“We are the intelligent elite among animal life on earth and whatever our mistakes, [Earth] needs us. This may seem an odd statement after all that I have said about the way 20th century humans became almost a planetary disease organism. But it has taken [Earth] 2.5 billion years to evolve an animal that can think and communicate its thoughts. If we become extinct she has little chance of evolving another.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“The idea that humans are yet intelligent enough to serve as stewards of the Earth is among the most hubristic ever.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“City wisdom became almost entirely centered on the problems of human relationships, in contrast to the wisdom of any natural tribal group, where relationships with the rest of the animate and inanimate world are still given due place.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“Science is a cosy, friendly club of specialists who follow their numerous different stars; it is proud and wonderfully productive but never certain and always hampered by the persistence of incomplete world views.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“When we burn fossil fuel for energy we are, in qualitative terms, doing nothing more wrong than burning wood. Our wrongdoing, if that is an appropriate term, is taking energy from Gaia hundreds of times faster than it is naturally made available. We are sinning in a quantitative not a qualitative way.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“We live at a time when emotions and feelings count more than truth, and there is a vast ignorance of science.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“We are no more qualified to be the stewards or developers of the Earth than are goats to be gardeners.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
“Keep in mind that it is hubris to think that we know how to save the Earth: our planet looks after itself. All we can do is try to save ourselves.”
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"The problem is we don't know what the climate is doing. We thought we knew 20 years ago. That led to some alarmist books - mine included - because it looked clear-cut, but it hasn't happened."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"Perhaps the single most important thing that we can do to undo the harm we have done is to fix firmly in our minds the thought: the earth is alive."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"Nature favors those organisms which leave the environment in better shape for their progeny to survive."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"The entire range of living matter on Earth from whales to viruses and from oaks to algae could be regarded as constituting a single living entity capable of maintaining the Earth's atmosphere to suit its overall needs and endowed with faculties and powers far beyond those of its constituent parts."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"One thing that being a scientist has taught me is that you can never be certain about anything. You never know the truth. You can only approach it and hope to get a bit nearer to it each time. You iterate towards the truth. You don't know it."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"Humans on the Earth behave in some ways like a pathogenic micro-organism, or like the cells of a tumor."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"Sadly, it's much easier to create a desert than a forest."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"So-called 'sustainable development' is meaningless drivel."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"Life does more than adapt to the Earth. It changes the Earth to its own purposes."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"Humans are too stupid to prevent climate change from radically impacting on our lives over the coming decades."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"The big threat to the planet is people: there are too many, doing too well economically and burning too much oil."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"There is little evidence that our individual intelligence has improved through recorded history."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"This programme to stop nuclear by 2020 is just crazy. If there were a nuclear war, and humanity were wiped out, the Earth would breathe a sigh of relief."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)
"The inertia of humans is so huge that you can't really do anything meaningful."
― James Lovelock (1919-2022)