Renowned environmental scientist James Lovelock made history with the introduction of his concept of planet earth as a single living being – The Gaia Hypothesis as it came to be known worldwide. The same year (1972) that Lovelock proposed his hypothesis via the scientific paper “Gaia as seen through the atmosphere,” Douglas Trumbull made his directorial debut with Silent Running, a space mission sci-fi story featuring ecological rescue. While Lovelock named his theory after the personification of earth in Greek mythology as a female goddess, amounting to motherhood, Trumbull’s movie takes a paternal angle to life on earth.

The movie’s opening sequence establishes the theme and character that make the core of the story. It shows a montage of small animals living peacefully in a...

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