"Mavericks such as Lovelock who look beyond the confines of their laboratories and who reject attempts to restrain their activities are becoming a worrying rarity. An example of Lovelock’s broad-ranging thinking is provided by his studies, while working for Nasa, of the harsh, carbon dioxide atmospheres of Venus and Mars. By contrast, on Earth, nitrogen and oxygen dominate, he noted in the 70s. Together with the biologist Lynn Margulis, he argued that early lifeforms that began to extract carbon dioxide on Earth eventually led to the evolution of a biological system that manipulated atmosphere and water to its own advantage. Gaia had been born.
"Gaia was a major influence on the green movement, though Lovelock was suspicious of its claims and aspirations. “Too many greens are not just ignorant of science, they hate science,” he argued, and likened them to “some global over-anxious mother figure who is so concerned about small risks that she ignores the real dangers”. Such a judgment is perhaps a little harsh, though it also reveals an independence of mind that was the hallmark of a great scientist whose vision and creativity will be sorely missed."
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