Biosphere 2

On Monday we had rain, sleet, and strong winds, no good for our usual activities. So we drove about an hour north of Tucson to visit Biosphere 2. The Biosphere project was built in the 80’s and early 90’s, and in 1991 and 1992, a team of eight people called the Biospherians spent two years locked in an airtight facility for two years. They grew their own food, recycled their waste and lived in Biosphere 2 to conduct experiments. Unfortunately, they didn’t have enough calories to eat and spent so much time taking care of the crops and a few animals for food that they didn’t have time or energy to do much research. So now it is an open facility where researchers come and go to conduct their experiments, and it is open to tourists.
The place is divided into several different terrains and climates. There is an orchard, a savannah, rain forest, ocean, and desert, all housed in one building with dividers between the different zones. Fascinating! Here are a few pictures.