{"id":6774,"date":"2019-10-28T16:51:03","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T03:51:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/new-zealand\/?p=6774"},"modified":"2025-06-25T01:44:24","modified_gmt":"2025-06-24T13:44:24","slug":"gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/","title":{"rendered":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Greek mythology only Chaos precedes Gaia. Gaia was the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life, similar to the Roman Terra Mater<\/i> (mother Earth) reclining with a cornucopia, or the Andean Pachamama<\/i>, the Hindu, Prithvi<\/i>, \u201cthe Vast One,\u201d or the Hopi Kokyangwuti<\/i>, Spider Grandmother, who with Sun god Tawa<\/i> created Earth and its creatures.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

Planet Earth from space. \u00a9 NASA \/ Greenpeace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

James Lovelock, the British independent scientist, turned 100 this year. His seminal book, Gaia,<\/i> published 40 years ago, helped shift popular perceptions about the Earth.<\/p>\n

The book proposed a hypothesis developed by Lovelock and biologist Lynn Margulis, that life on Earth self-regulates its environment to create optimum conditions for the additional advancement of life. Living organisms concentrate useful elements, compounds, and nutrients, and redistribute them into the water, soil, and atmosphere where they stabilize climate, feed other life forms, and influence the environment in which they evolved.<\/p>\n

Margulis had studied symbiosis in early organisms and formulated the proposal that eukaryotic cells (cells with nuclei) had evolved as a symbiotic union of primitive cells without nuclei \u2013 an example of how life creates conditions for more advanced life. In 1978, Robert Schwartz and Margaret Dayhoff demonstrated<\/a> that mitochondria descended from bacteria and chloroplasts from cyanobacteria, providing experimental evidence for Margulis\u2019 theory.<\/p>\n

In the 1970s, while working with the US space program, Lovelock developed<\/a> methods for determining whether a planet supported life. He focused on the fact that living organisms naturally change a planet\u2019s atmosphere, described how life changed Earth\u2019s atmosphere, and developed the idea that Earth\u2019s sulfur cycle provided an example of how biological life could create the conditions for more life. Lovelock also pointed out in the 1970s that humanity was changing Earth\u2019s atmosphere, with dangerous implications.<\/p>\n

Together, in 1974, Lovelock and Margulis published<\/a> \u201cAtmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: The Gaia hypothesis\u201d. They proposed that, \u201cearly after life began it acquired control of the planetary environment and that this homeostasis by and for the biosphere has persisted ever since.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not all biologists agreed with the premise. Others pointed out<\/a> that many of life\u2019s evolutionary pathways may occur by chance (asteroids, radiation effects on mutation, and so forth) or in chaotic fashion (landslides, eruptions) and that life\u2019s influence did not really \u201ccontrol\u201d the environment. Some critics objected to Lovelock\u2019s statement that life \u201cmanages\u201d its environment, as a mechanistic metaphor that implied some sort of collective intention. Nevertheless, life\u2019s concentration and distribution of compounds did create conditions for new life forms to arise.<\/p>\n

Soil, for example, is a product of growing, dying, and decomposing life forms, mixing with geological minerals, some of which are separated from rock by other life forms, another example of how life creates the conditions for more advanced life.<\/p>\n

\"Soil<\/p>\n

Soil with worms. \u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Vivek M.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The patterns that connect<\/b><\/h4>\n

Many concepts developed in Lovelock\u2019s Gaia<\/em>, were not new, of course, although some of the science to support these ideas was new. Over 2,500 years ago, Taoists considered<\/a> the natural patterns of Earth and living beings as primary, and that \u201call creatures<\/a> lived together in mystic unity,\u201d co-evolving and feeding each other.<\/p>\n

Many Indigenous cultures understood that they were part of, and lived within, a larger living community of life that included air, water, soil, and fire. The North American Lakota term, Mit\u00e1kuye Oy\u00e1s\u2019in<\/em> (all our relations) recognizes this fundamental kinship among all beings.<\/p>\n

