On Evolution

8. The Real Message from Biosphere 2

The Biosphere  facility in central Arizona began in  as a privately financed pet project of Texas billionaire Ed Bass, but it quickly got a reputation in the media as something of a folly with regard to the science it produced. Accordingly, for a brief time in the s an ad hoc scientific advisory panel was formed, of which Avise was a member. Unfortunately, the panel was convened only in the eleventh hour, and nothing much came of its last-ditch efforts to scientifically resuscitate the much-maligned facility. Nonetheless, as described in this chapter, the broader Biosphere experience may carry some important societal lessons about human–environment interactions. On a September morning in , eight gaunt but triumphant Biospherians emerged through the airlock doors of Biosphere  after two years under public scrutiny and sealed glass. Their re-entry into Biosphere  (Earth) marked completion of the first in a century-long series of planned missions, the stated objectives of which are to explore scientific frontiers in ecotechnology (for better husbandry of the planet’s resources and as a model for colonizing space) and, in general, to inspire the human spirit. The latter goal may have been achieved. Aficionados see the endeavor as audacious and visionary— “the most exciting venture undertaken in the U.S. since President Kennedy launched us towards the moon,” according to one excited commentator. And, unlike NASA’s lunar mission, this  million program was launched entirely from private venture capital! For those who don’t know, or may have long forgotten, Biosphere  is a futuristic glass and steel “greenhouse” nestled in Arizona’s Sonoran desert, about  miles north of Tucson. Engineered to be a selfsustaining mesocosm, almost completely sealed off from atmospheric The Real Message from Biosphere  8 or other material exchange with the outside world, the graceful threeacre enclosure housed nearly , introduced species of plants and animals in a Garden-of-Eden-like setting of tropical rainforest, marsh, desert, savannah, streams, agricultural area, and even a miniature ocean complete with coral reef. Biosphere  receives energy as sunlight and as electricity (from an adjacent natural-gas power plant) that drives a vast “technosphere” of pumps, sensors, scrubbers, air-cooling systems, and other electronic and engineering wizardry designed to keep the environmental systems within boundaries suitable for life. I visited Biosphere  as an independent researcher, and I have to admit it set my mind aspin with ambivalent impressions. There was the commercial side—on adjacent grounds you could purchase biomeburgers , habitat hotdogs, and planetary pizzas, or browse gift shops and bookstores. There was also a mystical side, exemplified by the many evocative sculptures with names of Indian Gods fashioned of stainless steel salvaged from the Los Alamos atomic bomb project. There was the educational side, where thought-provoking films and tours explained ecosystem functions and their relevance to the design of space modules. There were also the many ecotechnological paradoxes of Biosphere  itself, where earthly smells of compost and forest contrast with the electronic sterility of the computer control room, and where the Biospherians ’ simple agrarian lifestyle seemed in opposition to their sophisticated telecommunications with the international press. And then there was the scientific side, a focus of much controversy and media attention. Whether sound basic research happened or could ever find a good home in Biosphere  is debatable. But the overriding scientific lessons from Biosphere  already may be available. To many of us, healthy ecosystems and biodiversity on Biosphere  (the Earth) have inestimable aesthetic value. But the economic legacies of three billion years of evolution are sometimes easy to overlook. Some broad-thinking economists have sought to attach dollar values to natural ecosystems by virtue of the fundamental lifesupport services rendered (e.g., atmospheric regulation by rainforests  On Evolution and oceans, water purification by marshes, groundwater storage by aquifers, soil generation and maintenance by decomposers), but such attempts are almost hopelessly complicated by the vast range of spatial and temporal scales over which the monetary valuations might be tabulated. However, thanks to the controlled experiment of Biosphere , we now have a more explicit ledger. The cost of the man-made technosphere that (marginally) regulated life-support systems for eight Biospherians over two years was about ,, total, or ,, per person per year! During their two years of voluntary incarceration, the Biospherians became acutely aware of their intimate connections with, and complete dependence on, the fragile ecosystems within Biosphere . As...