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James Lovelock a Vingança De Gaia.Pdf copyright © 2006 james lovelock título original the revenge of gaia: why the earth is fighting back, and how we can still save humanity projeto gráfico capa e miolo warrakloureiro foto capa michael lewis — getty images tradução ivo korytowski preparação leny cordeiro revisão técnica prof. dr. tércio ambrizzi [departamento de ciências atmosféricas — usp] revisão isabel newlands revisão de e-book cristiane pacanowski | pipa conteúdos editoriais geração de e-book joana de conti e-isbn 978-65-5560-019-3 edição digital: 2020 1a edição todos os direitos reservados à editora intrínseca rua marquês de são vicente, 99, 3o andar 22451-041 – gávea rio de janeiro – rj tel./fax: (21) 3206-7400 www.intrinseca.com.br dedico este livro à minha amada esposa sandy sumário [Avançar para o início do texto] folha de rosto mídias sociais dedicatória agradecimentos prefácio de sir crispin tickell o estado da terra o que é gaia? história da vida de gaia previsões para o século xxi fontes de energia produtos químicos, alimentos e matérias-primas tecnologia para uma retirada sustentável uma visão pessoal do ambientalismo além da estação final glossário leituras adicionais créditos notas sobre o autor conheça outro título do autor leia também agradecimentos Tive a sorte de contar com amigos que leram os originais deste livro e fizeram comentários úteis e valiosos, e sou especialmente grato a: Richard Betts, David Clemmow, Peter Cox, John Dyson, John Gray, Stephan Harding, Peter e Jane Horton, Tim Lenton, Peter Liss, Chris Rapley, John Ritch, Elaine Steel, sir Crispin Tickell, David Ward e Dave Wilkinson. Agradeço também a Gaia, instituição beneficente registrada sob o no 327903, www.daisyworld.org , o apoio durante a redação deste livro. A ela todos os direitos autorais serão doados. prefácio Quem é Gaia? O que ela é? O “que” é a casca fina de terra e água entre o interior incandescente da Terra e a atmosfera que a circunda. O “quem” é o tecido interagente de organismos vivos que, por mais de 4 bilhões de anos, veio a habitá-la. A combinação do “que” com o “quem”, bem como a forma como cada um continuamente afeta o outro, foi apropriadamente chamada de “Gaia”. Trata-se, como diz James Lovelock, de uma metáfora para a Terra viva. A deusa grega de quem o termo deriva deve estar orgulhosa da aplicação dada ao seu nome. A ideia de que a Terra está, nesse sentido metafórico, viva tem uma longa história. Deuses e deusas eram vistos como corporificações de elementos específicos, variando do céu à fonte mais próxima, e a ideia de que a própria Terra estava viva aflorou regularmente na filosofia grega. Leonardo da Vinci viu o corpo humano como o microcosmo da Terra, e a Terra como o macrocosmo do corpo humano. Ele não sabia como nós que o corpo humano é um macrocosmo dos elementos minúsculos de vida — bactérias, parasitas, vírus —, muitas vezes em guerra entre si, e juntos constituindo mais do que as células de nosso corpo. Giordano Bruno foi queimado na fogueira, mais de quatrocentos anos atrás, por sustentar que a Terra estava viva, e que outros planetas também poderiam estar. O geólogo James Hutton viu a Terra como um sistema autorregulador, em 1785, e T. H. Huxley a percebeu da mesma forma em 1877. Já Vladimir Ivanovitch Vernadsky viu o funcionamento da biosfera como uma força geológica que cria um desequilíbrio dinâmico, que, por sua vez, promove a diversidade da vida. Mas foi James Lovelock quem reuniu essas ideias na hipótese de Gaia em 1972. Em seu livro, ele as aperfeiçoa e amplia de maneiras novas e práticas. Olhando para trás, é estranho como a ideia pareceu inaceitável, para os adeptos do pensamento convencional, quando apresentada em sua forma atual, mais de um quarto de século atrás. Formas não familiares de olhar o familiar tendem a despertar a oposição emocional bem além da discussão racional: daí a oposição às ideias de evolução por seleção natural no século XIX , do movimento das placas tectônicas no século XX e, mais recentemente, de Gaia. No início, alguns viajantes da Nova Era embarcaram, e alguns cientistas normalmente sensatos caíram fora. Eles estão voltando. A mudança foi bem sintetizada por uma declaração publicada após um congresso de cientistas dos quatro grandes programas internacionais de pesquisa global, em 2001, que dizia: O sistema da Terra se comporta como um sistema único e autorregulador composto de componentes físicos, químicos, biológicos e humanos. As interações e feedbacks entre os componentes são complexos e exibem uma variabilidade temporal e espacial multiescala. Essa realmente é Gaia. A mensagem principal deste livro não é exatamente que a própria Gaia corra perigo (ela é uma “mulher durona”, nas palavras de Lynn Margulis), mas que os seres humanos têm infligido à sua configuração atual danos cada vez maiores. De qualquer modo, Gaia está mudando, e pode estar menos robusta do que no passado. O calor do Sol sobre a Terra vem gradualmente