Bookshelf: Dreaming the Biosphere

Oh, Biosphere 2.  I was in high school when the experiment of locking a handful of people into a greenhouse microcosm of the Earth happened; I remember reading about it in Time magazine.  I remember thinking it was actually a Real, Serious Science Experiment by Real, Serious Scientists.

Turns out, not so much.

Dreaming the Biosphere is the true story of an acting troupe (The Theater of All Possibilities) who lived together on a commune (the Synergia Ranch) and ended up coaxing $150 million in cash money and priceless amounts of expertise out of real scientists and investors to build Biosphere 2.  B2 was a test project to create a small-scale, complete ecosystem that would exist sealed under glass and would sustain itself (and all organisms within, including humans); its goal was to develop a long-term habitat for human beings to settle other, less-hospitable planets.  Although there was real science at work, the project was spearheaded and carried out by lay people.  Was this lack of expertise why it failed?  Or was it the enthusiasm and brink-of-insanity passion of the Synergians that made the experiment even possible in the first place?

Author Rebecca Reider does a terrific job of interviewing the Synergians (including their charismatic but volatile leader, John Allen), the consultants, the builders and others involved in the massive undertaking.  She also unpacks the cultural undercurrents that powered the interest in 'ecotechnology,' space travel, and building brave new worlds.  EPCOT is briefly name-checked; Reider surveys the history of human replicas of worlds in miniature, and she mentions the park's collection of a sample of every culture on Earth in World Showcase.  I suspect that, had Walt Disney lived in the mid-80's, he would have played a role in the project, whether as simple investor or something more.  Like Disney, the Synergians were admirers of Buckminster Fuller (Fuller himself participated in several of their conferences), and you can see similarities in the ultimate design of Biosphere 2 and in EPCOT's Journey Into Imagination pavilion.

I have not finished the book yet, but I am engrossed in it.  I can't decide if these people were kooks or geniuses.  Perhaps they are a little of both.  It's like the football coach who goes for it on 4th down; if they convert it to a first, it's a gutsy play, and if they fail, it is the most boneheaded move ever and FIRE HIM NOW.  If B2 had succeeded, would we be hailing it as a landmark of human progress, instead of the butt of a joke?

Ironies abound, obviously.  There is some side-eye due a group of environmentalists who import exotic plants and insects (hello, invasive species!), oftentimes damaging the original habitat in the process; who ignore the legitimate concerns raised by consulting experts when the concerns interfere with the dream; and who keep changing their mind about major structural details, forcing the builders to rip things out and start over repeatedly, wasting energy and resources.  My favorite anecdotes include the 'ocean' water that was  imported in milk trucks-- that then was dumped out and not used due to unexpected milk residue-- and the native Arizona deer wandering into the unfinished construction site to snack on Amazonian rainforest plants. I haven't had these bug eyes while reading about piss-poor project decision-making since I read this:

Dreaming the Biosphere is a great read, capturing a time of exuberant belief in the power of science, technology and the future, and the ability of a bunch of actors to get a research project fully funded.

(Biosphere 2 still stands, by the way, and is used as an extension project for environmental education by the University of Arizona.  Plus, it's open for tours!  I totally want to go...but I wonder if it smells horrible.)