In the 1940s, while writing his Ph.D. dissertation<\/a> on \u201cThe Biogeochemistry of Strontium in the ecosystem,\u201d American ornithologist Howard Odum development a scientific description of this relatedness, systems ecology, Earth\u2019s biosphere and geology as one great ecosystem in which all life forms co-evolve.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, anthropologist and ecologist Gregory Bateson extended systems theory and cybernetics to the social and behavioral sciences. Bateson often repeated<\/a> the observation by 18th century naturalist George-Louis Leclerc that \u201call divisions are arbitrary.\u201d For the convenience of discourse, we speak of a \u201ctree\u201d \u201csoil\u201d or an \u201catmosphere,\u201d but none of these exist as they are without the others, and they all exchange molecules and compounds continually. Our language is noun-verb based, but we observe nothing in isolation. Science describes relationships among dynamic, co-evolving processes. Bateson urged<\/a> ecologists to look for \u201cthe patterns that connect.\u201d The survival unit in nature is not an individual, not even a species, but \u201ca species in an ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 1945, the physicist Erwin Schrodinger pointed out<\/a> that, from an energy transformation perspective, any life form functions as \u201ca system in steady-state thermodynamic disequilibrium that maintains its distance from equilibrium (death) by feeding on low entropy from its environment, emitting high-entropy outputs.\u201d Translation: Living organisms consume concentrated energy and nutrients, and emit dissipated energy and waste.<\/p>\n

\"Langur<\/p>\n

A Borneo langur, in Antan Kalang village, holds the hand of a villager. \u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Ardiles Rante<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Economist Herman Daly reminds us<\/a> that, \u201cthe same statement would hold verbatim as a physical description of our economic process. A corollary of this statement is that an organism cannot live in a medium of its own waste products.\u201d All organisms require other organisms to metabolize their waste. Trees breathe in carbon dioxide and exhale oxygen; we breathe oxygen and exhale carbon dioxide. The system survives together. Ultimately, all divisions prove arbitrary.<\/p>\n

Dynamic equilibrium<\/b><\/h4>\n

Rachel Carson showed, in her 1962 book, Silent Spring,<\/i> that when a single species grows dominant and scatters its waste throughout its environment, the system can tip out of balance.<\/p>\n

Evolution\u2019s earliest example occurred about three billion years ago when certain sulfur-based anaerobic bacteria evolved to absorb carbon dioxide and solar energy, emitting oxygen. Within another half-billion years, these photosynthetic organisms combined to develop nuclei in their cells, as described by Lynn Margulis. They reproduced so quickly and became so successful that they filled the oceans and atmosphere with oxygen, which to them was a poison. Earth\u2019s first major extinction event followed, as many species perished in the poisonous oxygen environment they had created.<\/p>\n

Within another half-billion years, oxygen-metabolizing bacteria evolved, cleaned up the oxygen, and emitted carbon dioxide. Plants and animals have mutually balanced Earth\u2019s atmosphere ever since. Until recently. As we are all too painfully aware, the success of humans has again unbalanced Earth\u2019s atmosphere and oceans. Humans are not \u201cthe only animal that fouls its nest,\u201d as we sometimes read<\/a>; all organisms emit waste products, in which they cannot survive. We must, rather, accept limits to growth and protect species diversity, to metabolize our waste.<\/p>\n

\"Boreal<\/p>\n

Close up of fungus, moss and lichen in the Boreal forest. \u00a9 Markus Mauthe \/ Greenpeace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

In the 1970s, Russian chemist, Ilya Prigogine<\/a>, won the Nobel Prize for his description of the connection among evolution, organic chemistry, thermodynamics, and \u201cdissipative structures,\u201d living or non-living systems that transform energy. The larger meta-system, Prigogine concluded<\/a>, does not sustain species, but rather sustains relationships. Everything co-evolves, and no part of the system can \u201cmanage\u201d or \u201ccontrol\u201d the myriad layers of embedded systems and sub-systems. \u201cSustainability\u201d in ecology is \u201cdynamic equilibrium,\u201d a system of sub-systems that maintains regenerative patterns through feedback mechanisms. Such living systems involve tipping points, chaos, complexity, and random characteristics. Our understanding of these systems involves biophysical and neuro-psychological interfaces and the vagaries of communication among communities and individuals.<\/p>\n

Rough Ride<\/b><\/h4>\n

Lovelock and Margulis stitched all of this science and tradition together with the metaphor of \u201cGaia,\u201d the mother of all life. The living Earth gives rise to everything that follows and it operates as a whole. Living systems do not require \u201cintention,\u201d to find a path through chaos and happenstance. What is sustainable endures, what is not, perishes.<\/p>\n

We know that living forms grow into each other and compete for resources. We\u2019ve seen the thorns on blackberries and the claws of predators. Humans are no more guilty than blackberries for reaching out and growing into any available space. However, at a deeper level, living organisms must cooperate to endure.<\/p>\n

The growth of humanity on Earth, even the overgrowth, is itself natural. Wolves and algae also overgrow their habitat. Everything does. But eventually, every living organism \u2013 systems within systems \u2013 must form an alliance with the biophysical ecosystem in which they live.<\/p>\n

