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Thursday, May 17, 2012

6 of 7 - A Life of Science: Lynn Margulis Opens the Gaian Era

Dear Earthlings:

two important posts this week. They came at the beginning of the conference about Lynn Margulis, from her son and co-author of many books and from one of her students. They bring tidings of other avatars of Gaia theory and of what this all means when it comes to schools, textbooks, and children.

Dorion Sagan, Lynn's older son, reads an essay sent over by James Lovelock. Gaia is the shared theory, Lovelock's macrocosm perspective offers the view from above, from the firmament where the third planet is visible. Lynn's microcosmic perspective offers the view from below, from the microbes, the cells, the molecules that make us feel alive when we pinch them. As above so below. That's the proof that Gaia theory is meaningful.

Emily Case vows to "liberate Lynn s ideas from the 'box' and move them to the mainstream text." A science teacher formed at the school of Lynn Margulis, she agrees that research and teaching come together when the laboratory of life is one's classroom. Symbiogenesis is when a cell enters another cell and becomes its nucleus. It's a form of collaboration that resulted in the first big leap of evolution. Now it's in a box, because the main narrative of evolution is Darwinian: it all happened because of competition. When there is a critical mass behind Gaia theory, collaboration will be the main narrative of evolution, with competition as a footnote: the error resulting from a failure to cooperate with the natural way of doing things.

Perhaps some day kids will come home from school and say: "Mom, pop, today I learned that without collaboration life would not exist. It was discovered by Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock. Before them, the opposite was believed. People were nasty and rude. Now we know better. How can I help you this afternoon?"

Dear Earthlings:

Education is the heart of democracy. And that includes education to love. It comes in many forms. Including learning about Lynn Margulis, the role of collaboration in evolution, and Gaia theory.

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Come back! And stay tuned for more wonders.

Namaste,