Biosphere 2

 

In the 1980’s, Space Biospheres Ventures constructed a $150 million facility, outside Tucson, to research self-sustaining space colonization. The mostly glass terrarium they constructed, in the middle of the Sonoran desert, came to be known as Biosphere 2 (since earth is considered Biosphere 1).

The Biosphere 2 launch, in 1991, was staged much like a space mission. The media descended on the facility in Arizona and there were speeches and fireworks as eight jumpsuited volunteers (4 women, 4 men) sealed themselves inside the Biosphere for a two year journey into the unknown.

During their mission the biospherians were completely self sustained growing and harvesting their own food from the half acre farm they tended. Their diet consisted of mostly beans, rice, wheat, sweet potatoes, beet root and peanuts. The low calorie diet resulted in the participants losing 25% of their body fat. They also didn’t realize the soil in the Biosphere was too rich in organic matter and it’s thriving bacteria gobbled up too much oxygen, thus after about a year they ended up starving, gasping for air and at each other’s throats while the world’s media looked on. The project was eventually dismissed as non-science and trendy ecological entertainment.

In 2011, ownership of Biosphere 2 was transferred to the University of Arizona where they opened it to the public for tours. On the tour you can see the living quarters of the biospherians as well as the different ecosystems that remain intact; a desert, rainforest and even a small ocean. Ongoing research is being conducted by the University, within the facility, especially in regards to climate change.

Even though the original experiment was deemed a failure the former participants came away understanding the interconnectedness of everything and have  cautioned future generation’s to take heed….in their words “for one thing to exist, everything else also needs to exist.”