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Animate Earth: Science, Intuition and Gaia
Stephan Harding explores how Gaian science can help us to develop a sense of connectedness with the 'more-than-human' world. His work is based on an integration of rational scientific analysis with our intuition, sensing and feeling.
256 pages, Paperback
First published March 30, 2006
34 people are currently reading
521 people want to read
About the author
Stephan Harding
12 books9 followersStephan Harding was a British zoologist and ecologist. He specialized in holism and the Gaia hypothesis and was a founding member of Schumacher College, where he coordinated the master's program in holistic sciences.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
May 21, 2012
The Gaia Theory, first proposed as a hypothesis by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the early 1970s, states that the Earth’s biosphere and upper crust acts in such a way as to create and maintain an environment for the propagation of life. Whereas for over 3 billion years the sun has grown brighter, life on Earth has not only not died out from the excessive heat, but has grown in biodiversity, given us a breathable atmosphere, and a temperature perfect for the propagation of life. The hypothesis has recently grown in acceptance among many mainstream scientists as a theory whose many predictions have found observational support. I’ve summarized its main points in The Earth as a Living Organism.
In Animate Earth, Stephan Harding eloquently provides an in depth journey through many aspect of the theory, the origin of life on Earth, the oceans, and the complex ways in which different life kingdoms interact. Though the book is written for the non-specialist, it provides enough depth to also satisfy the serious scientist. We get an appreciation for the role of clouds in regulating the Earth’s temperature, and some of the uncertainties.
Is the Earth alive --- an actual organism? Gaia Theory proponents fall into two camps, the soft-Gaians who maintain that the Earth isn’t alive, but only appears to be. Hard-Gaians view the Earth as closer to a living organism. Lovelock’s Daisyworld model explains Gaia in terms acceptable to the soft-Gaians. Stephan Harding, a professor at Schumacher College, worked with James Lovelock and others on developing the Daisyworld model. However Animate Earth is hard-Gaian in that it presents the Earth and its living processes through metaphor, in a way that brings us, viscerally, closer to the Earth, and living processes. In the chapter on the fungi kingdom, Harding speculates how the network of mycylea may resemble the animal brain --- intelligent, a view I've also written about in my blog entry, The Secret Life of Fungi.
Each chapter includes a meditation on an aspect of Gaia. Here the reader is asked to put aside their rational mindset, that sees Gaia as an elaborate but non-living mechanism, and to view Her with other faculties, emotional, spiritual, tactile, visual. I suspect that for many scientists, who are used to seeing the parts of a system rather than the whole, this is a daunting task. Harding calls for nothing less than a revolution in the way we look at the Earth, not only to see it through the prism of our rational mind, but to use our feelings to develop a closer relationship. While he skirts close to New Age mysticism, he remains firmly in the scientific world.
I believe that Harding’s approach is a step in the right direction where it comes to addressing the spectre of climate change, on an individual level. I’ve little doubt that Gaia is a very sick lady (as Lovelock would put it). So far all our international conferences to address global warming have come up with no solutions. Though humanity caused the sickness, some say through excess consumption, humanity is composed of billions of individuals. Ever since the industrial revolution and the maturation of of our scientific, materialistic mindset, we have distanced ourselves from the Earth. It has become a dead object, there to be exploited. Yet this relationship can be rediscovered. For some it happens spontaneously, in a quiet natural place where nature speaks to us and we experience our kinship with her. Working the land with our hands is another way, which is why I would support any effort that gives city dwellers a small plot of land to cultivate. Harding offers an approach through meditation. If it doesn’t work for me, it's only because I don’t respond to guided meditations, but I’ve no doubt that others will respond.
If the current crisis is to be averted, and Gaia is to find healing, that lost relationship with the land must first be restored. That was where a wrong turn was taken long ago. We need to retrace our steps to that point and to appreciate Gaia as a person, one that it is our present responsibility to care for. Millions of people re-establishing that contact? It will be a force for change.
In Animate Earth, Stephan Harding eloquently provides an in depth journey through many aspect of the theory, the origin of life on Earth, the oceans, and the complex ways in which different life kingdoms interact. Though the book is written for the non-specialist, it provides enough depth to also satisfy the serious scientist. We get an appreciation for the role of clouds in regulating the Earth’s temperature, and some of the uncertainties.
