Biosphere 2
In the beginning…
In honor of Earth Day 2023, I thought I would tell you the story of Biosphere 2. Reportedly, Biosphere 2 is “the world’s largest controlled environment dedicated to understanding the impacts of climate change.” Currently, the University of Arizona owns and operates the place. Simply put, Biosphere 2 is the largest green house that you have ever seen with a condo complex attached. The purpose is to conduct research and educational programs dedicated to sustainability, conservation, ecosystems and anything climate change oriented. However, in the beginning, they actually did something more interesting. On September 26, 1991, they locked and sealed these 8 scientists into the Biosphere 2 to see if they could survive 2 years on their own.
The place was just too large for me to give you proper perspective. So, I borrowed one of their pictures so that you could get a better feel for the scale of the operation.
What happened to Biosphere 1
As I learned, Biosphere 1 is just the designation for our own Mother Earth. Therefore, Biosphere 2 is this closed system where they attempted to mimic all the delicate balances and processes that allow Mother Earth to sustain life. Consequently, the enormous greenhouses has distinctly separate biomes to reproduce earth’s own biome diversity. These greenhouses weren’t just for growing pretty plants. Rather, these greenhouses needed to produce oxygen. Remember, this was a sealed system. The experimental design was to provide no additional fresh air into the space. Therefore, the oxygen producing plants needed to balance the carbon dioxide producing humans in order to keep these folks alive.
So, I am sure that you have the point by now. That is, these 8 guineas pigs were locked in the greenhouses. Then, they were supposed to make their own food, their own oxygen and whatever else was needed for survival. If they were alive in 2 years, they get to go home.
Leisure Time
The experimental intention was for the scientists to grow and harvest their own food. However, they did spot them some chickens, pigs and goats. So, they managed to get some protein. But, the diets were mostly vegetarian. Tragically, the scientists were not given any booze to take inside the Biosphere. But, these were scientists. So, they grew their own bananas and managed to make some banana wine. Additionally, they had to make their own coffee. Apparently, the process of growing, drying and whatever you do to get coffee ready…was too time consuming. The scientists only got one cup of coffee every 2 weeks. I would have abandoned this place after a week with extremely limited coffee and booze.
Surprisingly, the research scientists each had nice 2 floor apartments all to themselves. The left picture above is the apartment for one researcher. Furthermore, the stairs led up to their private sleeping space. As there were 4 men and 4 women scientists, I can not help but wonder how many hook ups may have occurred.
So, Was the Experiment a Success?
I am sure lots of new and fascinating scientific discoveries were made as a part of the Biosphere 2 experiment. However, as to whether these scientists achieved indefinite sustainability…that was a big fail. I cite several key points to support my conclusion:
- By all accounts, the scientists were ready to kill each other towards the end. They were lucky to get out in 2 years without a homicide.
- The whole concept of the experiment being self sustaining was false. Electricity…and thus air conditioning…was supplied by boilers maintained on the outside. With the desert temperatures, the scientists would have been dead on the first afternoon if those greenhouses were not cooled.
- They were running out of oxygen. The people did their job and produced CO2. However, the plants got lazy and oxygen levels declined. Eventually, oxygen went from the nominal 21% down to 14%. Therefore, the outside researchers decided to pump in oxygen to keep the scientists alive.
- Lastly, the scientists did not starve in the 2 years. But, they were heading in that direction. Participants lost an average of about 25% body weight in the 2 year experiment. Check out this “Before and After” photo of one poor scientist…
Wrap It Up
In summation, the success of the original Biosphere 2 experiment was highly questionable. But, that does not make the existing Biosphere 2 any less fascinating. This is a very large, high end, botanical conservatory. You will go from a hot humid rainforest…to a dry desert…to a pleasant ocean climate. The scale of the facility is impressive. So, if you find yourself in the desert between Phoenix and Tucson, this place is definitely worth a few hour visit. Try to hit it in the spring so that the plants are peaking. Have a wonderful Earth Day. PT
I hope you have enjoyed reading “Biosphere 2” on Traveling with PugsleyTonks.
If you need another post with heavy science… https://travelingwithpt.com/are-you-willing-to-believe/
If you would like to learn more about Biosphere 2, here you go https://biosphere2.org/
