The Global Financial Crisis has replaced Global Warming as the world media’s number one preoccupation. But most pundits and commentators have yet to realize that the Global Financial Crisis is another symptom of Global Warming, just like melting polar icecaps.
Contrary to many pundits’ opinions, the crisis was not brought on by the Market’s failure to regulate the economy. The Market is wiser than the pundits. The crisis is a result of the Market regulating the economy.
The Market realized that in the future, free market forces will have to account for damage to the environment as a real cost of business. Wisely, The Market devalued assets, with a bias against companies most inimical to the environment.
The average American household is a microcosm of America: a big, energy guzzling house, with at least one, often two or more, big gasoline guzzling automobiles in the garage. Mostly financed on credit.
Suddenly the Market realized: real costs of running big houses and big SUVs will be much greater when damage to the environment has to be paid for. Suddenly, big, energy-inefficient houses and vehicles have liabilities, and so they are no longer worth what Americans borrowed to buy them.
The big SUV makers may join the other dinosaurs soon too, because their environmentally unfriendly products are no longer wanted. Suddenly, the energy profligate, Greenhouse Gas spewing, built-on-credit American economy has been forced to take a huge write-down.
The big, energy inefficient vehicle that is the American economy has been re-evaluated by the World’s investors, and they have seen that their investment in the US of A has big, long term liabilities.
At last, the Market has realized that unrestrained growth is unsustainable. The Market has become Gaian. In fact, the Market has become a subset of Gaia.
The Gaia Hypothesis posits that all living things work together, collectively regulating their environment to the benefit of the whole, which is Gaia.
Gaians have marshaled convincing evidence that Gaia has indeed continued to manipulate the environment for her own benefit, since the distant past when life began. As a result, life continues to flourish, even though the sun now shines about 25% more brightly than then.
But until recently, many scientists did not accept the Gaia Hypothesis, because Gaians could not explain how exactly Gaia regulates the biosphere.
But here’s the thing! Now that enough people share the Gaian belief that Global Warming is anthropogenic, their collective action has begun to regulate the environment, through inter-government agreements, through the environmentally responsible actions billions of individuals, and now, through the Market.
Anthropogenic Global Warming believers are conscious beings, and we are part of Gaia, therefore collectively we are Gaia’s consciousness. The internet and electronic communications are her nervous system.
No longer is Gaia’s regulating mechanism a mystery. A regulating mechanism is now obvious: Gaia’s conscious will. Gaia’s will guides our collective action, to curb the damage we are doing to the environment. Our collective action’s ultimate aim is to placate Gaia, hoping that she deigns to let our civilization survive. We submit to Gaia’s will.
Gaia grew impatient with dithering about a response to Global Warming, and so she used the Market to trigger a Global Recession. A recession is a sure way to cut back Greenhouse Gas Emissions.
The Global Financial Crisis is a warning that Gaia is not satisfied with the level of our commitment to redress the damage we have done to her. If we let the GFC deflect our attention from the War Against Global Warming, we may compel Gaia to even more drastic action.
I don't believe we are Gaia's consciousness. Gaia has her own consciousness just like trees and bears and humans. We do, however, have the unique ability to reflect on past, present, future as well as on ourselves and others. This ability to reflect is something unique that we bring to the situation. Nor do I see the internet and electronic communications as Gaia's nervous system. If that's true then where was Gaia's nervous system before these things came into being? Rather I posit that perhaps Gaia's nervous system is a conglomerate of the nervous systems of all living and sentient beings. Or perhaps Gaia's nervous system consists of the energy lines that cross and penetrate the Earth, the energy lines that dowsers work with, that come together in some places recognized by ancient peoples as sacred. Of course I don't know any of this for a fact though reading, studying, and writing about Gaia has been a passion of mine of many years now. But you are right about the economy thing. And you are right that Gaia will simply shake us off whenever it is time depending on what we do or don't do. And it will be nothing personal, just as death by earthquake isn't personal. You're just in the wrong place at the wrong time. I do believe that we can (and must) work with Gaia however we are able and that each one of us has the ability, however buried it may be, to connect with the essense of Gaia in our own places. And that this is a powerful and positive thing.