Is the Earth alive --- an actual organism? Gaia Theory proponents fall into two camps, the soft-Gaians who maintain that the Earth isn’t alive, but only appears to be. Hard-Gaians view the Earth as closer to a living organism. Lovelock’s Daisyworld model explains Gaia in terms acceptable to the soft-Gaians. Stephan Harding, a professor at Schumacher College, worked with James Lovelock and others on developing the Daisyworld model. However Animate Earth is hard-Gaian in that it presents the Earth and its living processes through metaphor, in a way that brings us, viscerally, closer to the Earth, and living processes. In the chapter on the fungi kingdom, Harding speculates how the network of mycylea may resemble the animal brain --- intelligent, a view I've also written about in my blog entry, The Secret Life of Fungi.
Each chapter includes a meditation on an aspect of Gaia. Here the reader is asked to put aside their rational mindset, that sees Gaia as an elaborate but non-living mechanism, and to view Her with other faculties, emotional, spiritual, tactile, visual. I suspect that for many scientists, who are used to seeing the parts of a system rather than the whole, this is a daunting task. Harding calls for nothing less than a revolution in the way we look at the Earth, not only to see it through the prism of our rational mind, but to use our feelings to develop a closer relationship. While he skirts close to New Age mysticism, he remains firmly in the scientific world.
I believe that Harding’s approach is a step in the right direction where it comes to addressing the spectre of climate change, on an individual level. I’ve little doubt that Gaia is a very sick lady (as Lovelock would put it). So far all our international conferences to address global warming have come up with no solutions. Though humanity caused the sickness, some say through excess consumption, humanity is composed of billions of individuals. Ever since the industrial revolution and the maturation of of our scientific, materialistic mindset, we have distanced ourselves from the Earth. It has become a dead object, there to be exploited. Yet this relationship can be rediscovered. For some it happens spontaneously, in a quiet natural place where nature speaks to us and we experience our kinship with her. Working the land with our hands is another way, which is why I would support any effort that gives city dwellers a small plot of land to cultivate. Harding offers an approach through meditation. If it doesn’t work for me, it's only because I don’t respond to guided meditations, but I’ve no doubt that others will respond.
If the current crisis is to be averted, and Gaia is to find healing, that lost relationship with the land must first be restored. That was where a wrong turn was taken long ago. We need to retrace our steps to that point and to appreciate Gaia as a person, one that it is our present responsibility to care for. Millions of people re-establishing that contact? It will be a force for change.
April 23, 2018
This book deserves a lot of patience, love and dedication from readers. It really opens my eyes to a new way of looking at things that I felt deeply connected with.
Since I was small, I liked to think that everything has its soul and its place in the world, not only moving beings like human, animals but also plants, rocks, soil... That's probably why it is quite easy for me to feel the content of the book, I'm easily to be Gaia-ed :) I think.
To approach the "Gaia" view in a science language is very interesting. It gives the impression of being both rational and sentimental at the same time.
I would give my heart to read it a few more times and love to see my nature-lover-friends reading it too ^^
Since I was small, I liked to think that everything has its soul and its place in the world, not only moving beings like human, animals but also plants, rocks, soil... That's probably why it is quite easy for me to feel the content of the book, I'm easily to be Gaia-ed :) I think.
To approach the "Gaia" view in a science language is very interesting. It gives the impression of being both rational and sentimental at the same time.
I would give my heart to read it a few more times and love to see my nature-lover-friends reading it too ^^
June 23, 2010
I love this book. It's so nice to hear a scientist say we need to tune in to our intuition and trust our inner knowing. I love the meditative exercises.
September 30, 2025
Contiene spunti di riflessione molto interessanti e, nonostante l’anno in cui è stato scritto, lo trovo molto attuale.
Tuttavia, ho avuto qualche difficoltà a capire alcune cose (probabilmente sono io mancante di conoscenza). Non è un libro “per tutti”.
Tuttavia, ho avuto qualche difficoltà a capire alcune cose (probabilmente sono io mancante di conoscenza). Non è un libro “per tutti”.
August 16, 2010
not really what it claims to be about... much, much better. Interesting, intelligent discussion of Animism and Gaia
December 23, 2023
Challenging work with much scientific detail to support the thesis that the earth, Gaia, is alive. Harding breathes life into the elements and microbes while conveying the scientific support for the Gaia theory. Among the quotations and discussions that stood out to me are:
“Bacteria are deeply sentient creatures that live in a rich, meaningful communal world, partially of their own, making, to which they respond, creatively and with exquisite sensitivity… if our [bodies] are fundamentally bacterial, then a continuous thread of sentience runs from us right back to our earliest bacterial ancestors.”
