Last evening I presented a seminar at the University of California at Santa Barbara titled “Gaia theory and climate change“, which seemed to be very well received by students and faculty. In the talk I gave a synopsis of Gaia, the theory that the earth is a living system and discussed the implications of a living earth view in issues of climate change. Much of the talk was dedicated to a critical examination of global warming models and data. The powerpoint presentation of the talk can be downloaded here (18.4 Mb).
Thanks to Dr. Lisa Stratton and Dr. Mark Holmgren for helping with arrangements for this seminar.
Sudden Oak Life 
very interestng, thank you. At the very least it shows how much more complex climate is than the “simple” models provide for.
I suspect, with not much evidence, that rising CO2 will be increasingly absorbed by plants. Arguably, plants evolved to flourish at higher CO2 than we have now, and with higher precpitation I suppose. See all the coal and oil.
Other forcings seem to overide CO2 effects. Hope we don’t get too cold!