I know that to personalize the Earth System as Gaia, as I have often done and continue to do in this book, irritates the scientifically correct, but I am unrepentant because metaphors are more than ever needed for a widespread comprehension of the true nature of the Earth and an understanding of the lethal dangers that lie ahead.

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.