Geology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 29: Hypothetical feedbacks between wolves and climate.
We don't have any answers, but by looking at the situation through Gaian eyes we can
experience a delightful intuition of radical interconnectedness. There may well be a link
between such apparently disconnected events such as the howls of a wolf pack, the very
wind which ruffles their fur and the snow which gently covers the tracks of the stealthy
quarry that they are setting out to hunt—all of this awakens a feeling of the astonishing
wisdom that lies at the heart of our animate Earth.
Sensing Albedo
If you are in a warm, sunny climate or season, find a black cloth and a white one
and place them next to each other on the ground, fully exposed to the sun's rays.
After five to ten minutes, feel the difference in temperature between the two sur-
faces. If you can get hold of two T-shirts, one black and one white, wear each one
in turn in the sun and feel how the albedo of the surface that covers your torso
affects your body temperature and your level of comfort.
Now become aware of the albedos of objects and living beings around you. Pick
a particular thing—a tree, a rock, a building—and spend some time connecting
with it as a surface that reflects or absorbs the sun's rays. Based on your direct
sensory experience of the black and white surfaces, become more and more aware
of how your object affects the temperature of its surroundings entirely because of
its albedo.
Now close your eyes and visualise Gaia as seen from space. Look at her dark
areas, her boreal forests and the open ocean, and her light areas, the great banks
of low clouds and the now shrinking areas of ice and snow. Connect with a feel-
ing of how these dark and light areas make an important contribution to Gaia's
temperature. See them changing as ice ages have come and gone, and as human
activity increasingly perturbs the surface of our planet.
We have seen how climate and vegetation work together as a self-regulating whole.
A further example of this in which local interactions predominate can be found in the
Everglades in Florida, where the native pine woodlands have been cleared and natur-
al marshes drained, with dramatic consequences. Simulations have shown that these
drastic interventions have reduced rainfall by 11% because less water transpires from the
