Biosphere 2, of course, is not moving. Rather, it is firmly fixed in the hard-packed scrabble of the southwestern desert of North America, a beautiful part of Biosphere 1. The crew within the Biosphere views the outside scene, itself changing with the tempo of the seasons, at a leisurely pace. I suspect that most motion observed outside Biosphere 2 would be the parade of curious Earthlings peering through the glare of the glass walls to catch glimpses of the alien pioneers at work inside their independent ecology.
Along one wall of the living quarters, however, there is a special window through which inhabitants of both worlds can get a closer look at each other and engage in face-to-face conversation of a sort, the words carried by speakerphones, the images of the people slightly distorted by the internal reflection of the glass. I had the great pleasure of visiting with the biospherians through the conversation window, an occasion which started with greeting them by matching hands, a right hand flat against the left hand and left against right with the palms and fingers separated only by glass. Because of this rite of greeting, the conversation window is constantly covered with smudges of hand prints inside and out, quite unlike a spaceship. As far as I know, you will never find hand prints on the outside of a spaceship window.
The book these biospherians have given us here is also a special window of sorts. It gives us insight into the other world in which these unique pioneers have worked and lived for two years.
– Joseph P. Allen, former US astronaut August 1993, Houston, Texas
“We invented Biosphere 2 not only for science, but also for beauty, adventure, and hope for all humanity – and for the Earth’s biosphere itself. To teach human beings to see Biosphere 1 in a new way, this is the ultimate vision behind Biosphere 2. We have the ability to be a creative, cooperative agent with evolution. This is what I call victory.”
– John P. Allen, Co-founder and Inventor of Biosphere 2 Research and Development, Space Biospheres Ventures (1984-1994)
“Space Biospheres Ventures represents a new approach to doing business. We are a private ecological research firm which has created one of the boldest research and development facilities of this century. We are also a profit-making venture. Biosphere 2 ushers forth technological development that is marketable and beneficial to the Earth. It responds to the current environmental crises by searching for real solutions, and stands as a vision of hope so that we as a species can move forward and leave our destructive ways behind us.”
– Margaret Augustine, Co-architect and former CEO, Space Biospheres Ventures (1984-1994)
“Biosphere 2 is the child of our Earth’s biosphere, grown from the same flesh and genetic material, and born of the perspective gained with Apollo’s distant images of the Earth. As with the Apollo images, Biosphere 2 allows us to see in one succinct view, a complete integrated system of life.”
– Edward P. Bass, Co-founder of Biosphere 2, Founding Trustee of the Philecology Trust
BIOSPHERE 2 WAS THE RESULT OF A creative and dedicated network of scientists, managers, engineers, and architects who attempted the impossible—and succeeded. But a special word of recognition is due to three people: John Allen, for his vision, boundless energy, and practical savvy; Margaret Augustine, for her tenacity in guiding the dream towards its fulfillment; and Edward Bass, for his manifested commitment to the environment and the ecological technologies of the future.
The eight-member crew was only a part of this story; Biosphere 2 needs both a team on the outside as well as the inside. While the following pages give an insight into the challenges of living under glass, the entire biospherian crew is deeply appreciative of the extensive team on the outside whose support made our adventure possible. Without their dedication and vigilance, we could not have completed our task.
Mission One biospherians from left to right: (Top) Taber MacCallum, Sally Silverstone, Linda Leigh, Mark Van Thillo (Laser), Mark Nelson, (Bottom) Jane Poynter, Abigail Alling, and Roy Walford.
LOOKING BACK ON LIVING IN BIOSPHERE 2
AND WHAT WAS LEARNED TO GUIDE US THROUGH OUR CURRENT ECOLOGICAL CRISIS
“[Many people] believe that human society may successfully design nature to fit economic aspirations. What Biosphere 2 showed, in a short time, is the lesson that our global human society is learning more slowly with Biosphere 1, that humans have to fit their behavior into a closed ecosystem.”
– Professor Howard T. Odum, University of Florida
IT SEEMS CRAZY TODAY, but in the 1980s the word ‘biosphere’ was not widely known; we often had to spell the word for people! ‘Sustainable’ was equally obscure. The reality that the global biosphere that evolved over billions of years was in fact the life support system for us humans, as well as for all other life on our planet, was not widely understood. Then suddenly, out of the blue, Biosphere 2 appeared housing many of the quintessential biomes of planet Earth: rainforest, savannah, desert, marsh/mangrove, and coral reef ocean. Not only that, but it was uncommon then, if not audacious, to have women as part of such an expedition team and certainly not in equal numbers with men, but our crew was composed of four men and four women. Everyone could relate to Biosphere 2 since it was a miniature version of their lives and world. Because it was so small, just over three acres (2.5 U.S. football fields or 1.5 soccer fields), it was easy to see how people, wilderness areas, farm, and technology are so closely interconnected.
Astronauts don’t have to look over their shoulder; nobody is outside the spacecraft watching their every move. In Biosphere 2, even when we were slogging through a muddy rice paddy, cleaning the underwater ocean viewing windows, or pruning vines in the rainforest to let more sunlight in for shaded plants, there might have been a crowd looking in with their keenly peering faces pushed up against the glass that separated our world from theirs. Captivated by the drama of real-time science and exploration, they encouraged us with their positive smiles and were proof that what we were doing was both new and necessary. We also observed the outside world with new eyes: as we were getting thinner on our low-calorie diet, weaned away from fast food while living off our organic farm, people outside seemed to be getting larger! It was an opportunity for us to learn again about our own Earth’s biosphere as we compared and contrasted the two while we learned from news reports that ecological problems around the world were getting worse. It was this comparison that helped fuel our resolve to successfully complete our two-year experiment in Biosphere 2 and provide some examples of how people take care of their biosphere when they realize it’s what is keeping them alive.
The challenges we faced within Biosphere 2 have since moved from small environmental circles to the front pages of global news reports. Today, we continually hear that natural resources are finite and that even vast reservoirs, like our atmosphere or ocean, can be imperiled by human action. Our aim in Biosphere 2 was to find a way to meet our needs, protect our wilderness areas, and keep our soils, waters, and atmosphere healthy. To do this, we needed innovative technologies to recycle our water, grow food without using harmful chemicals while maintaining the