12/05/2013Humanityentered the 21th century with a colossal problem created by its own ingenuity:will nature, as we know it, cope with the climate change caused by globalwarming? Of course that is in no way an altruistic enquiring, for our existence,although sometimes we forget it, depends uniquely on our intricate relationshipwith nature. We not only depend on nature, we are also part of it, so whenself-perseveration is thought of, it is primordial to first recognize theimportance of maintaining our environment as it is fit to our survival.Human kinddidnt evolve on its own in to Homosapiens, we coevoluted with nature [1], and that is the key aspect to whypreserving nature is the first step to preserve our own species. Lovelock [2] createda fascinating theory called the Gaia hypothesis based on the analysis of Earthsatmosphere. He proposes that the atmosphere is a component part of thebiosphere rather than a mere environment for life, otherwise stated, lifemaintains the environment so as to it provides to the livings necessities. Therefore,if nature is destroyed so will be the environment we are able to live in.Coevolutionis such a delicate issue that even pathogens may be important in living ahealthy life. Some studies [3,4] suggest that viral infections early in lifemay have a role in preventing allergies further on. Gravity is another essentialfactor to us and it became an important issue in the space exploration age.Without gravity we immediately start losing muscle [5], bone density [6] andeven our immune system starts decaying [7]. We were literally made to live inthe environment we live in, and global scale changes are a big threat to us.When thenations representatives discuss protocols that can limit the impact of greenhouse gases, a common counterargument of implementing them is the impact thatit will cause in the economy. What theyfail to see is although we could hardly destroy nature per se because life hasa high resilience and will probably reorganize itself in another livablebiosphere; we can change our environment so that it will no longer support us. Therecently premiered movie After Earth goes beyond the idea of nature notsupporting us, in the movie nature actually rejects humans. The plot discussesthat because we werent able to keep an ecological balance, Earth evolved toeliminate us.It isimpossible to discuss humanity without discussing nature as a whole: there isno place we can live other than Earth simply because we evolved with her; andwe are only alive now because Gaia provides the appropriate conditions for it. Ourimportance, therefore, is only relevant after our Mothers will. We live insideand are sustained by her womb.1- Levin, A.S. Ecosystems and the Biosphere as Complex Adaptive Systems. USA, 1998.Ecosystems (1998) 1: 431-436. Available in: http://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2Fs100219900037.pdf2-Lovelock, J. E. Lynn M. Atmospheric homeostasis by and for the biosphere: thegaia hypothesis. USA, 1973. Tellus XXVI (1974) 1-2: 2-10.3-Martinez, F. and D. Role of viral infections in the inception ofasthma and allergies during childhood: could they be protective? USA, 1994.Thorax 1994 49: 1189-1191. Availablein: http://thorax.bmj.com/content/49/12/1189.full.pdf4- XepapadakiP. and Papadopoulos N. G. Viral infections and allergies. Greece, 2007. Immunobiology212 (2007) 453459.5- Fitts, R. H.; Riley, D. R. and Widrick J. J. Functional andstructural