Biosphere 2

It wasn't as much fun as we had hoped.

The self-guided tour appeared easily on our phones; there were no headphones required.  Without a tour leader to monitor our progress, we were able to speed our way through the rain forest (damp and completely uncomfortable albeit gorgeously fecund) and walk as the project directors and professors and managers described what they were doing in each section.

What started out as a can humans survive in an enclosed space became less enclosed as the plants didn't give off enough oxygen to support human life.  Once additional oxygen was pumped in, the whole can humans survive in a can thing became moot.  

The facility has been owned by a series of institutions, most recently the University of Arizona.  There were a dozen or so stations where, with a push of a button,  a short lecture began.  Were I an interested middle schooler,, looking for a career path, it might have been fascinating.  As a grandmother with a 4 and 8 year old in tow, I sped through a lot of it.

Not that there weren't wonders. 

There was art. 

There were tree props.

There were anthracite/malachite boulders.

And there were lilacs.

I asked the lovely young lady at the cash register if there had been research about the psychological effects of living in the Biosphere.  She directed me to this book, whose sub-title tells it all..... 

Two Years and Twenty Minutes.........

Those were very long 20 minutes, I bet.