Scientists on Gaia [Paperback]

Stephen H. Schneider (Editor), Penelope J. Boston (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 29, 1993

The Gaia hypothesis suggests that life is an active participant in shaping the physical and chemical environment on which it depends. Scientists on Gaia is a multidisciplinary exploration of this controversial hypothesis, which was introduced by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the early 1970s. Forty-four contributions detail the philosophical, empirical, and theoretical foundations of Gaia, mechanisms through which planet-wide homeostasis could occur, applicability of the hypothesis to planets other than Earth, possible destabilization by outside forces, and public policy implications.Stephen H. Schneider, a climatologist, is Senior Scientist at the National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado. Penelope J. Boston, a biologist, is a founder of Complex Systems Research, Lafayette, Colorado.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Well-respected proponents and critics of Gaia are represented in this balanced, wide-ranging collection." Bulletin of the American Meteorological Society

About the Author

Stephen H. Schneider was Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies and Professor of Biology at Stanford University. He was also Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC's working group on Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability, from 1997 to 2001, and, with his IPCC colleagues, was awarded a joint Nobel Prize in 2007. He was the author or editor of many books, including Science as a Contact Sport: Inside the Battle to Save Earth's Climate and Scientists Debate Gaia: The Next Century (MIT Press, 2004). Dr. Penelope J. Boston is Director of the Cave and Karst Studies Program at New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology and Associate Professor of Earth and Environmental Studies.

Product Details

• Paperback: 458 pages
• Publisher: The MIT Press (January 29, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0262691604
• ISBN-13: 978-0262691604
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,283,840 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Stephen H. Schneider is the Melvin and Joan Lane Professor for Interdisciplinary Environmental Studies, Professor of Biology, and a Senior Fellow in the Woods Institute for the Environment at Stanford University. He served as a National Center For Atmospheric Research (NCAR) scientist from 1972-1996, where he co-founded the Climate Project in 1973. He focuses on climate change science, integrated assessment of ecological and economic impacts of human-induced climate change, and identifying viable climate policies and technological solutions. He has consulted for federal agencies and White House staff in seven consecutive administrations. He has been involved with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in every assessment since 1988. More recently he was Coordinating Lead Author, Working Group II, Chapter 19, "Assessing Key Vulnerabilities and the Risk from Climate Change" and a core writer for the Fourth Assessment Synthesis Report. He along with four generations of IPCC authors received a collective Nobel Peace Prize for their joint efforts in 2007.Schneider has already begun to help structure the Fifth IPCC assessment (AR5), and was a delegate to the AR5 Scoping Meeting in Venice in July 2009.

Elected to the US National Academy of Sciences in 2002, Schneider received the American Association for the Advancement of Science/ Westinghouse Award for Public Understanding of Science and Technology and a MacArthur Fellowship for integrating and interpreting the results of global climate research. Founder (1975) and still editor of the interdisciplinary journal Climatic Change, he has authored or co-authored over 500 books, scientific papers, proceedings, legislative testimonies, edited books and chapters, reviews and editorials and has been featured in numerous televisions and film productions (please see attached vita). Dr. Schneider counsels policy makers, corporate executives, and non-profit stakeholders about using risk management strategies in climate-policy decision-making, given the uncertainties in future projections of global climate change and related impacts. He is actively engaged in improving public understanding of science and the environment through extensive media communication and public outreach. He has created a very comprehensive website on climate issues for the attentive public: climatechange.net. Many of his talks and appearances can be found on Youtube.

He is a cancer survivor since 2001, and helped design a new protocol for "maintenance therapy" for his rare mantle cell lymphoma. The story is described in his book "The Patient From Hell" and in his cancer website, patientfromhell.org.