at several points and needed pruning, and that the glass also needed cleaning at several places. They made sure that we knew about all upcoming visits by collaborating scientists, guest lecturers, or VIPs in the environmental world.
During the afternoon, we usually worked on our weekly and monthly reports or contacted people with whom we had been doing research projects. Sally finished her weekly report on food production, diet, and nutrition; Jane reported on animal fodder production; and Laser detailed the maintenance program. There were also reviews and projections for the terrestrial wilderness systems (Linda), the marine wilderness systems (Gaie), and the medical and health systems (Roy).
By 3:30, the Biosphere would be bustling. Laser was working on technical design problems and the future upgrades during the transition (the period after the completion of the two-year closure when system improvements, detailed research with outside scientists, and helping and training the second crew would occur) with Ernst Thal-Larsen and Larry Pomatto, Director of Technical Systems, via video. Sally was on the phone with Jim Litsinger, the project’s integrated pest management consultant, and Dr. Michael Stanghellini, a pathologist at the University of Arizona who had recently examined roots of our rice, wheat, and sorghum crops to see if nematodes or water-borne bacteria were responsible for the poor yields. They discussed a test which had been proposed by consultants at the University of Michigan to see if our rice seedlings were suffering from a more subtle nutrient deficiency.
Mark was on the phone, too, discussing an upcoming meeting, The Case for Mars Conference, with its organizers in Boulder, Colorado. Using PictureTel technology, we were able to present a ‘paper’ detailing our findings and also participate in a direct discussion with the conference members. After he hung up, he made data entries from the leaf litter and decomposition studies underway in all the biomes.
Within the hour, Gaie was scheduling the first three months of the anticipated transition phase (the period between Mission One and Mission Two from September 26, 1993 to February 26, 1994) that would provide the opportunity for research, review and repairs inside the laboratory. During that period of time, Biosphere 2 would continue to operate with closure protocol. Work teams were prioritized and planned according to the breath of an eight-person crew living inside. Thus, this task needed to include all sixty research programs underway, as well as technical system repairs or upgrades, and training the second crew that would operate the laboratory for the coming year. In order to set the research plan, she contacted a number of the consultants and collaborating scientists by phone and email to arrange a meeting within the Biosphere to make measurements and observations for the completion of research projects.
Taber spent the afternoon doing routine maintenance on the automatic sniffer system that analyzed levels of eight critical gases in the atmosphere.
It may sound as if everyone was so involved in activity that there was little room for emotional interaction. But there was—even if conducting our private relationships proved a bit tricky. We agreed not to invade in one another’s personal lives by addressing who was or wasn’t involved in love affairs, suffice it to say that there were some people in Biosphere 2 with such relationships, and others without them. For those without, how was it possible to continue a relationship with someone on the outside? With ingenuity. Private meetings at the windows were arranged. While the official biospherian handshake was two hands matching each other (even though separated by the thin three-eighths-inch glass), pairs of lip-prints had been spotted on each side of the meeting window as well. Sometimes they took a while to fade, lingering like the blush of flowers preserved in a diary.
At 4:30, Linda and Mark met in the west arroyo area of the desert to measure plants. This was part of a biomass resurvey they completed at the end of each rainy season, to measure how the communities of plants were changing as the desert developed. At the same moment, Sally was discussing the results of recent trials of recipes from her Biosphere 2 cookbook, Eating In, with one of the ‘food testers.’ Gaie had just completed her daily review of the Biosphere 2 management with John Allen, Director of Research and Development, and was now on the phone with Dr. Jack Corliss, Director of Research for SBV, about the overall research program which included wide areas of investigations in global modeling, biogeochemical cycles, biomes and ecosystems, systematics, human physiology and nutrition, and engineering.
Meanwhile, a last burst of animal husbandry was taking place: by 5:30, Jane was milking goats, Taber came down from the kitchen to put the buck and kids into their separate pens to feed them, and Sally was taking care of the chickens. After completing the biomass measurements in the desert, Linda connected the cables for R2D2 and once more checked in with Mission Control regarding CO2 emissions. Mark went to take more soil moisture samples.
By now the official workday was over, but, as usual, a few matters needed attention. Laser was trouble-shooting the electronic sensing devices of the fire alarm system which had been giving false alarms due to high humidity. Gaie and Mark reviewed a press release written by the public affairs office. Sally returned a call from a Tucson journalist requesting her reaction to the National Academy of Sciences warning of the danger of pesticide levels in fruits and vegetables, especially to children. She used the opportunity to discuss the relevance of our agricultural system, which didn’t rely on chemical pesticides or harmful chemicals of any kind and was nevertheless extremely productive. The journalist also wanted to come out for a photograph of Sally with some of her new beneficial insects (which eat crop pests), so she arranged a time for the following morning.
Roy was cook’s helper for the day and began helping Taber by washing pots, making tea, and setting the table in the frequently frantic last minutes before meals were served. Gaie, Mark and Sally, hungrily anticipating dinner, took the opportunity to work on this book, which they’d been writing since the early days of the experiment.
Taber and Roy served dinner at 6:45 PM. Taber made one of his characteristically beautiful meals, featuring a flour shell into which he placed delicious chili with lablab beans, chives, taro, and green banana. There were sliced beets, a mixed vegetable dish, baked sweet potatoes with a banana sauce, and tossed salad. Dessert was sweet potato pie topped with slices of fresh fig.
Less than an hour later, Taber and Roy were doing the kitchen cleanup, which included sweeping and mopping the floor. They cooked the day’s food scraps in a large pot on the electric stove, and these leftovers were now ready to go down to feed the goats. Taber started on the next day’s breakfast. He began slow cooking the porridge overnight in a crock pot, and preparing rolls and sweet potato patties on baking sheets in the refrigerator along with other foods for tomorrow’s lunch.
Sally and Laser worked together in the command room summarizing the day’s events in the captain’s log and sent it via the network to Mission Control and SBV management. At 8:15, Mark started his night rounds—a twenty-to-thirty-minute tour through the agriculture, rainforest, savannah, and desert, noting the manual thermometer readings in each area. He also turned off whatever lights that had been left on, and then checked the algae scrubber room, the recirculating fans, and the wave machine in the ocean. He also glanced at the alarm screen in the savannah tunnel for any temperature red alerts, and then checked another alarm board nearby for any yellow lights indicating technical malfunctions. He then copied his readings in a logbook which was kept near the alarm screen monitor.
Linda settled in with her computer to log onto the WELL, a communications network run by the Whole Earth Catalogue. She checked a general bulletin board for useful information and examined WELL’s array of electronic conferences. Linda frequently contributed to conferences on Biosphere 2, as well as many others on politics, the environment, and cutting-edge technologies. Roy was on the phone with friends in Los Angeles. Taber and Jane were watching TV, and Gaie was reading.
Our apartments were our castles. When we wanted to be alone, that is where we’d retreat. Each biospherian had a two-story apartment with a downstairs area
