and differences are inherent in any group; it’s human nature. Just imagine being closed in for two years with only seven other members of your family, friends, or fellow co-workers. How well would you get along? The struggle over the future of Biosphere 2 that took place outside during the two years affected us inside, and probably added some fuel to the fire. Additionally, with the world’s attention on us, just like other people in isolated, confined environments, there’s a tendency to exaggerate these difficulties. But there were also plenty of fun and lighter periods, as well as tense periods throughout our two years. Remarkably, through thick and thin, we continued to work and play together. Any feast, morning with our few but precious coffee beans, or other celebration was too valuable to ruin with squabbles. Biosphere 2 was our shared love and passion and all of the biospherians were totally dedicated to making our closure experiment a success and as scientifically fruitful as possible. Our world was also our lifeboat, so subconscious sabotage was unthinkable and never happened. We hope that also becomes a lesson for our situation now as an emerging global community faces very serious climate and resource challenges. It is imperative that people everywhere come to realize that Earth’s biosphere is literally our shared home.
BIOSPHERE 2 NOW
When Space Biosphere Ventures changed hands in 1994 and the facility was given to Columbia University, it was altered from operating as a biospheric laboratory to one where the biomes were separated to create a greenhouse with controlled environments. The regenerative farm was dismantled and the space was used to study trees in different CO2 environments. A crew no longer lived inside, the biospherian apartments were turned into offices and people and technicians entered to maintain the facility or collect data. The decline in the health and vitality of Biosphere 2 under this conventional scientific management illustrates that it takes both a detailed (reductionist) and a total system (holistic) approach to study a biosphere. The value of having live-in crews that could experience how each of our lives is dependent upon our biosphere was lost.
Research conducted when Biosphere 2 operated as a closed ecological system, from 1991-1994, produced a wealth of scientific data and publications. Unfortunately, much of the massive volumes of data collected from those first experiments are not available. Subsequent managers of the facility continued researching the ecosystems that were built, producing striking findings. Since the University of Arizona began managing the facility in 2007, they have carried forward the purposes of the project to serve as a center for research and education, in order to advance our understanding of the natural and man-made environment and catalyze interdisciplinary thinking and understanding about Earth and its future. Our vision was that Biosphere 2 would be the first of many biospheric laboratories that would be used for comparison with a range of different mini-biospheres to obtain critical knowledge about how life operates on planet Earth. It was named “2” to highlight that Biosphere 1 is our Earth’s biosphere, the one we all share. As the first prototype, we expected it would give rise to Biospheres 3, 4, 5 . . . all of which would be built for biospheric research and development of new technologies to restore our environment and generate environmentally-friendly economic technologies, such as new ways of cleaning our air, water, and preventing pollution. To put that program in monetary perspective: Biosphere 2’s estimated cost was approximately $200 million, which included land purchase, staff and consultant costs, design, construction, and operation of the experiment over the course of 10 years. This is equivalent to the cost of one modern military jet.
A NEW ERA
Geologists are now actively debating whether we are entering a new era due to the massive effects that a growing human population, industry and agriculture has had, and continues to have, on the biosphere. The new era would be called the Anthropocene because humans now drive many crucial trends on Earth. A few astute observers of Biosphere 2, like Wired magazine’s Kevin Kelly, saw it as a forerunner of our modern biosphere where machines and human activities are interwoven with the natural world. To be successful in these early Anthropocene years, humanity has an overriding necessity to act thoughtfully and intelligently, becoming stewards of ourselves, and thus the health of our biosphere that sustains us. Biosphere 2 can be regarded as an Anthropocene experiment in its attempt to integrate appropriate technology with nature. Living in Biosphere 2 demanded that we stretch our human intelligence and capacities to consciously cooperate with our biosphere.
Vladimir Vernadsky, the great Russian biogeochemist who created our modern understanding of the biosphere, also thought evolution’s new era would be the creation of a “noosphere” (a sphere of intelligence) in response to the geological power of human industry. He asserted that the noosphere will arise when scientific, technical, and biospheric intelligence harmonize so that technics reinforces life and life reinforces technics in an evolutionarily sustainable way. Our Russian colleagues, the leaders in closed ecological systems research, thought Biosphere 2 should have been named “Noosphere 1.” We can now appreciate Biosphere 2 as an early laboratory experiment which foreshadowed a future when humans start to intelligently operate our “spaceship Earth.” Then, we will start to transform our current downward trajectory into a regenerative, creative and evolving shared biospheric future.
WE ALL LIVE IN AND SHARE ONE BIOSPHERE
As we reflect on our years in Biosphere 2, it is clear that we were changed by it. Our bodily experience of being so closely interconnected with our biosphere was both remarkable and exhilarating. We understood on a profound level that our health and that of Biosphere 2 were the same. We were intensely aware that every action, everything we did, had immediate consequences. Our bodies understood and rejoiced in our cooperation with and dependence on all life. We had our responsibilities to work cooperatively with our living systems so as to maximize their well-being. We also understood the need to keep the support technologies functioning and upgrade them to be efficient, to accomplish as much research as possible in order to learn how our biosphere functioned. We also needed to become better farmers so we could eat more and alleviate the constant hunger accompanying our super-healthy but calorie-restricted diet. But the best, most fulfilling, and extraordinary experience was knowing, at a deep cellular level, that we were metabolically and consciously part of our living biosphere.
The fact that Biosphere 2 reached a worldwide audience, bringing into clear focus what a biosphere is, has been its lasting legacy. People were gripped as they followed the real-time drama we biospherians faced in keeping our world healthy. This helped puncture the fantasy that the environment is somehow outside of us and that humans are separate from nature. It was the beginning of a desperately needed planetary awakening. We all live in a biosphere and we are part of it! We are excited and hopeful now that this awakening is spreading so rapidly and widely around the planet.
We know that being chosen for Biosphere 2’s first epic exploration was a gift for each of us. Even more importantly, we know that we are also biospherians of planet Earth, and so are you. Many have already changed their perspective and relationship to our biosphere which is overheating, burning, flooding, and whose overall health is rapidly declining. The warnings are clear: mass extinction of species, loss of much of the biomic diversity which powers our biosphere, the catastrophe-producing changes to our climate system, pollution and degradation of our soils and waters, the loss of natural regions and the beauty of Earth’s biosphere. We are facing, for the first time, the real danger of so damaging Earth that our civilization and even our survival are threatened unless we reverse this accelerating destruction. Waking up to this crisis, and rising to the challenge of being responsible Earth biospherians, will enrich our lives. The crucial first steps are to realize that our biosphere is our home and our life-support system; and then to act, and act quickly, to restore it.
Our deepest desire is that Biosphere 2’s legacy informs, inspires and offers insights into how to achieve this positive future.
– Abigail Alling, Mark Nelson, Sally Silverstone February, 2020
