of maintaining the Earth's atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and powers far beyond those of its constituent parts.
shapes favors environment
Nature favors those organisms which leave the environment in better shape for their progeny to survive.
inspirational dance evolution
Evolution is a tightly coupled dance, with life and the material environment as partners. From the dance emerges the entity Gaia.
should-have years rising
The world has not warmed up very much since the millennium. Twelve years is a reasonable time… it (the temperature) has stayed almost constant, whereas it should have been rising — carbon dioxide is rising, no question about that,
oil nuclear coal
If a power station were to be built down the road, I'd prefer a nuclear plant over an oil burner, and definitely over a coal burner. We simply have to lessen our consumption of fossil fuels.
book cutting years
The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books – mine included – because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn’t happened;
stupid climate conservation
Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades.