ABSTRACT
In January 1989, Time magazine's person of the year award went to "The Endangered Earth," graphically illustrated by sculptor Christo as a suffocating globe wrapped in plastic and bound with twine. According to then Colorado Senator Timothy Wirth, "The greenhouse effect is the most significant economic, political, environmental, and human problem facing the twenty-first century." In 1985 scientists reported a hole in the ozone layer over the Antarctic. By 2016, through worldwide efforts at control of chlorofluorocarbons, the ozone hole was beginning to heal. A National Science Foundation study predicted that a quarter of the earth's species of plants, animals, microbes, and fungi would become extinct over the next several years unless extraordinary measures are taken to protect the ecosystems in which they live. In 1980 atmospheric scientist James Lovelock revived the Greek goddess Gaia as a metaphor for a living earth. He proposed that the earth's biota maintain an optimal, life-supporting chemical composition within the atmosphere and oceans.
