Melody Stoneham is the Principal Consultant at Gaia Environmental Consulting. She has over 17 years experience as an environmental professional within both government and private industry. Melody has attained Certification as an Environmental Practitioner (CEnvP) with the Environmental Institute of Australia & New Zealand (EIANZ), which recognises practitioners that meet high standards of professional and ethical conduct.
Gaia Environmental Consulting
Gaia Environmental Consulting is an ecological consultancy that recognises that development is a necessary part of today's society. We aim to promote a balance between development and the conservation of the natural environment through ecologically sustainable planning and effective environmental management.
The Gaia hypothesis:
‘Gaia’ is commonly thought of as mother earth – this interpretation stems from Greek mythology, where Gaia was believed to be the great mother of all the gods. In more recent history, the term ‘Gaia’ has been adopted by science and used to describe the Earth’s life supporting systems.
“The Gaia Hypothesis” also known as “Gaia theory” or “Gaia principle”, proposes that organisms interact with their inorganic surroundings on Earth to form a self-regulating, complex system that contributes to maintaining the conditions for life on the planet. It was developed in the early 1960’s by Dr. James Lovelock (a British Chemist) and is still highly relevant today, particularly in examining topical issues such as climate change.
In considering the beginnings of life on earth, Dr. Lovelock observed that our planet had been transfigured and transformed by a self-evolving and self-regulating living system, where organisms co-evolve with their environment. That is; organisms can influence the abiotic factors of their environment which in turn may change and influence the organisms. Co-evolution was theorised to occur in such a manner that life maintained the stability of the natural environment in such a way that allowed life to continue to exist. An example of this is how the activity of photosynthetic bacteria during Precambrian times have completely modified the Earth atmosphere to turn it aerobic, and as such supporting evolution of life (in particular eukaryotic life).
In Gaian theory, the Earth’s systems are often seen as a feedback loop. It can be further theorised that as all parts of the Earth’s systems have evolved together and are connected, it follows that we cannot impact upon one part of the system without a consequence occurring somewhere else. This is a pivotal theory that is deeply ingrained in ecological science and a founding concept of Gaia Environmental Consulting.
Further reading: Lovelock, J (1979) Gaia: A new look at life on Earth. | Pedler, K (1981) The Quest for Gaia: A Book of Changes
Principal Consultant
Melody Stoneham
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PO Box 127. Holland Park LPO Qld 4121