Category: environment

I’m not sure why, but one day in February 2022 I started thinking about immune systems, and how wondrous they were in human beings. I pictured them as constellations, where different sections would light up as needed.

And then I started wondering does Mother Earth have an immune system? When we cut into a mountain for a mine does Mother Earth hurt? Does the mountain feel pain? And would Mother Earth form scar tissue over a wound that digging a mine would make? And when we poison our forests with sprays to kill off unwanted (read: “non-commercial”) species from growing–in aid of our unenlightened logging industry, of course–does Mother Earth somehow seal off this harm from tender roots below ground? And can she still protect the soil somehow, too? When we pollute the air or the water, how does Mother Earth help the air and the water recover from our thoughtlessness, ignorance, and greed?

It seems to me that time heals a lot of our environmental sins. Maybe not always, but at least sometimes. Plants spring up through pavement cracks. Fouled water becomes clear over time. The winds blow pollution away. How does this happen? Is it Mother Earth’s healing immune system rushing off to attack any invader or injury that makes this healing possible?

And what would Mother Earth’s immune system look like on a cellular level if she did have one?

Would it wrap around our entire planet, like another layer of atmosphere, or would it hang around under Earth’s surface? Would it breathe, would it flow, would it clump up in areas where immune support was needed most? What colour would it be? Would it sparkle and shine, or would it be dull and muted?

As I was thinking about this, I was also reading Michael E. Mann’s book, “The New Climate War: The Fight to Take Back Our Planet.” Within a few minutes of picking up this book on that February day, I was reading about the concept of Gaia. I took it as a sign I was on to something important. Or, at least on the right track.

Gaia, Mann says, is the ancient Greeks’ personification of Earth herself. He explained the Gaia hypothesis put forward by scientists Lynn Margulis and James Lovelock in the 1970s: “that life interacts with Earth’s physical environment to form a synergistic and self-regulating system. In other words, the Earth system in some sense behaves like an organism, with ‘homeostatic’ regulatory mechanisms that maintain conditions suitable for life.” Mann even specifically referred to Gaia’s immune system, referencing the acute COVID-19 pandemic and how our personal and industrial activities quickly diminished, reducing air and other forms of pollution.

I ended up creating this painting, and called it Gaia Immunity. I imagined Mother Earth’s immune system to be like a layer of blue, brown, and gold cells. I pictured Gaia’s immune system wrapping invisibly around our planet Earth, close to her surface, reaching out and concentrating healing cellular activity wherever it was needed most. One day, I’d like to do a series of images exploring Gaia’s immune system. I hope I will.

Happy Earth Day 2023!