Harding suggests that the complex feedbacks of the elements, microbes, and other biota of our planet are parallel to the unconscious workings of our own bodies—respiration, circulation, digestion; that “by wounding Gaia we wound ourselves, both physically and psychologically;” that this calls for a change of mindset, whereby we identify with the living world and extend outward beyond ourselves as individuals; that if science can contribute to this awakening it will have served its highest purpose (“deeper work” in his words). (203)
Echoing older theorists, Harding suggests that Beauty is a “guide to right relationship with nature.” (216)
In chapter nine he defends the value biodiversity on utilitarian grounds, but says that, ultimately, “we need…to recover the ancient view of Gaia, as a fully integrated, living, being consisting of all her lifeforms, air, rocks, oceans, lakes, and rivers, if we are able to hold the latest, and possibly greatest, mass extinction.” (222)
“Bacteria are deeply sentient creatures that live in a rich, meaningful communal world, partially of their own, making, to which they respond, creatively and with exquisite sensitivity… if our [bodies] are fundamentally bacterial, then a continuous thread of sentience runs from us right back to our earliest bacterial ancestors.”
Harding suggests that the complex feedbacks of the elements, microbes, and other biota of our planet are parallel to the unconscious workings of our own bodies—respiration, circulation, digestion; that “by wounding Gaia we wound ourselves, both physically and psychologically;” that this calls for a change of mindset, whereby we identify with the living world and extend outward beyond ourselves as individuals; that if science can contribute to this awakening it will have served its highest purpose (“deeper work” in his words). (203)
Echoing older theorists, Harding suggests that Beauty is a “guide to right relationship with nature.” (216)
In chapter nine he defends the value biodiversity on utilitarian grounds, but says that, ultimately, “we need…to recover the ancient view of Gaia, as a fully integrated, living, being consisting of all her lifeforms, air, rocks, oceans, lakes, and rivers, if we are able to hold the latest, and possibly greatest, mass extinction.” (222)
July 19, 2014
Not as hippy dippy as the visualisation exercises had led me to anticipate. While it might push the animism angle a bit too hard for some tastes (and I'm sure more than a few people will be put off by the book's constant poetic reference to the earth/gaia as "She"), overall it was really just a benign exploration of the Gaia Theory (which I hadn't realised is so controversial), starting with the history of how the theory was developed, and then looking at all the various networks that the earth uses to regulate itself. It ends with the inevitable discussion of how humans are fucking up the earth's ability to keep regulating itself, and while the book does give you some examples of how to shrink your carbon footprint (buy local produce, take public transport etc), it does point out that in the long rung, what we really need is a total shift in the structure and mindset of our societies. And so it was perfectly terrible timing that I was reading this just as Australia has scrapped its carbon tax.
April 18, 2016
I'm only giving this 5 star because of the authors warning at the beginning, he makes the point that a lot of this is hard to take in and that he can't do a good job of describing it. You can feel the passion in it, but it just doesn't come out the pages, that's your job.
Really good book, one of those you put down after reading a bit and just marvel at what's around you :)
Really good book, one of those you put down after reading a bit and just marvel at what's around you :)
February 11, 2012
I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. A bit too blurred and drifty, perhaps...
February 16, 2017
Stephan Harding describes the concept of “deep ecology,” which brings the theme of animism to a deeper level.
February 5, 2020
Absolutely heart warming. Makes my whole being expand with love for mother earth. We live on such an amazing planet and it's time more humans start realising it!
March 27, 2023
If this book makes people reconsider how they treat our planet, GOOD. But for me, the somewhat esoteric and meandering take in this book was too much (I also had to read the gruesome German translation because the library only had the translated version), I do not need to be convinced of rather basic scientification ideas OR that our planet is worth saving and that we need to do that. Parts were sweet, but the hardcore personification did not work for me -- again, this might work for others! I think I'm not the target audience for this book, it mostly annoyed me. Some ideas were good, interconnectedness, personal involvement and reconnection to nature / Gaia, but overall? Meh. 2 Stars because it just annoyed me, especially the writing style (might be partly due to the translation though)
January 13, 2024
This wonderful book would’ve got four stars but for its one omission which would have been to include veganism as part of a Gaian harmony. This subject seemed strangely overlooked (particularly in the list of final practical recommendation points). But otherwise a wonderful clarion call to change the way we live. If only the powers and the people would listen. Sadly the change needed, as outlined in this book, is unlikely to happen.
November 14, 2020
"Questo fa capire che il vero cambiamento deve essere interiore, perchè [...] anche le soluzioni tecnologiche più brillanti potrebbero condurre al disastro se non vengono usate da esseri umani saggi. Forse la massima più fondamentale della saggezza gaiana è il fatto che noi uomini siamo totalmente responsabili di fronte al nostro pianeta".
