James Lovelock. An Interview by Euan Ferguson

"Gaia is the idea of a self-regulating Earth. Earth is not habitable because of "luck", but because life maintains its habitability. Living organisms, consciously or not, manipulate the oceans and atmosphere, even the (eventual) composition of rock, in order to maximise the conditions for the continuance of life."
"Into this has come the growing realisation that we, humanity, have become the Earth's heaviest polluters. Our industrial society, indeed our very existence, is changing the CO2 balance around the planet to a degree now affecting its heat stability. Lovelock has been one of the prime thinkers behind the study of climate change and today he is, as it were, cheerfully gloomy. It's a mood that pervades his latest book: rational, widely read, witty, apocalyptic. His previous Gaia book was described as "the most important for decades"; his new one, The Vanishing Face of Gaia, makes its predecessor look like Teatime with Flopsy Bunny. His is the gloom that comes with hard-won knowledge."

"Some of the more recent green hysteria is plain wrong. I know what there is to be worried about and what not to. Flying is not a major problem, not compared with all the CO2 being given out all the time by us and our pets. Flying's only got this reputation because often greening mixes with the bad side of the left, which is to do with envy. A lot of people have closed their minds to arguments against wind farms. But they are monstrously silly! A 500-ton concrete base support and 4,000 of them needed to equal the output of one coal-burning station – how is that helping? There was a report in Der Spiegel saying that in Germany, where they've got 17,500 of the things, the amount of CO2 now being produced in the country is greater than ever."

"So what other solutions are there? "Tidal's a good idea, yes. But it would take time. We don't have time. Nuclear is the answer. Far, far less dangerous than any propagandist has ever pretended. Look, even now, at the wildlife all around Chernobyl! Because man and his pets have not been near for years!"

Mycket intressant./Tord