First off, perhaps you've heard that
Biosphere 2 is for sale? The "self-contained, self-sustaining" environment for humans, including 5 different biomes (savannah, ocean, rainforest, etc.) now has a "For Sale" sign out front. Potential uses for the property? a religious college, spa, golf resort or even a technology park, though geeks have made
other suggestions (cult compound, or my favorite, "evil lair, though you'd have to move it inside a volcano.")
Seriously, though, most of us will agree Biosphere 2 is nice to look at, both
inside and
out(side). It's futuristic, albeit a little gaudy. Funded by a Texas billionaire Ed Bass, and built in the USA of course, so it has never failed to garner a lot of media attention and tourism.
However, I bet few of you have ever heard of
Bios-3, a "bioregenerative life support" experiment in Siberia that began in 1972. (1965 actually was the start of the program, with the construction of "Bios-1" also in Siberia).
Unlike Biosphere 2 in Arizona, the Siberian Bios-3 is built completely underground and is much smaller. In many ways, it's a far better experimental platform for studying how humans might one day live in "uninhabitable" areas, either on Earth or perhaps on the Moon or Mars. If you're in the mood for some semi-technical reading, I highly recommend
learning about Bios-3. It's fascinating, at least to me... and it's some of what I'd hoped to hear out of Biosphere 2 since its inception in 1991.
I spent the better part of my childhood wanting to become an astronaut. I even attended Space Camp in 1988 -- two years after the Space Shuttle Challenger accident. I remain as fascinated by space travel, and our Earth (experienced from the land, air or space), as I was then. So it always interests me when I read about studies, experiements or findings that may help further our understanding of our biosphere (
Earth) and our role in its complex and beautiful system. Maybe it's even the computer programmer in me that marvels at how it all, somehow, works despite all the variables, all the constraints and unknowns.
I think it's a disgrace that Biosphere 2, despite its $200+ milliion construction cost, didn't become the
world center for discourse on earth systems science, policy and management issues that Columbia University (which co-managed the facility for several years) hoped it would become. Instead, it's little more than a theme park without rides... though it does have a hotel and conference center. How sad to see it become a "desert Disneyland<tm>" instead of a working research laboratory and indoor/outdoor classroom.
Linear Mode
