The Biospherians

Biosphere 2 seems large to us as a visitor, but think about it from the perspective of the

biospherians; that being their entire world for 2 years, and it seems to shrink. Touring the facility and pretending that you, yourself, are one of the biospherians certainly changes your view of Biosphere 2. I found myself wanting to stay longer. I would love to completely understand every element of the biosphere and its workings like the biospherians did. The entire trip I was continuously inspired. Especially with their work being so inline with what I wish to accomplish someday, it was easy for me to understand their passion that led them to stay closed in for 2 years.

~Sophomore Lia, 2018, after Biosphere 2 field trip

As I mentioned in my blog post titled "My Journey" I took an undergraduate course called "Knowledge, Power, Nature" in which we explored and role played stakeholders of Biosphere 2. I was assigned the role of biospherian. This opportunity turned into a deep dive of doing research to understand the biospherian worldview, which I found I strongly related to. It is fitting that now I am working at the Biosphere full-time and have become a biospherian myself. But I think anyone can become a biospherian. In fact, we should all strive to be biospherians of Biosphere 1, the planet Earth. I believe having a biospherian worldview would cause us all to do things differently and be better environmental stewards. Anyway, here is my essay for the Biosphere 2 unit from Knowledge, Power, Nature.

Biosphere 2 Unit Paper: The Biospherians

My Biosphere 2 group is the biospherians. The biospherians were eight individuals who were chosen to live inside Biosphere 2 for a two-year mission. To understand these biospherians better, some background will be provided for each individual. Sally Silverstone: Operations Captain, thirty- six years old from London with a degree in social work. Mark Van Thillo “Laser”: Co-Captain, thirty years old from Belgium, a graduate of the Don Bosco Technical Institute. Linda Leigh: head of the terrestrial wilderness biomes, thirty-nine years old from Wisconsin with a botany degree from the University of Wisconsin. Abigail “Gaie” Alling: Director of Research, head of marine systems, thirty-one years old from New York with a master’s degree from the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Sciences. Roy Walford: Physician, head of biomedical research, sixty-seven years old from San Diego with a medical degree from the University of Chicago. Jane Poynter: head of field crops and domestic animals, twenty-nine years old from Surrey, England with an ecological background. Taber MacCallum: Safety Officer, Assistant Medical Officer and Analytical Chemist, twenty-seven years old from Albuquerque, chose to begin work at Biosphere 2 instead of going to college. Mark Nelson: Director of Environmental and Space Applications, forty-four from Brooklyn, New York with degrees in philosophy and pre-med sciences (Nelson, 18).

Each biospherian met this opportunity with a wild passion and determination to make new discoveries to benefit the world and better themselves by being a part of it. However, the reasons behind this excitement varied amongst members of the group. For some biospherians, the experiment would be used as an insight to our own biosphere, the planet Earth, since Biosphere 2 is our best model of biosphere 1. Others believed this sealed environment was preparation for space travel and the need for sealed environments on other planets. In a video interview by The Avant Garde Diaries, Sally Silverstone references domes used to store plants and animals in the movie Silent Running. She says, “it’s man’s destiny to go into space,” clearly illustrating her interests in the project. All the biospherians used the facility to live and complete research in. They spent their days mostly farming, writing reports and preparing food, but also caring for the domestic animals, researching, repairing and maintaining the biomes as well as the technosphere, analytic and medical labs, exporting samples and interviewing with the media (Nelson, 192).

To the biospherians, Biosphere 2 presented itself as a potential solution to many foreseen environmental problems. One innovation that Mark Nelson mentions in a clip from an interview included on the Global Ecotechnics Corporations video is “utilizing the power of plants and microbes to clean up the waste waters,” which he believes will have tremendous potential to improve Earth’s environmental conditions. The most detrimental of problems that Biosphere 2 offers a solution for, is the possibility of our planet becoming uninhabitable in the future. In a video produced by the Global Ecotechnics Corporation, Robert “Rio” Hahn describes the goals of Biosphere 2, one of which being “to develop the technologies that would enable us to do long-term space travel and establish habitation on other planets.” This outcome requires having a system which recycles life. The innovation of the lungs of Biosphere 2 was an important advancement in developing closed systems. In addition to the resolution of these environmental problems, the biospherians hoped Biosphere 2 could give them answers to some social problems as well. Many biospherians and the team that founded the Biosphere 2 project originated from Synergia Ranch. Synergia Ranch was founded by these young, energetic people in the 1960s who wished to create a ‘synergetic civilization’. They wished to alter world history by addressing questions of ecology and the environment (Reider, 33). The Biosphere 2 project very much comes into play with these ideas. The biospherians believed that a better harmony between humans and nature could be established.