In 1988, nine years after Gaia<\/i> was published, Lovelock wrote a sequel, Ages of Gaia<\/i>, which pointed out that humans, like all species, do not get a special exemption from these evolutionary demands. In 2006, he published The Revenge of Gaia<\/i> lamenting that biodiversity collapse, disrupted nutrient cycles, depleted soils, and other ecological challenges were limiting Gaia\u2019s capacity to mitigate the effects of global heating. He predicted a collapse of civilization as we know it.<\/p>\n

\"Greenpeace<\/p>\n

The remains of a Peary Caribou (Rangifer tarandus pearyi) in the Canadian High Arctic. \u00a9 Greenpeace \/ Steve Morgan<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Three years later, in 2009, he backed off the apocalyptic vision in The Vanishing Face of Gaia<\/i>, suggesting that human society could reduce carbon emissions. Lovelock alienated many environmentalists and peace activists by suggesting<\/a> that, \u201conly nuclear power can now halt global warming.\u201d His proposal failed to adequately answer the persistent challenges<\/a> of nuclear power: the real carbon costs, health effects, meltdowns, weapons proliferation, radioactive waste, and the sheer scale of humanity\u2019s energy demand. In that same year Lovelock promoted Population Matters<\/i> acknowledging that the growth of human numbers posed ecological challenges.  In 2014, Lovelock wrote A Rough Ride to the Future<\/i> suggesting that efforts to reduce carbon emissions were failing, that political solutions appeared impossible, and that \u201csustainable retreat\u201d or \u201cadaption\u201d to a changing world would be necessary.<\/p>\n

Lovelock struggled as much as any of us to arrive at a prescription for shifting industrial, consumer society toward an ecological society. Nevertheless, Gaia<\/i> reframed the popular picture of Earth, as a single, living system, and helped launch the modern ecology movement.<\/p>\n

\n

References and links: <\/strong><\/p>\n

Lovelock, J. E.; Margulis, L., \u201cAtmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: The Gaia hypothesis\u201d. Tellus \/ Wiley Library<\/a>. 26: 2, 1974.<\/p>\n

By RM Schwartz, R.M; and Dayhoff, M. O., \u201cOrigins of prokaryotes, eukaryotes, mitochondria, and chloroplasts, Science<\/a>, Vol. 199, Issue 4327, 1978.<\/p>\n

Lovelock, J. E.; Maggs, R. J.; Wade, R. J. (1973). \u201cHalogenated Hydrocarbons in and over the Atlantic\u201d. Nature<\/a>. 241 (5386): 194.<\/p>\n

Charlson, R. J.; Lovelock, J. E.; Andreae, M. O.; Warren, S. G. (1987). \u201cOceanic phytoplankton, atmospheric sulphur, cloud albedo and climate\u201d. Nature<\/a>. 326 (6114): 655<\/p>\n

Howard Odum: 1953, \u201cFundamentals of Ecology,\u201d with Eugene P. Odum<\/p>\n

1983, Systems Ecology : an Introduction.<\/p>\n

Gregory Bateson: 1972: Steps to an Ecology of Mind<\/a>: collected essays; 1979: Mind and Nature<\/a>: Systems, complexity, co-evolution; Film: Ecology of Mind<\/a>, by daughter Nora Bateson; summary of Bateson\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Edwin Schroedinger, \u201d What is Life?\u201d: Cambridge University Press<\/a>; 1992.<\/p>\n

Ilya Prigogine, Isabelle Stengers, \u201cOrder Out of Chaos;\u201d Bantam Books<\/a>; 1984.<\/p>\n

Prigogine, G. Nicolis, \u201cSelf-Organization in Non-Equilibrium Systems<\/i>,\u201d Wiley; book<\/a>, and abstract and preview at Springer<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames Lovelock reflects on Gaia\u2019s legacy,\u201d interview with Phillip Ball, Nature<\/a>, 2014.<\/p>\n

James Lovelock, \u201cThe Ages of Gaia: A Biography of Our Living Earth,\u201d Oxford University Press, 1989; W. W. Norton<\/a>, 1995.<\/p>\n

James Lovelock, \u201cThe Revenge of Gaia,\u201d Basic Books<\/a>, 2006, and review in The Guardian<\/a>.<\/p>\n

James Lovelock, \u201cThe Vanishing Face of Gaia,\u201d <\/b>Basic Books<\/a>, 2009, and review in The Guardian<\/a>, 2009.<\/p>\n

James Lovelock, \u201cA Rough Ride to the Future: The Next Evolution of Gaia,\u201d review by Tim Lenton, Nature<\/a> 508, 2014<\/p>\n

Block content is empty. Check the block’s settings or remove it.<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Greek mythology only Chaos precedes Gaia. Gaia was the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":6775,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_planet4_optimize_post_is_variant":false,"_planet4_optimize_experiment_name":"","_planet4_optimize_variant_name":"","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected","p4_og_description":"

