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The New Depression and Gaia
A kaleidoscopic week
22 July 2012
Richard Duncan explains his formula
Maiden Castle 2, with John Gilbert on left
Lovelocks and John Gilbert
An extraordinary week, this, with my brain still processing. One key moment was listening to Richard Duncan explain his thinking on the likelihood of a new Depression, at an event hosted by Climate Change Capital - to which Tessa Tennant had invited me.
Was blown away by his analysis, finding that at last economics spoke to me, helping pop my knowledge of history into another dimension. Talked briefly to him afterwards and mean to follow up, plus read his book, The New Depression. Later the same day, on to a board meeting at the Foundation for Democracy and Sustainable Development (FDSD), talking about the Manifesto for Change that is currently in preparation
Then, on Thursday, across to F&C for a meeting of their Committee of Reference, chaired by Justin Welby, Bishop of Durham, who The Guardian profiled yesterday. An unusually interesting session, with a number of key issues discussed.
On Friday, I met John Gilbert at Barnes station and we then drove west towards Dorset. On the way, as we got into Dorset, which looked uterly radiant, I mentioned my love for Iron Age hill-forts, and John suggested we stop off at Maiden Castle, which we did - walking up to the top, and once again enjoying the extraordinary perspectives afforded in every direction.
Then, after dropping in to Dorchester to get flowers, we headed on to Abbotsbury, and thence down to Chesil Beach, and thence west a bit along the coastal pram track to a group of old coastguard cottages, where James Lovelock and his wife Sandy have just moved. After an hour or so chatting, we all headed back to Abbotsbury for lunch at The Abbey House hotel, overlooking a giant tithe barn and what is billed as the world's largest swannery.
Wonderful discussion, partly about next steps now that the Science Museum is buying Jim's scientific archive, but also about many other aspects of the wider Gaian and Earth systems science landscape. Enjoyed myself immensely, in multiple dimensions, and gave Jim and Sandy a signed copy of The Zeronauts, in which he features. They both then signed my first edition copy of his book Gaia: A New Look at Life on Earth, which I had bought way back in 1979. They signed it to (our) Gaia, which was nice and, I suspect, something of a rarity for them. Read Tim Radford's recent review of the book's impact here.
Then John and I took a walk along Chesil Beach, one of the most extraordinary natural features in our extraordinary 'Isles of Wonder'. I had thought that this was my first visit, but my mother Pat said yesterday that I went there as a child, when we sent to visit Aunt Lyd(ia), and Elaine says we took the girls there 2-3 decades ago, when we went to see my wonderful great aunt Grace in Seaton. Can't wait to get back to this neck of the woods.
Chesil Beach 3: John investigates local flora
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