Thinking about Biosphere

The other night, Plotnik and Ducknik were talking with some friends about the Biosphere, where BZWZ spent a semester in Spring of 2003. The Biosphere was situated in the high desert outside of Tucson, Arizona, and was the most extraordinary place Plotnik has ever seen.

The idea had been to see whether people could live indefinitely inside the dome, growing their own food, recycling their own wastes, creating their own living biome. The answer was no. The first batch of students found carrots grew well but not a lot else. The kids all turned yellow. There was a huge political brouhaha when the second group went in, and after a few weeks they took those kids out of the dome and no one ever lived inside again.

Instead, they turned it into an astounding scientific campus and observatory. BZWZ's job, when she got there, was to monitor the ocean biome, which you are looking at here. She would dive to the bottom, regulate the algae, keep detailed accounts of water and air temperatures, and walk in the trees of the cloud forest biome next door.

Remember, this was all inside a glass dome. A lot of research was accomplished at Biosphere (The Big E and BZWZ met there, after all). But it's all history now. Columbia closed it down several years ago and there are no more students, no more research, no more observatory. It is dumbfounding to think this facility can be allowed to rot in the desert sun.

Plot, Duck and BZ had a great time climbing around the high desert there. It's gorgeous country. It's stone certain that BZWZ will spend time there again one day.