Gaia, for me, is mostly Latour's secular Gaia, an agent with ungoverned self-advancing processes, along with Lovelock and Margulis's self-regulating biosphere. I use it against sentimental Mother Earth and against inert Nature. Bhumics is Gaia gone adulting.
How the word moved
In February 2018 the revenge of Gaia was one of two images of our situation, the other being the earth as a giant factory, and my gut said both were true. In May 2025 I read Lovelock's Gaia as a product of cybernetic thinking. In November 2025 I leaned on Latour's Gaia as the name for the planet's own agency in politics.
In my words
"Bhumics is Gaia gone adulting."
from Bhumics Week 7: The RBIO Part 4, 3 Mar 2025
"The planet is typically absent from everyday politics or romanticized as Gaia."
from Bhumics 15: The Pauper, Part 8 -- series conclusion, 28 Apr 2025
Related
- Inherited from Bruno Latour - His figure of Gaia is the one I use.
- Related Terraforming - Lovelock and Margulis showed life terraforming the Earth.
- Related Bhumics - Bhumics is Gaia gone adulting.
- Related Planet - Gaia names the planet's agency.
Still open
I embrace Latour's Gaia and reject the romantic one. I draw the line between them case by case, and I don't have a rule for it.