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drokhole ¥ 5 years ago

I think it's very easy to understand the Earth as a larger/"super"-organism, especially when one considers our own microbiome (i.e. the
bacteria, fungi, virii and all other micro-organisms that colonize/populate the outside and inside of the human body and outnumber "our"
own cells 10 to 1...which, as such, are part and parcel to survival - regulating the metabolism, breaking down and synthesizing nutrients,
modulating the immune system, etc... - and, in the end, interdependent and indistinguishable from what we consider "us"). Viewed
through this lens, we are its/Gaia's "microbiome" and, from our own perspective/foot-rules/stature, its mesobiome. Or, rather, part of its
mesobiome. See here how the interaction of this mesobiome - involving wolves and herbivores - shifts the course of rivers:

How Wolves Change Rivers

http://youtu.be/ysa5OBhXz-Q

Farmer Joel Salatin and conservationist Allan Savory have mimicked and adapted this type of predator-prey relationship (along with all its
ancillary actors) in a form of rotational grazing with cattle, which has great impact on its environment in the form of accelerated soil
building, which leads to carbon sequestration and water retention, which leads to more resilient and lush vegetation, which attracts more
pollinators and seed dispersers, which all can help reverse dead soils and desertification, leading to atmospheric effects, etc...

The Earth doesn't have to "know" how to do these things at a larger level/scale in the same way you don't have to know how to beat your
heart, work your thyroid gland, or lord over and micro-manage your micro-organisms. As mycologist Paul Stamets introduces himself at
the start of his talks, he is a collection of organisms collectively represented by the singular voice known as "Paul Stamets." This idea
that the Earth itself is a bunch of dead inanimate rocks with us standing on it is simply nonsensical. It would be like saying the human
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BobH drokhole ¥ 5 years ago

Nicely put!
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drokhole BobH ¥ 5 years ago

Thanks!
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