adj.
Informal Unrestrained, as with enthusiasm or appetite; wild: berserk over chocolates
Berserk
Most of us sense that the Earth is more than a sphere of rock with a thin layer of air, ocean and life covering the surface. We feel that we belong here as if this planet were indeed our home. Long ago the Greeks, thinking this way, gave to the Earth the name Gaia or, for short, Ge. In those days, science and theology were one and science, although less precise, had soul. As time passed this warm relationship faded and was replaced by the frigidity of the schoolmen. The life sciences, no longer concerned with life, fell to classifying dead things and even to vivisection. Ge was stolen from theology to become no more the root from which the disciplines of geography and geology were named. Now at last there are signs of a change. Science becomes holistic again and rediscovers soul, and theology, moved by ecumenical forces, begins to realise that Gaia is not to be subdivided for academic convenience and that Ge is much more than just a prefix.The new understanding has come from going forth and looking back to see the Earth from space. The vision of that splendid white flecked blue sphere stirred us all, no matter that by now it is almost a visual cliche. It even opens the mind's eye, just as a voyage away from home enlarges the perspective of our love for those who remain there.
The first impact of those voyages was the sense of wonder given to the astronauts and to us as we shared their experience vicariously through television, but at the same time the Earth was viewed from outside by the more objective gaze of scientific instruments. These devices were quite impervious to human emotion yet they also sent back the information that let us see the Earth as a strange and beautiful anomaly. They showed our planet is made of the same elements and in much the same proportions as are Mars and Venus, but they also revealed our sibling planets to be bare and barren and as different from the Earth as a robin from a rock.
We now see that the air, the ocean and the soil are much more than a mere environment for life; they are a part of life itself. Thus the air is to life just as is the fur to a cat or the nest for a bird. Not living but something made by living things to protect against an otherwise hostile world. For life on Earth the air is our protection against the cold depths and fierce radiations of space.
There is nothing unusual in the idea of life on Earth interacting with the air, sea and rocks, but it took a view from outside to glimpse the possibility that this combination might consist of a single giant living system and one with the capacity to keep the Earth always at a state most favorable for the life upon it.
An entity comprising a whole planet and with a powerful capacity to regulate the climate needs a name to match. It was the novelist William Golding who proposed the name Gaia. Gladly we accepted his suggestion and Gaia is also the name of the hypothesis of science which postulates that the climate and the composition of the Earth always are close to an optimum for whatever life inhabits it.
The evidence gathered in support of Gaia is now considerable but as is often the way of science, this is less important than is its use as a kind of looking glass for seeing the world diferently, and which makes us ask new questions about the nature of Earth.
If we are "all creatures great and small," from bacteria to whales, part of Gaia then we are all of us potentially important to her well being. We knew in our hearts that the destruction of a whole ranges of other species was wrong but now we know why. No longer can we merely regret the passing of one of the great whales, or the blue butterfly, nor even the smallpox virus. When we eliminate one of these from Earth, we may have destroyed a part of ourselves, for we also are a part of Gaia.
There are many posibilities for comfort as there are for dismay in contemplating the consequences of our membership in this great commonwealth of living things. It may be that one role we play is as the senses and nervous system for Gaia. Through our eyes she has for the first time seen her very fair face and in our minds become aware of herself. We do indeed belong here. The earth is more than just a home, it's a living system and we are part of it.
Cursou Filosofia na Universidade de Oxford atualmente ensina Pensamento Europeu na London School of Economics.
BibliografiaMali
» In Southeast Asia and the Pacific, as well as Latin America, women's home gardens represent some of the most complex agricultural systems known. Rural women in developing countries play a crucial role as custodians of genetic diversity and related knowledge on plant varieties and their uses.
» In Asia, up to 90 percent of the operations related to rice cultivation are carried out by women. Globally, women produce more than half the food that is grown and are primarily responsible for preparing, storing and processing food. In many countries, however, women are the last family members to eat, and their nutritional needs are met only when and if the men and children have had enough.
» In Africa, 90 percent of the household water and wood needs for food preparation is done by women. In many regions of the world, women spend up to five hours per day collecting fuelwood and water.
Porque o único sentido oculto das coisas
É elas não terem sentido oculto nenhum.
Alberto Caeiro
Foto: Anne Guedes
O actor optou por abandonar a sua carreira no cinema em 1960.
A vitória clara do «Sim», apesar de não juridicamente vinculativa, no referendo sobre a despenalização do aborto até às 10 semanas de gravidez permite diversas leituras:
1 – A vitória do «Sim» permite a alteração de uma lei injusta e ineficaz. Esperemos que não abra a porta à banalização de um acto que nunca pode ser encarado como vulgar e que as mulheres portuguesas mostrem que os argumentos esgrimidos por alguns defensores do «Não» - que o aborto passaria a ser decidido como um capricho ou que seria mais um método anti-concepcional – não passam daquilo que parecem: slogans primários de quem julga as mulheres como seres menores e desprovidas de discernimento.
2 – Os portugueses continuam a mostrar fraca adesão ao instrumento do referendo, o que obriga a repensar alguns aspectos: deve-se baixar a fasquia da vinculação dos resultados para os 33 ou 40%? Deve-se colar os referendos a actos eleitorais para aumentar a afluência às urnas? Deve-se, pura e simplesmente, acabar com este mecanismo? O que aconteceria se as eleições só tivessem resultados vinculativos com esta fasquia, alguma vez conseguíriamos eleger eurodeputados? Este é um debate que seria útil realizar.
3 – Apesar da elevada abstenção, votaram mais 1,1 milhões de portugueses. Neste referendo votaram mais 444 mil eleitores do que nas eleições para o Parlamento Europeu em 2004. Apenas três distritos (Castelo Branco, Leiria e Porto) alteraram o sentido de voto maioritário face a 1998 - em todos os casos a favor do «Sim».
4 – O dr. Luís Filipe Menezes vence o prémio para «a mais surreal leitura dos resultados» ao considerar que Sócrates sofreu uma «enorma derrota». Somando a abstenção aos votos do «Não», diz Menezes, «uma iniciativa política do primeiro-ministro é reprovada por cerca de 80% dos portugueses». Seria um bom sketch para o Gato Fedorento, mas vindo de alguém que ambiciona liderar um dos dois maiores partidos portugueses é, no mínimo, deprimente.
5 – O PS quer aprovar as alterações à lei até final da sessão legislativa. Óptimo, este é um capítulo que deve ser encerrado o mais depressa possível. É bom sinal que o líder socialista refira a necessidade de um período de reflexão na nova lei.
6 – Com a despenalização do aborto até às 10 semanas poderemos ver o fim do aborto clandestino? Talvez não, mas pelo menos as mulheres que tomem a decisão de interromper a gravidez naquele prazo podem recorrer a meios seguros, legais e sem enriquecer alguns carniceiros.
7 – Como era bom que temas como o apoio à maternidade, a baixa natalidade em Portugal, a inexistente educação sexual fossem debatidos sem ser necessário realizar-se um referendo sobre o aborto...
pedrocurvelo@dinheirodigital.pt