Disentangling Gaia and the Earth System

Timothy M. Lenton; Sébastien Dutreuil

doi:10.16993/tellus.4132

Disentangling Gaia and the Earth System

Tellus

Volume 79 (2026): Issue 1

By: Timothy M. Lenton and Sébastien Dutreuil

Open Access

|Jul 2026

Abstract

The foundational article on Gaia was published in Tellus in 1974. Contrary to the popular story, that this triggered scientific controversy with evolutionary biologists, Gaia’s central legacy is within Earth and environmental sciences. The constitution of Earth system science from the 1980s onwards is one of the major scientific legacies of Gaia. However, we show that Gaia is a distinct entity from the Earth system, which has inspired different scientific questions and a different relationship between science and politics – emphasising a particular way to think about the Earth as the most useful for action. This is a healthy plurality that can continue to enrich both fields. Gaia research elucidates aspects of habitability that Earth system science overlooks.

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Articles in this issue

DOI: https://doi.org/10.16993/tellus.4132 | Journal eISSN: 3035-9554

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Language: English

Page range: 160 - 172

Submitted on: Nov 18, 2025

Accepted on: Jul 6, 2026

Published on: Jul 23, 2026

Published by: Stockholm University Press

In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services

Keywords:

Gaia,

Earth system,

Earth system science,

climatology,

Life,

habitability

© 2026 Timothy M. Lenton, Sébastien Dutreuil, published by Stockholm University Press
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Volume 79 (2026): Issue 1