Walt Whitman once wrote, “You air that serves me with breath to speak…You light that wraps me and all things in delicate equable showers!… I believe you are latent with unseen existences, you are so dear to me.” Despite how personally we interpret the phenomenon of nature, the world around us is so much more complicated that we can understand. Each system of nature is filled with “unseen existences”, or smaller systems. For example, sunlight is composed of photons and they have their own individual energy and wavelength. Countless of photons compose sunlight that give light to all life on Earth. Truly, the sum of the world’s components is so much greater than its parts.
Something I found interesting to consider in the Gaia theory is that Earth is not centrally coordinated. Rather, it is composed of smaller systems interacting with each other and influenced by feedback loops. The Chaos theory was difficult for me to grasp; how could an enormous system like Earth not have some sort of main control center? This led me to wonder why we can’t apply equilibrium,which is fundamental to chemistry, to the Earth when considering it as a system. I now realise that due to the process of emergence, each level of organization becomes increasing complex. Obviously, the planet is far more complex than the elements that compose it. A supporting theory is that Gaia is out of equilibrium on geologic scales of time because it obeys the laws of thermodynamics. In other words, the Earth is always increasing in entropy and therefore is moving away from equilibrium.
Growing up in a rural town in Northern California, I have seen what happens when people isolate themselves and do not want to interact with nearby systems. The “Support the State of Jefferson” movement aims to divide less populated regions (small towns in the North) from the more urban Southern California. The motives behind this are not wanting to share resources, mainly water, and for conservative Republicans to have more representation in Congress. In reality, most of California’s revenue comes from the Silicon Valley and Southern California. Additionally, counties that would compose the State of Jefferson do not have the infrastructure to sustain a population. In order to survive, we need to depend on the resources of our neighbors and share what we have to offer. Separating two regions that depend on each other would damage both. It is incredibly frustrating to me to that other people in my hometown do not release what a catastrophe this would be it it actually happened. However, I understand that I am looking at this issue through an incredibly privileged point of view. Most people do not have level of education or resources to understand the consequences of isolationism. By increasing communication and connectivity in a system like California, all people living in nearby systems can be more successful by better understanding each other.
Interesting article on the Gaia Theory and equilibrium: https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/55/9/799/286141/Gaia-Out-Of-Equilibrium