The Revenge of Gaia

The Revenge of Gaia by James Lovelock brings awareness to the affect people have caused to the world and how,the world is reacting back.In a sense there is a bit of karma that has been placed upon the excessive consumers. Karma is when a person receives good or bad actions after they have caused either good or bad intentions. This karma is based on the worlds reaction to the Americans mistreatment and abuse of the world's resources. One idea that struck out to me was "sustainable development". According to the article, sustainable development represents the continuous effort to balance and integrate the three pillars of social well-being,economic prosperity and environmental protection for the benefit of present and future generations. This idea does not apply to the Americans because they do not take into consideration their surroundings, instead they focus on their own pleasures, luxuries, and comfort. These massive consumers are ignorant. They have become addicted to a source that affects the world drastically, yet they have no care on the negative outcomes the world faces. This text views the world as an organism. The earth grows,ages, and consumes.Americans continue exposing the earth to carbon dioxide from the burnt fossil fuels and the earth takes it in. This according to the text, is heating up the earth and leading it towards a "hot state." These burnt fossil fuels surrounding our environment are making dramatic climate changes. It is becoming the cause of hurricanes and other natural disasters. What American consumers still don't understand is that the damage we have done, and continue to do is making a long lasting affect on the earth. Lovelock states that "it would take earth more than a thousand years to recover." Even if the oil addicted consumers change their way of life to fit ,reasonably, everyone and everything there will be little or no positive affect on the earth. The obsessive consumptions has led to disastrous and irreversible consequences on both earth and the people and animals that inhabit it.