In Greek mythology, only Chaos precedes Gaia. Gaia was the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life.<\/p>","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"not set","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[20,25],"p4-page-type":[6],"class_list":["post-6774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-greenpeace","tag-forests","tag-oceans","p4-page-type-story"],"yoast_head":"\nGaia: everything on Earth is connected<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In Greek mythology only Chaos precedes Gaia. Gaia was the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-10-28T03:51:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-06-24T13:44:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Rex Weyler\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@GreenpeaceNZ\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Rex Weyler\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Rex Weyler\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/05beac0afe2ef5b3b73fe1e8d639b5b2\"},\"headline\":\"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-28T03:51:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-24T13:44:24+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\"},\"wordCount\":1925,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Forests\",\"Oceans\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Greenpeace\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\",\"name\":\"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-10-28T03:51:03+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-06-24T13:44:24+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/05beac0afe2ef5b3b73fe1e8d639b5b2\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Borneo langur or Trachypithecus as known as Lutung in local name as seen in comunity of Antan Kalang village, Central Broneo, Indonesia, on Sunday 17 May 2009.Borneo Lutung losing habitat cause deforestation.Photo Greenpeace\/Ardiles Rante S 01\u00b047'50.3\\\" E 112\u00b036'06.6\\\"\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/\",\"name\":\"Greenpeace Aotearoa\",\"description\":\"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/05beac0afe2ef5b3b73fe1e8d639b5b2\",\"name\":\"Rex Weyler\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33a7cc45fd2fc54181ba2f16b846f24f613ff2e44bf6076150284d1ce22f7e4d?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33a7cc45fd2fc54181ba2f16b846f24f613ff2e44bf6076150284d1ce22f7e4d?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Rex Weyler\"},\"description\":\"Rex Weyler was a director of the original Greenpeace Foundation, the editor of the organisation's first newsletter, and a co-founder of Greenpeace International in 1979. Rex's column reflects on the roots of activism, environmentalism, and Greenpeace's past, present, and future. The opinions here are his own. Follow him on Twitter or visit his personal website.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.rexweyler.ca\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/rex\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected","og_description":"In Greek mythology only Chaos precedes Gaia. Gaia was the Greek goddess of Earth, mother of all life.","og_url":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/","og_site_name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/greenpeace.nz","article_published_time":"2019-10-28T03:51:03+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-06-24T13:44:24+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Rex Weyler","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_site":"@GreenpeaceNZ","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Rex Weyler","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/"},"author":{"name":"Rex Weyler","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/05beac0afe2ef5b3b73fe1e8d639b5b2"},"headline":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected","datePublished":"2019-10-28T03:51:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-24T13:44:24+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/"},"wordCount":1925,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg","keywords":["Forests","Oceans"],"articleSection":["Greenpeace"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/","url":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/","name":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg","datePublished":"2019-10-28T03:51:03+00:00","dateModified":"2025-06-24T13:44:24+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/05beac0afe2ef5b3b73fe1e8d639b5b2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-aotearoa-stateless\/2019\/10\/035bf291-9b1bb0b5-gp01uty.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Borneo langur or Trachypithecus as known as Lutung in local name as seen in comunity of Antan Kalang village, Central Broneo, Indonesia, on Sunday 17 May 2009.Borneo Lutung losing habitat cause deforestation.Photo Greenpeace\/Ardiles Rante S 01\u00b047'50.3\" E 112\u00b036'06.6\""},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/story\/gaia-everything-on-earth-is-connected\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Gaia: everything on Earth is connected"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/","name":"Greenpeace Aotearoa","description":"Our mission is to ensure Earth\u2019s ability to nurture life in all its diversity.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/05beac0afe2ef5b3b73fe1e8d639b5b2","name":"Rex Weyler","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33a7cc45fd2fc54181ba2f16b846f24f613ff2e44bf6076150284d1ce22f7e4d?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/33a7cc45fd2fc54181ba2f16b846f24f613ff2e44bf6076150284d1ce22f7e4d?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Rex Weyler"},"description":"Rex Weyler was a director of the original Greenpeace Foundation, the editor of the organisation's first newsletter, and a co-founder of Greenpeace International in 1979. Rex's column reflects on the roots of activism, environmentalism, and Greenpeace's past, present, and future. The opinions here are his own. Follow him on Twitter or visit his personal website.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.rexweyler.ca\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/author\/rex\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6774","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6774"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6774\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":71602,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6774\/revisions\/71602"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6775"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6774"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6774"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6774"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/aotearoa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=6774"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}