The Earth has recovered after fevers like this, and there are no grounds for thinking that what we are doing will destroy Gaia, but if we continue business as usual, our species may never again enjoy the lush and verdant world we had only a hundred years ago. What is most in danger is civilization; humans are tough enough for breeding pairs to survive, and Gaia is toughest of all. What we are doing weakens her but is unlikely to destroy her. She has survived numerous catastrophes in her three billion years or more of life.

He found a concentration of 60 parts per trillion of CFC-11 over Ireland and in a partially self-funded research expedition in 1972 went on to measure the concentration of CFC-11 from the northern hemisphere to the Antarctic aboard the research vessel RRS Shackleton. In 2005 against the backdrop of renewed UK government interest in nuclear power Lovelock again publicly announced his support for nuclear energy stating "I am a Green and I entreat my friends in the movement to drop their wrongheaded objection to nuclear energy". One of the striking things about places heavily contaminated by radioactive nuclides is the richness of their wildlife.

James Ephraim Lovelock CH CBE FRS Ph. He is best known for proposing the Gaia hypothesis which postulates that the biosphere is a self-regulating entity with the capacity to keep our planet healthy by controlling the chemical and physical environment.