Earth system

The Earth is a self-regulating system according to Gaia theory and its more mainstream offshoot, Earth system science. Through various cycles and processes, living beings around the planet cooperate to stabilize the Earth's temperature, acidity, salinity, atmosphere, and more. Thus, the Earth does not function as a hierarchy or as a competitive struggle between all beings. Rather, members of a highly decentralized global network cooperate to ensure mutual survival over millions and millions of years.

James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis first advanced the Gaia hypothesis, jointly publishing in Carl Sagan's journal Icarus. At first, they characterized the Earth as a living superorganism, drawing harsh criticism from reductionist scientists such as Richard Dawkins, who denounced the notion as "teleological." The critics asserted that the Earth cannot self-regulate since the it does not have the consciousness necessary to plan and have foresight. Lovelock responded by programming a computer simulation called Daisyworld. In Daisyworld, sunlight-reflecting white daisies and sunlight-absorbing black daisies cooperated to stabilize the planet's temperature, allowing life to thrive for an extended period of time. The model demonstrated that planetary self-regulation does not require the foresight or conscious planning.

Today, the mainstream body of research called Earth system science draws heavily on Gaian ideas but, in an effort to fit into dominant scientific culture, removes the reference to the Greek goddess Gaia. In Amsterdam in 2001, over a thousand delegates signed a statement, “The Earth System behaves as a single, self-regulating system comprised of physical, chemical, biological and human components.”