The Medea Hypothesis: Is Life on Earth Ultimately Self-Destructive? »

Peter Ward's many books include the highly acclaimed "Rare Earth: Why Complex Life Is Uncommon in the Universe" and "Under a Green Sky" (Collins). He is professor of biology and Earth and space sciences at the University of Washington, and an astrobiologist with NASA.

"A provocative look at the history of our living planet. Ward offers a distinct perspective and argues strongly that the only intelligent choice is to manage ourselves and the environment. The Medea Hypothesis will cause anyone who cares about the environment to think differently."—Thomas E. Lovejoy, president of the H. John Heinz III Center for Science, Economics, and the Environment

"This book casts the environmental debate in a completely new and important light. Ward demolishes the comfortable illusion that nature will take care of us if we just let it. To survive in the long term, the Earth needs a management team—we humans have to take up the job."—Chris McKay, NASA Ames Research Center

"The Medea Hypothesis is provocative, extremely well-written, and very convincing."—Simon A. Levin, Princeton University

"For those comforted by the notion of a benevolent Gaia working to sustain life on the planet, Ward's Medea is a nightmare, one that has recurred many times in Earth's history and is coming again soon, unless we take action to combat the self-annihilating tendency of the biosphere."—Lee R. Kump, coauthor of Dire Predictions: Understanding Global Warming

"Serious and well written, The Medea Hypothesis is sure to generate controversy among the experts. I read it over a weekend and could hardly put it aside until I finished it."—Francisco J. Ayala, University of California, Irvine

"This is an important and significant contribution to the fields of geobiology and astrobiology because it offers a startling new interpretation of the nature of Darwinian evolution. Ward's conclusion is both troubling and provocative: life may be its own worst enemy. Like James Lovelock's Gaia hypothesis, Ward's Medea hypothesis is likely to be debated for the next thirty years."—Joseph L. Kirschvink, California Institute of Technology

"A provocative rethinking of the coevolution of life and its environment. Peter Ward mounts a sustained critique of optimizing/homeostatic Gaia, providing a lucid set of examples of significant positive feedbacks arising from life. This book will have a strong heuristic impact on future research."—David Schwartzman, author of Life, Temperature, and the Earth

Dr. Hein van Bohemen - Ecological Engineering

Reading the book will widen your field of vision about life on earth, which is still there after about 4 billion years.

Introduction ix Chapter 1: Darwinian Life 1
Chapter 2: What Is Evolutionary "Success"? 14
Chapter 3: Two Hypotheses about the Nature of Life on Earth 24
Chapter 4: Medean Feedbacks and Global Processes 55
Chapter 5: Medean Events in the History of Life 72
Chapter 6: Humans as Medeans 91
Chapter 7: Biomass through Time as a Test 98
Chapter 8: Predicted Future Trends of Biomass 114
Chapter 9: Summation 126
Chapter 10: Environmental Implications and Courses of Action 128
Chapter 11: What Must Be Done 141
References 157
Index 173