Biosphere 2...a tiny Planet Earth

On Sunday, the 22nd, we drove to Biosphere 2, north of Tucson. The Biosphere 2 is a gigantic environmental research facility, currently run by the University of Arizona. It is one of the largest living laboratories in the world, situated on more than 250 acres in the Sonoran Desert.

Water and Life Experiment Building

Between 1991 and 1993, eight researchers (4 men and 4 women) were locked in the Biosphere 2 facility to evaluate the sustainability of living in a completely self-contained environment. They were responsible for growing and harvesting all of their crops, maintaining all the equipment needed to run the 3.14 acre facility, caring for chickens, goats and sheep, and troubleshooting problems within the structure. Though they could consult with outside engineers by telephone and internet, no one came into the Biosphere 2 during the 2 year project for any reason.

At the end of the project, the only real issue was the inability of the researchers to meet their caloric needs considering the sheer volume of manual labor they did every day. They averaged over 60 work hours a week, and every one of them lost a significant amount of weight by the end of the project, though all were extremely healthy. Their diet was overwhelmingly vegetarian, with a small amount of meat only once a week, because they could only eat and drink what they could produce inside the Biosphere 2. (We heard they made banana wine, because grapes didn't grow very well.)

Fog Desert Biome with tour guide, Carol

We toured the 6 biomes of earth's 7 natural biomes inside of Biosphere 2...the Rainforest, the Ocean, the Desert, the Grasslands, the Thornscrub and the Mangrove Wetlands, with only the frozen tundra not represented here. By manually changing the temperature, wind (both speed and direction), 'rainfall', and other climactic elements, researchers can evaluate the impact that these changes have on the plants of each biome. For instance, they can produce a drought in the rainforest, an usually warm summer in the grasslands, or hurricane force winds in the wetlands.

Ocean Biome with Mangrove Wetlands beyond

Currently, scientists can make changes in one biome without impacting the others, but when the 8 researchers were locked into Biosphere 2 in the early 90's, all the biomes connected to one another, causing a cascading effect in the other biomes when one or more elements changed in one of them. Now there are thick plastic curtains to divide the biomes from each other so scientists can study the impacts more closely without inadvertently affecting other researchers' projects.

Falaj at Biosphere 2

Our friendly tour guide, Carol, took us through each of the sections of the building and explained some of the current research going on in each area. It was really interesting!

Once the tour led us outside, we saw a  new installation of desert roof gardens, the arid version of a common urban roof garden in more humid climates. We also saw a new falaj, an ancient method of water distribution used in the deserts of the Middle East for centuries. The falaj extracts water from a mountain and then channels it to a village in a certain priority based on use and need, with the drinking water as first priority, ceremonial use second, and so on. Besides being an ingenious method of distributing water, the falaj is architecturally pretty, too.

Biosphere 2

After the guided tour ended, we walked back to see where the eight researchers lived during the experiment in the early 90s. We saw the living area of one of their small apartment spaces and the large communal kitchen. We watched a short video on the division of kitchen labor and some of their comments about the successes of living in Biosphere 2 as well as some of the difficulties.

We had a great time touring the Biosphere 2 (the first biosphere is Planet Earth). We headed back to Dennis and Karen's house to relax by the pool and cool off from the oppressively hot day.

What a fun day!