A film about Lynn Margulis, a scientific rebel who challenged entrenched theories of evolution to present a new narrative: life evolves through collaboration

Symbiotic Earth received it’s world premiere screenings in March 2017 at Oxford University, The Linnean Society in London, Barcelona’s Museum of Natural Sciences, and the David Brower Center in Berkeley, CA, sponsored by Bioneers. It continues to have screenings worldwide.

Symbiotic Earth explores the life and ideas of scientific rebel Lynn Margulis who challenged entrenched theories of male-dominated science. As a young scientist in the 1960s, Margulis was ridiculed when she first proposed that symbiosis – when organisms live and work together — was a key driver of evolution, but she persisted. Through numerous collaborations she caused a seismic shift in our understanding of life.

Margulis’ symbiotic narrative presents an alternative to the destructive worldview that has led to climate change and extreme capitalism. With James Lovelock she developed the Gaia Theory that all life is interconnected and interdependent. Her vision offers bold insights into health, society, and nature, and inspires creative approaches to our pressing environmental and social crises.

Symbiotic Earth is divided into 10 essays and an epilogue:

1. 1. Introduction
      1. How Lynn Margulis Coerced Me Into Making This Film
      2. How Science Gave Us Permission to Exploit the Earth
   2. 3. Confronting the Neo-Darwinian Capitalistic Zeitgeist (aka: How Science Gave Us Permission to Exploit Each Other)
      4. Lynn Margulis’ Lifelong Quest
      5. Working Together (aka: How Did She Do it All?)
      6. Bacteria Run the Planet
      7. Symbiosis is the Way of Life
      8. The Cell (not DNA) Controls the Organism
      9. Evolution Through Mergers
      10. Gaia: A Physiological System on the Surface of the Earth
   3. Epilogue: Embracing How Little We Know

An astonishingly important, deeply transformative, and original film. Its momentous news that all biological life (including ours) succeeds not by competition but by collaboration, offers ways to resolve even our devastating global climate emergency. Bill Blakemore, Veteran journalist and ABC foreign correspondent, climate change expert

Funny, uplifting, inspiring, intellectually alive, refreshing, challenging and wonderfully informative. Dr. Frederic B. Jennings Jr., Center for Ecological Economic and Ethical Education

Margulis’ vitality explodes across the screen with the force of a slow-motion supernova. Margaret Wertheim’s blog

Symbiotic Earth leaves us looking at the world in a new light, understanding it better and yet more than ever aware of its essential mystery. Despite its length the film never flags and we deeply regret when the end comes because it means saying goodbye to Lynn who, setting aside her scientific legacy, exemplifies what Aristotle calls the well-lived life. Dr. Robert Sternberg, Science Communication Unit, Imperial College London  (see more comments)