Posted in book reviews

I just read The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2 by Jane Poynter.  It was really interesting even though most of the science it discussed was over my head.  And, of course, the bias toward global warming and other issues (when we just had a very early frost here!) was a little annoying, because I don't think they are proven facts.

Ms. Poynter spent 2 years from 1991-1993 locked inside a huge greenhouse-type structure in Arizona with 7 other people, one of them her future husband.  I remember reading about it at the time and thinking it was quite interesting.  The most surprising things I learned were that most of the "biospherians" did not have science backgrounds or even degrees, that it was built by a group (she discusses at some length whether or not it was/is a cult) called Synergia, and that it was entirely privately funded.  Wouldn't it be nice to have a spare $250 million laying around to invest in a project?  Yes, all that money came from one person!

The overarching themes of the book are the interpersonal difficulties of the "biospherians" and a whole lot of missing CO2 that required two injections of oxygen during their stay, going against the original idea, but necessary for them to be able to breathe.  They did finally determine where it went, and it was something that was easily fixable for the next Biosphere stay.  The 8 people, 4 men and 4 women, split into two groups during their stay.  Ms. Poynter refers to the groups as "Us" and "Them."  She explains that in all sorts of closed group situations, people split into two groups, whether it's the Biosphere, the space station, or Antarctica.  It seems like part of human nature.

I find it incredible that she and her future husband stayed together during this incredibly stressful time.  They actually had a house built for them while they were inside, which they could just see being built with binoculars.  She jokes about how they must have been the ideal clients for a builder because they couldn't hover over him and micromanage him.  However, she does say that they had a friend spy on the builder to make sure they weren't being ripped off.

I was impressed that she clearly laid out what was happening both inside and outside Biosphere 2 without getting into gossip or making you feel unclean by reading it.  She also did not go into personal detail much, which was nice.

I want to quote one paragraph, because I think it applies greatly to homeschooling moms.  "In Biosphere 2, we actively sought to reduce the filter our walls threw up. NASA later learned from astronauts living on the Russian Mir Space Station how important electronic communications are to those in isolation.  I find it hard to imagine how difficult it would have been to be completely sealed away from the rest of the world, like the crews of old ocean-crossing square riggers.  Not only did the encouragement from loved ones boost us; so did our ability to communicate with someone other than our seven fellow inmates.  These interactions reminded us that there was a whole big world outside.  If communication had been cut off, we would have become even more inward-looking, even less able to keep things in perspective."  Now imagine that your fellow inmates are all children, and you see why the computer has become a lifeline to many homeschooling moms!

If you have an older child, like 13 and up, who is interested in science, this would be a pretty good read.  It certainly gives lots of areas for research.  The book is also interesting from the perspective many homeschoolers have, that getting a degree in something is not the only way to learn about it.  Unfortunately, as the Biosphere project discovered, sometimes the "pedigree" is the only thing people are interested in.

A minor quibble with the book is the lack of good pictures.  There are a few, but they are tiny and black and white (isn't this 2006? why are they black and white?  I was wondering if there was some kind of restriction on photos or something).  There is one small diagram of the Biosphere.  But I discovered that if you go to her website, you can see the same pictures in color.

Biosphere 2 is no longer being used the way it was then.  There was only one more enclosure, which lasted 6 months.  Now it is up for sale, and the surrounding area is apparently going to be a housing development.  It's kind of sad in a way.