{
  "path": "/node/9351",
  "site": "at://did:plc:ntnmdg6fuvogzr6khf7agoqf/site.standard.publication/liebs-log",
  "tags": [
    "Nature"
  ],
  "$type": "site.standard.document",
  "title": "Life makes Life",
  "description": "Awhile back I read a fascinating book called Becoming Earth [1]. Conventional  \nwisdom has it that our planet evolved through geological means until it was  \nsuitable for life. The theory presented in this book is that it was life  \nitself that brought about the geological changes needed for life to thrive  \nand evolve. For example before our atmosphere contained enough oxygen for air  \nbreathing life to evolve, more primitive life forms evolved to add oxygen to  \nthe atmosphere. \n\n>Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming  \n>a lump of orbiting rock into the cosmic oasis we call home. Life breathed  \n>oxygen into the atmosphere, dyed the sky blue, concocted the modern oceans,  \n>and converted barren crust into fertile soil.\n>\nIt's a fascinating book and I encourage everyone to read it.\n\nNow comes news of a recent discovery [2] that certain fungi, using DNA that  \nthey appropriated from bacteria, can seed clouds and create rain. Basically  \nthe soil itself influencing the sky to send it some rain.\n\nMany years ago while walking through a Redwood forest in central California I  \nhad an illuminating experience I will never forget. It was drizzling rain.  \nThe ground was covered with moss and ferns and all the kinds of things that  \nonly grow and a cool wet environment. But then I came to a clearing and  \nwalked out into the dry sunshine. It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky.  \nLooking back at the forest I could see that it was holding in it's own fog  \nlike moisture layer. A few years later I moved to the Oregon Coast where I  \nwitnessed huge swaths of clearcuts. I could see the rain clouds coming in  \nfrom the ocean would pass right over the clearcuts until they hit a standing  \nforest which slowed them down so they could dump their rain. Years before  \nclimate change was a well understood phenomenon I could see how clearcut  \nlogging was upsetting the coastal environment.    \n\nPlanet Earth is one big interconnected organism. Our survival as a species  \ndepends on our ability to understand and work with the natural systems that  \nmakes life possible. \n\n \n\n\n[1] https://www.ferrisjabr.com/book\n[2] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aed9652\n",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-20T09:03:34-07:00",
  "textContent": "Awhile back I read a fascinating book called Becoming Earth [1]. Conventional  \nwisdom has it that our planet evolved through geological means until it was  \nsuitable for life. The theory presented in this book is that it was life  \nitself that brought about the geological changes needed for life to thrive  \nand evolve. For example before our atmosphere contained enough oxygen for air  \nbreathing life to evolve, more primitive life forms evolved to add oxygen to  \nthe atmosphere. \n\n>Life and its environment have coevolved for billions of years, transforming  \n>a lump of orbiting rock into the cosmic oasis we call home. Life breathed  \n>oxygen into the atmosphere, dyed the sky blue, concocted the modern oceans,  \n>and converted barren crust into fertile soil.\n>\nIt's a fascinating book and I encourage everyone to read it.\n\nNow comes news of a recent discovery [2] that certain fungi, using DNA that  \nthey appropriated from bacteria, can seed clouds and create rain. Basically  \nthe soil itself influencing the sky to send it some rain.\n\nMany years ago while walking through a Redwood forest in central California I  \nhad an illuminating experience I will never forget. It was drizzling rain.  \nThe ground was covered with moss and ferns and all the kinds of things that  \nonly grow and a cool wet environment. But then I came to a clearing and  \nwalked out into the dry sunshine. It was a clear day, not a cloud in the sky.  \nLooking back at the forest I could see that it was holding in it's own fog  \nlike moisture layer. A few years later I moved to the Oregon Coast where I  \nwitnessed huge swaths of clearcuts. I could see the rain clouds coming in  \nfrom the ocean would pass right over the clearcuts until they hit a standing  \nforest which slowed them down so they could dump their rain. Years before  \nclimate change was a well understood phenomenon I could see how clearcut  \nlogging was upsetting the coastal environment.    \n\nPlanet Earth is one big interconnected organism. Our survival as a species  \ndepends on our ability to understand and work with the natural systems that  \nmakes life possible. \n\n \n\n\n[1] https://www.ferrisjabr.com/book\n[2] https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.aed9652\n"
}