Rating: 8
It’s always refreshing to read a book about climate change from over a decade ago that not only manages to remain mostly relevant but is able to present new (at least to me) perspectives on this global problem. James Lovelock is a medical scientist who approaches the climate crisis much like a doctor would a patient: clinically. He is blunt in addressing what’s happening, what’s causing it, and how we might go about fixing it. The Revenge of Gaia reads more like a long essay of Lovelock’s thoughts on climate change and his work over his long career (he was 86 at the time of writing).
It’s a text saturated with metaphors and parallels for Lovelock’s readers to use when trying to grapple with the meaning and implications of global catastrophe. His comparison of our response to this current predicament unfolding either like Napoleon’s invasion of Russia (in calamity due to a harsh winter and lack of resources) or as Britain’s retreat at Dunkirk (in comparable success) is brilliant. Lovelock understands that the only “victory” we can achieve in this situation is a successful retreat with minimal casualties, and for this reason he is a staunch advocate for nuclear energy. My only trouble with The Revenge of Gaia were the parts in which he scoffed at the development of wind turbines on the apparent basis that it would further hamper his idyllic English countryside views, but besides this it’s definitely worth a read.
“We are the species equivalent of that schizoid pair, Mr Hyde and Dr Jekyll; we have the capacity for disastrous destruction but also the potential to found a magnificent civilization. Hyde led us to use technology badly; we misused energy and overpopulated the Earth, but we will not sustain civilization by abandoning technology. We have instead to use it wisely, as Dr Jekyll would do, with the health of the earth, not the health of people, in mind. This is why it is much too late for sustainable development; what we need is a sustainable retreat.”