Coronavirus and the Gaia Hypothesis: what to know

It’s not only from a spiritual point of view that we have the feeling that the coronavirus is a rematch of the Earth, a reaction of the planet after so many aggressions. But what if the Earth is defending itself from us? Is there a connection between Coronavirus and the Gaia Hypothesis?

In the 1970s, the English scientist James Lovelock created an ecological theory called the Gaia Hypothesis, which allows us to interpret the coronavirus as an element that emerged to restore an unbalanced system. The virus would be part of the earth’s defense system. From a metaphorical perspective, as the Earth is being attacked, the planet sent invisible soldiers to face its enemies: the humanity.

Coronavirus and the Gaia Hypothesis

Ecology is the specialty of biology that studies the environment and the beings that live in it. It was within this area of science that the Gaia Hypothesis was born. This theory establishes that the Earth is an immense living organism, since the entire biosphere of the planet is closely linked with the physical components that exist on it, forming a system that acts and reacts to maintain the stability of the conditions of the environment. When something does not go well, Gaia tries to neutralize what is wrong to restore balance and maintain adequate conditions to sustain life. The whole life, not ours.

Originally proposed as “Earth’s Response Hypothesis”, the theory was renamed as Gaia Hypothesis in reference to the character of Greek mythology who personified the Earth: Gaia – Goddess of Earth, Mother who generates all the gods and creator of the planet. Born out of Chaos, she was the originator of the Cosmos, ending the disorder in which it found itself. Gaia created harmony.

The beginning of civilization

First we were hunter-gatherers. Nomads, we walked in small flocks and removed from nature only what we needed to survive: fruits, grains, vegetables and meat. Until we decided to settle down and became sedentary.

Devastation is our specialty.

We invented agriculture and moving from side to side has lost its meaning. We established fixed housing and soon the first cities appeared. Production started to generate surpluses, which started to be stored for colder or drought periods. So we started to have to protect this stock of animals and enemies. There, the social system of leaders, power and coercion was born.

We grew up slowly. There were centuries and centuries when the Earth was almost empty and progress was very slow. So, after the Industrial Revolution, we multiplied ourselves so quickly that the Earth no longer bear so many people, because natural resources are getting extinct.

The more prosperous we become, more the capital guides our values and directs our society. People have to buy things, “have things”, so the economy can sustain itself while society is moving forward.

We need to have the newest models of the devices, a multitude of clothes, jewelry, accessories and a whole useless paraphernalia that exists only to separate us into castes and give the false sense of dignity to those who cannot face the existential emptiness inherent in human life. We don’t care about the cost of the food we put on the table: our meat, for example, has an unacceptable environmental cost. Our milk, our soy and corn plantations also have a devastating environmental impact. In fact, devastating is our specialty.

Our industries pollute. We end up with forests because we need the wood and the space they leave. Our homes need furniture, our clothes, our raw material constructions, our monoculture plantations and our space oxen. And all of this also consumes loads of water. And all the waste that is generated goes into our waters and into our air. We drink and breathe our own trash.

This is what we call civilization, development, economics and profit. Nature calls it death.

Did Bill Gates know everything?

In 2015, a lecture by Bill Gates, one of the richest men in the world, went viral after the coronavirus pandemic began. He already knew that what could end life on Earth was a pandemic, he knew that a worldwide threat of this kind was imminent.

He was so precise in his statements that in a world of ignorant people like ours, the result could only be the most absurd conspiracy theories. Some say he is responsible for the coronavirus, that he already had the vaccine developed and released the disease worldwide to sell the cure.

It’s as if he had made a prediction so unthinkable, a revelation so incredible and fantastic that it could not have occurred naturally. Is he some kind of genius? In computer science, perhaps. But it doesn’t take more than a few neurons to realize that our lifestyle is a threat to us and we cannot take this anymore.

Human beings and nature are part of the same system: the ecological system. And one of the most important concepts in ecology is the resilience of systems, that is, their ability to adapt to crises or changes.

We are not the system, we are a part of it. And we are not in charge as we think. Our limit is nature and it’s the nature who will always rule the Earth.

Coronavirus has come to balance the earth

We all support this destructive society, so we are all targets of this adjustment. The virus spared no continent, no country, and quickly spread across the world. It has no prejudice as to race, creed, age, gender, social class or sexual orientation.

If you’re human, you’re in the crosshairs. And so we see the number of victims increasing quickly. Even in quarantine, there are so many people dying of this disease in hospitals all over the world.

Gaia’s theory indicates that the coronavirus is an element that emerged to promote the restoration of a system that was degraded. We interfere so much in the environment that life in general is compromised. The human population is being reduced to reduce the pressure for natural resources and to stop the destruction of the planet. And it makes sense that transmission started among the upper classes: who travels the world is the best thread for the spread of the disease.

Luckily for us, Gaia didn’t weigh her hand this time. This is just a warning. We can still learn about resilience, sustainability and balance with nature. So pandemics like that of the coronavirus will no longer be a threat to us. Just stop being a threat to the planet ourselves.