The biospherians have relationships with past and present stakeholders that have come and gone through Biosphere 2. Many of the biospherians joined the Biosphere 2 project early on, such as Laser, Jane, Taber and Mark. They had their beginnings at Synergia Ranch, on board the RV Heraclitus, and at Birdwood Downs in Australia (Nelson, 19-22). Very early on, they formed allies with stakeholders such as John Allen, Ed Bass and Margaret Augustine. John Allen would later be involved with the managing of Biosphere 2 during the mission. Ed Bass was the investor running the project, and Margaret Augustine co-designed Biosphere 2. As things progressed, disagreements arose between management and investor. This lead to Ed Bass parting ways from John Allen and the Ecotechnics team (Biosphere 2 – Story of the Original Design and Building). The biospherians do have some antagonists among the groups involved with Biosphere 2’s history; in particular the media, as well as the University of Arizona management. The University of Arizona seems to cover up Biosphere 2’s past. Although exhibits at the biosphere feature the biospherians, we could gather from our visit that the whole story was not being told. On the University of Arizona’s Biosphere 2 website, there is no mention of John Allen. This is likely attributed to how the media has skewed the public’s perception of Biosphere 2’s early experiment as well as the management of John Allen. Reporters made accusations of the biospherians being unscientific, explaining why the UA management would not want such a reputation to hinder their current scientific proceedings at Biosphere 2 (Nelson, 23). The biospherians are often criticized for not all possessing degrees of science, however they brought a certain expertise to the project that no other group of individuals could possess. They strongly wanted to become members of a crew that would not see the outside world for two whole years. As Jane puts it “the training of the biospherians was unorthodox but very effective” (Nelson, 23). In addition to being trained in extremes, the biospherians knew Biosphere 2 like no other common scientist or engineer would. Jane writes, “Biosphere 2 needed more than scientists. The two-year experiment required people well versed in Biosphere 2’s operations and its mechanical systems and well-trained technicians, which all of us were,” (Nelson, 26).

The role that the biospherians played in the history of Biosphere 2 is shaped by nature related factors as well as social factors. The natural environment had a large impact on the biospherians. The loss of oxygen sticks out in the memories of anyone who has heard of Biosphere 2. The biospherians had goals to keep the system closed throughout the entirety of the mission, but they did pump in oxygen and not grow all their food. In her Ted Talk at USC, Jane Poynter states “you might think, well, “Boy, your life system was failing you. Wasn’t that dreadful?”.” These natural factors of losing oxygen for reasons unknown during the mission and being unable to farm enough food on a half-acre of land for 8 humans and their domestic animals became a standout piece of the biospherians history in Biosphere 2. This is when controversy of failure or success of the mission arises. Social factors that shaped the history of the biospherians is their split into two groups of four. Abigail, Laser, Sally and Mark sided with the current management. They wished to uphold their goals of maintaining the closure of the system and working to improve the facility and food production. Jane, Taber, Linda and Roy wanted change. These four believed less attention should be spent on survival. Outside aid should be allowed and more time should be spent on doing research. In his book, Mark notes “when the chain of command is challenged, powerful emotions can be unleashed,” (Nelson, 195). The biospherians take a critical realist approach to environmental problems. From Sutton, “Critical realism is a method of scientific inquiry that potentially brings together social and natural scientific evidence to better understand why environmental problems occur.” The biospherians clearly implement the study techniques of critical realists, which is to study human societies as a part of the natural environment. In Biosphere 2, the biospherians treated themselves as a part of the living system; the natives to the natural environment.

Biosphere 2 can teach us a lot about our larger society today. Problems related to the natural environment, society and culture can be advised by the lessons learned in Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 has contributed to our understanding of problems with our natural environment. Our understandings of the impact of CO2 on Earth’s atmosphere and its ecosystems have been expanded by the biospherian mission. Publications out of Biosphere 2 results include papers like Simulation of community metabolism and atmospheric carbon dioxide and oxygen concentrations in Biosphere 2, Using a closed ecological system to study Earth’s biosphere: Initial results from Biosphere 2, and Atmospheric Dynamics and bioregenerative technologies in a soil-based ecological life support system: Initial results from Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 has even expanded on our understanding of problems in society and culture. The biospherians demonstrated this greatly. Originally the biospherians pitched themselves to the public as optimistic, but once these high expectations were not being met, the ravaging from the media began. It now takes a great deal of convincing from the biospherians to have people understand the credibility to their experiment. Mark Nelson’s book description includes the statement “clearing up common misconceptions,” implementing the urge for the reader to rethink what they have been told. In the Ecotechnics staff’s mini-documentary, the description reads “whatever you’ve read about Biosphere 2, re-think it…and watch this short film.” This shows us how society places expectations on us and how easily these influence people to believe or see certain things that can take a great amount of effort to reverse.

Works Cited

Biosphere 2 – Story of the Original Design and Building. Directed by David Sauvage, performances by John Allen, Mark Nelson, Kathelin Gray, Marie Harding, Robert “Rio” Hahn, and William Dempster, Ecotechnics Staff, 2015.

Nelson, Mark. Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2. Tucson: The Arizona Board of Regents, 2018. Print.

Poynter, Jane, “Life in Biosphere 2.” TED, March 2009.

Reider, Rebecca. Dreaming the Biosphere: The Theater of All Possibilities. Albuquerque: The

University of New Mexico Press, 2009. Print.

Silverstone, Sally; Leigh, Linda. Interview by Keith Pikus and Bennett Barbakow. The Avant

Garde Diaries, 9 May 2013.

Sutton, Philip W. The Environment: A Sociological Introduction. Polity, 2013. Print.