Reflection: James Lovelock

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James Lovelock has just died, aged 103. ‘Who was he?’ many will wonder. Well, he was a British Scientist and an Eco-warrior, a man ahead of his time. He worked for NASA and was recognised for his leading research work on ‘Life on Mars’. In Britain he specialised in Medical research. But he is world famous for his “Gaia Theory”. He saw this planet as a living organism imperilled by recent human activity. He measured pollution and realised that industrial output was polluting our atmosphere, and in the 1970s he warned that this would lead to fundamental future problems. Some agreed but did nothing. Others scoffed at his ideas. We now know that he was right about atmospheric pollution causing global-warming. James Lovelock also championed nuclear fuel in preference to burning fossil fuels. This was 50 years ago!

We can all agree that right at the beginning of the Bible, in Genesis, mankind is commissioned by God to care for this earth and all creation. Manifestly we have failed and we are now in trouble, as the current weather reminds us. James Lovelock also warned that with global warming there would be large new arid areas in the world, and these would lead to mass migrations with a consequential influx of refugees into more temperate countries. This also is already starting to happen!

All this raises the question as to how much the Church should raise its voice to support the care of God’s planet. Surely we should not leave it to the likes of the brilliant James Lovelock to be lone voices in this commercial world.

Jeremy Houghton-Brown