Living Data
Big Picture Story
Disclaimers, Copyrights and Citations
A model used to explain our changing climate is known as Gaia. Another is known as Hierarchical Patch Dynamics. Both are based on understanding Earth as a whole dynamic system. A difference is that, for some people, Gaia is conceived as a superorganism. Otherwise are these models compatible? Open COMMENTS.
Dr Mary E. White White presents the Gaia view through summaries of the sequential stages in the co-evolution of Life and the environment through geological time that have resulted in the creation of the BIOSPHERE (of which we are a part):
1. First living cells 2. Green planet 3. Balancing Green and Animal Life 4. Weather making and climate control
5. Life-as-we-know-it 6. Laws of Nature 7. Ancestral Apes 8. Loss and hope
The Big Picture is also described by SkepticalScience.com.
Mary E. White, The Living Earth, Digitally enhanced satellite photograph (White, 2003, p.xvi, Illus.)
A greenish tint has been added to the image of our 'blue planet' because it is photosynthesis, performed by green organisms, that provides the nutrients for the webs-of-life that make Earth a living world.
Dean Graetz Copyright CSIRO
White (2003)