Le previsioni pessimistiche alla data del libro (2006) sono già abbondantemente superate dalla realtà dei fatti, 14 anni dopo. Ma non c'è nulla di nuovo nel funzionamento di Gaia, anzi, il pregio del libro è di spiegare in maniera scientifica e dettagliata, la chimica e la fisica che regolano le leggi di Gaia. Ciò che è cambiato, è il progresso nel processo di autodistruzione che il modello di vita degli esseri umani sta meticolosamente perseguendo, in una corsa verso la crescita a discapito delle risorse di un sistema finito. Gaia, pur logorata all'estremo, nella sua evoluzione naturale si trasformerà ancora, noi saremmo la prima specie su questa terra responsabile di un'estinzione di massa. Forse è il caso di tenerlo presente.
Le previsioni pessimistiche alla data del libro (2006) sono già abbondantemente superate dalla realtà dei fatti, 14 anni dopo. Ma non c'è nulla di nuovo nel funzionamento di Gaia, anzi, il pregio del libro è di spiegare in maniera scientifica e dettagliata, la chimica e la fisica che regolano le leggi di Gaia. Ciò che è cambiato, è il progresso nel processo di autodistruzione che il modello di vita degli esseri umani sta meticolosamente perseguendo, in una corsa verso la crescita a discapito delle risorse di un sistema finito. Gaia, pur logorata all'estremo, nella sua evoluzione naturale si trasformerà ancora, noi saremmo la prima specie su questa terra responsabile di un'estinzione di massa. Forse è il caso di tenerlo presente.
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August 5, 2011Based on James Lovelock's Gaia theory, Harding argues for a new perspective and relationship with the earth. A relationship where we stop seeing animals as little more than souless machines and the earth itself as nothing but a resource to exploit. While I agree, I thought that Harding's approach might not be off-putting to Christians and other religions. If we're going to save the planet we need everyone on board and must engage in productive dialogue and not come across as Gaia evangelists.
May 9, 2015
หลายคนบอกว่าเล่มนี้ฮิปปี้..
แต่ในหนังสือ คุณฮาร์ดิ้งบอกว่า
"เราควรจะทำอะไรอย่างจริงจังจริงๆ กับสภาพอากาศ
ไม่ไช่แค่ความคิดเพ้อฝันของพวกฮิปปี้" (แรงงงง)
เนื้อเรื่องดีมาก! แต่น้ำๆ ก็ค่อนข้างเยอะเหมือนกัน
เล่มนี้ทำให้เปิดโลกใหม่ได้อีกโลกเลย
เปลี่ยนมุมมองของวิทยาศาสตร์
โดยการเอาจิตวิญญาณมาผูกกับโลก
(แม้ว่าในบทแรกๆ ค่อนข้างไปทางแนวคิดเชิงปรัชญา
แต่ในเนื้อหาของ "โยงใยธรรมชาติ" ของคาร์บอน ซัลเฟอร์ ค็อกโกลิโธฟอร์ ยอดเยี่ยม!)
แต่ในหนังสือ คุณฮาร์ดิ้งบอกว่า
"เราควรจะทำอะไรอย่างจริงจังจริงๆ กับสภาพอากาศ
ไม่ไช่แค่ความคิดเพ้อฝันของพวกฮิปปี้" (แรงงงง)
เนื้อเรื่องดีมาก! แต่น้ำๆ ก็ค่อนข้างเยอะเหมือนกัน
เล่มนี้ทำให้เปิดโลกใหม่ได้อีกโลกเลย
เปลี่ยนมุมมองของวิทยาศาสตร์
โดยการเอาจิตวิญญาณมาผูกกับโลก
(แม้ว่าในบทแรกๆ ค่อนข้างไปทางแนวคิดเชิงปรัชญา
แต่ในเนื้อหาของ "โยงใยธรรมชาติ" ของคาร์บอน ซัลเฟอร์ ค็อกโกลิโธฟอร์ ยอดเยี่ยม!)
November 30, 2013
As much as I'm sure I agree with this guy, I just couldn't get into this book. I'm not sure why, but it just didn't grab me. Every night I read a bit of it, and by the time I returned to it the following night I had zero memory of what I had read before. This book just didn't make an impression on me, I guess.
August 28, 2014
Not a fan. I respect the ideology of being one with nature and that we should protect all things that make the world but, this book takes in too much of the philosophical aspects of nature which I am not interested in. It would be a good tool to include in your research. I recommend this book to the "Hippie" type environmental scientist or philosophy enthusiasts.
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews