For years, I have used James Lovelock’s book, Gaia, as required reading for my Informal Systems of Order seminar. While Lovelock has been a supporter of Al Gore’s ideas about the problems of climate change, his book has been an interesting expression of the role played by various life forms in maintaining atmospheric levels conducive to life. As recently as 2007, Lovelock was prognosticating a dreary future for us all by the end of this century.
All of this has undergone some change. Lovelock announced, today that he, Gore, and others had been “alarmist” about their predictions. “The problem is we don’t know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago,” adding that “The climate is doing its usual tricks.” The dire predictions have not been forthcoming. In 2010, Lovelock advised that “The great climate science centers around the world are more than well aware how weak their science is.”
I wonder if the NASA scientist who went on record to warn, months ago, of a coming invasion from the denizens of other planets — due to our failure to heed Al Gore’s warnings — will have an update for us? Will we be spared an attack from the planet Zanyptikon, now that the case for the global warming theocracy has been weakened?
