Greetings friends Steemians-Scientists of @ZerotoInfinity, pleased to greet you once again, as always I reiterate my gratitude and pleasure in belonging to this interesting community. I enjoy very much to share and learn from everything published in this space. Today I want to share with you precisely in these times of pandemic, times in which the whole world has been so hard hit by covid-19. Reflecting on all these events I remembered a hypothesis that to this day remains a bit controversial within the scientific world, some recognized personalities within the environment support this proposal, others oppose it, but it is still interesting because undoubtedly some of their statements and ideas have scientifically accepted bases. I am talking about the "Gaia hypothesis". I would like to explain the relationship that I consider this hypothesis has with the events that we are living today as humanity.

Source

The Gaia Hypothesis was developed by the British chemist James Lovelock with the valuable collaboration of the American biologist Lynn Margulis. This research work was first published in 1972 entitled "Gaia as seen through the atmosphere". Gaia as seen through the atmosphere, in which the Gaia hypothesis was summarized, these researchers briefly described their theory of the self-regulation of the atmosphere. This article was distributed by the scientific journal Atmospheric Environment.

Basically, this hypothesis states that the planet earth in its totality, that is, the set of all living beings, oceans, rocks and atmosphere that inhabit it, function as an organism where it in turn actively modifies the internal composition of the biosphere to ensure the survival of life. This thesis affirms that this super organism fosters the appropriate conditions for the maintenance of the biosphere or the space within which life develops.

The Gaia hypothesis assures that the earth itself, together with the integration of all living beings, functions as a gigantic multicellular organism where it tends to regulate itself. This complex system can be considered as an individual organism capable of maintaining the optimal conditions that allow and make life on the planet possible. The biosphere self-regulates the conditions of the planet in temperature and atmospheric chemistry to make a much more hospitable environment for all species that make up life. In other words, there is an interrelationship between all living beings and there is a connection with the oceans and the atmosphere creating an ecosystem that self-regulates allowing the maintenance of the biosphere.

When we produce or spend energy in big cities, either by industrial activity or by the consumption that society regularly has as demand, we are generating CO2 emissions, it is necessary to clarify that CO2 itself is not bad, it is a natural compound important for the biological cycle of plants so it is beneficial and very necessary for life on the planet. This biological cycle in which CO2 participates is called the Carbon Cycle. CO2 is a gas whose molecules are made up of oxygen and carbon atoms. It is healthy in water when a normal and constant pressure is maintained, it is in nature in gaseous form, but when it is subjected to a considerable low temperature it becomes liquid and becomes solid forming what is called dry ice or carbonic snow. Now, CO2 or as it is also called carbon dioxide along with other gases due to the massive industrial activity and pollution, affects considerably the metabolism of the planet, allowing high concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere resulting in what we know as greenhouse gases.

According to the law of partial pressures or also known as Dalton's law states that "The total pressure of a mixture of gases is the sum of the partial pressures of the gases in the mixture " that partial pressure is proportional to the mole fraction of the gases in that system.

As more CO2 is emitted by human activity on the planet it accumulates in the atmosphere, now according to the Gaia hypothesis, where everything is related to each other as a super organism, then we could understand that when the partial pressure of CO2 increases in the atmosphere that amount will react on the surface water of the oceans causing a reaction that generates carbonic acid thus changing the pH of the oceans, generating in turn a considerable impact on the rest of the planet's ecosystem in a considerable period of time. It is in this context that Covid-19 appears. In a planet in total crisis, altered and unbalanced, I think that this pandemic is not a coincidence, this pandemic is only the expression of a facet of the defense of the earth. If we consider this planet as something alive.

Taking into account all that has been explained, how to relate these concepts to our current reality where we are dealing with the virus called covid-19. There are many trends and hypotheses about the origin of this virus, some say it was created, others say it was the result of a mutation that began in some animals until it reached man, in short, many opinions and trends of which I could add as a speculative thesis. The aspect and the concern where I wish to arrive inspired by the Gaia hypothesis is: Is it possible that a group of living beings can deliberately or not, act as a true regulatory mechanism of what is happening on our planet? Today we have seen how the ecological or environmental, the social and the economic have taken great relevance, these three concepts interact necessarily in the life of man as a society and it would be impossible not to associate the activities of these three elements that lead man himself to an activism where we will always be impacting the environment, most of the time in a negative way.

Within the Gaia hypothesis it could be said then that those negative impacts on the environment, the same interaction of all those living beings that in turn function as a gigantic organism will seek to correct that negative impact at some point in time to reach a balance, thus allowing a constant modification of the biosphere.

We have seen reports where in many parts of the world the level of pollution has dropped considerably, many rivers and beaches have shown much cleaner waters, animals have started to walk again in places where they have not been seen for many years, NOx levels have decreased considerably, the atmosphere has undoubtedly been cleaned up. All this because the level of human activity on the environment has been lowered due to the pause caused by this covid-19 pandemic. Nature itself, the same environment where all living beings converge, has the capacity to self-regulate, to self-regenerate, thus allowing a much friendlier environment for all of us who make life on this planet. In the midst of the chaos that we ourselves as humanity create, nature will have the capacity to seek a more just balance and equality for all living beings.