aumentando, e a autorregulação da qual depende toda a vida acabará correndo perigo. Olhando o ecossistema global como um todo, vemos que o aumento da população humana, a degradação das terras, o esgotamento dos recursos, o acúmulo de resíduos, todo tipo de poluição, a mudança climática, os abusos da tecnologia e a destruição da biodiversidade em todas as suas formas constituem juntos uma inédita ameaça ao bem-estar humano, desconhecida pelas gerações anteriores. Como escreveu Lovelock em outro livro: Crescemos em número a ponto de nossa presença estar perceptivelmente incapacitando nosso planeta, como uma doença. À semelhança das doenças humanas, quatro são os resultados possíveis: destruição dos organismos invasores da doença, infecção crônica, destruição do hospedeiro ou simbiose — um relacionamento duradouro, beneficiando mutuamente hospedeiro e invasor. A questão é como alcançar essa simbiose. Estamos longe dela atualmente. Lovelock examina, de forma eloquente, cada um dos problemas principais, a maioria decorrente dos efeitos da revolução industrial, em particular o consumo de combustíveis fósseis e produtos químicos, a agricultura e o espaço vital. Ele então sugere como poderíamos — enfim — começar a enfrentar a questão. Diz com propriedade que o primeiro requisito é reconhecer a existência dos problemas. O segundo é entendê-lo e extrair as conclusões certas. O terceiro é tomar alguma providência. Atualmente estamos em algum ponto entre os estágios um e dois. Aplicado aos problemas da sociedade moderna, o conceito de Gaia pode ser estendido ao pensamento atual sobre valores: a forma como encaramos e julgamos o mundo à nossa volta e, acima de tudo, como nos comportamos. Isso tem uma aplicação especial ao campo da economia, em que ilusões populares sobre a supremacia das forças do mercado estão tão profundamente arraigadas, e a responsabilidade do governo de proteger o interesse público é tantas vezes ignorada. É raro avaliarmos corretamente os custos: daí a confusão da política atual de energia e transportes e a incapacidade de avaliar os impactos prováveis da mudança do clima. A principal diferença entre o passado e o presente é que nossos problemas são de fato globais. Como observa Lovelock, estamos atualmente presos num círculo vicioso de feedback positivo. O que acontece em certo lugar logo afetará os acontecimentos em outros lugares. Somos perigosamente ignorantes de nossa própria ignorância, e poucas vezes tentamos ver as coisas como um todo. Se quisermos alcançar uma sociedade humana em harmonia com a natureza, devemos nos guiar por um respeito maior por ela. Não admira que algumas pessoas quisessem fazer uma religião de Gaia, ou da vida como tal. Este livro é uma maravilhosa introdução à ciência de como a nossa espécie deve fazer as pazes com o resto do mundo em que vivemos. crispin tickell o símbolo † indica que uma definição adicional é fornecida no glossário guias cegos! que coais um mosquito, e engolis um camelo. — mateus, 23:24 capítulo 1 o estado da terra Como sempre, as notícias ruins ficam em primeiro plano, e, enquanto escrevo no conforto de minha casa em Devon, a catástrofe de Nova Orleans enche as telas das televisões e as primeiras páginas dos jornais. Por mais horrível que seja, ela nos faz esquecer o sofrimento bem maior causado pelo tsunami em dezembro de 2004, que devastou a bacia do oceano Índico. Aquele terrível evento revelou, de forma brutal, o poder da Terra de matar. Basta um pequeno movimento do planeta em que vivemos para causar a morte de alguma fração de milhão de pessoas. Mas isso não é nada comparado com o que poderá advir em breve: estamos abusando tanto da Terra que ela poderá se insurgir e retornar ao estado quente de 55 milhões de anos atrás, e se isso acontecer, a maioria de nós e nossos descendentes morreremos. É como se estivéssemos empenhados em reviver a lenda mítica de O anel dos Nibelungos , de Wagner, e ver nosso Valhalla derreter de calor. Mas ouço o leitor protestar: “Quê? Outro livro sobre aquecimento global? O que era um medo não está se tornando um excesso?”. Se este livro não passasse de uma reiteração dos argumentos e contra-argumentos você teria razão, e este seria mais um livro dentre tantos outros. O que o torna diferente é que eu falo como um médico planetário cujo paciente, a Terra viva, se queixa de febre. Vejo o declínio da saúde da Terra como a nossa preocupação mais importante, nossas próprias vidas dependendo de uma Terra sadia. Nossa preocupação com ela deve vir em primeiro lugar, porque o bem-estar das massas crescentes de seres humanos exige um planeta sadio. A essa altura, meus amigos e colegas farão uma cara feia e desejarão que eu pare de falar de nosso planeta como uma forma de vida. † Entendo a preocupação deles, mas permaneço irredutível: se de início eu não tivesse concebido a Terra dessa maneira, poderíamos todos ter permanecido “cientificamente corretos”, mas sem a compreensão de sua verdadeira natureza.
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