What if the Earth we know was born out of a handful of near‑catastrophic revolutions — triggered by life itself?
In this episode of The Green Octopus, we dive deep into Revolutions That Made the Earth by Earth system scientists Tim Lenton and Andrew Watson.
We explore how a few radical biological innovations — from early microbes that oxygenated the planet to the explosive rise of complex life — reshaped the atmosphere, the oceans and the climate, increasing complexity, energy use and information flow through the biosphere. Along the way, we connect their work with Gaia theory, climate tipping points and today’s cascading crises of climate change and biodiversity loss.
The revolutions were characterized by increases in energy utilization, greater recycling efficiency, and higher degrees of organization. By examining the course of these previous revolutions, we seek valuable lessons to navigate the troubled waters ahead, especially considering that current human actions could be the start of a new revolution. The past reminds us what an utterly remarkable planet we live on, and offers insights on finding a path to a dynamically stable, sustainable world.
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This is not a classic “environmental podcast”. It’s a journey through Earth system science, geobiodiversity and planetary history, told from the Global South: from megadiverse landscapes and Indigenous knowledge to the uncomfortable question at the core of this book — can a planet that life has repeatedly reinvented now survive the economic system we’ve built on top of it?
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Lenton, Tim, y Andrew Watson. Revolutions that made the Earth. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011.
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#RevolutionsThatMadeTheEarth #EarthSystemScience #ClimateCrisis #Biodiversity #Geobiodiversity #Gaia #GlobalSouth #EnvironmentalPodcast
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More info: https://BioVoxel.Earth