Biosphere project opens to public

Tuesday, Nov. 26, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

Starting today, visitors will be able to look around the 3-acre complex at its rain forest, ocean, savannah and desert and the complex that once housed Biosphere crew members.

It's all part of Columbia University's educational mission for the sealed glass- and steel-domed structure, which vice provost Michael Crow said Monday he envisions as an international Earth ecology center.

Under Columbia, which took over operation of the $200 million facility Jan. 1, Biosphere 2 will concentrate on researching the Earth's environmental and climatic changes in hopes of learning how to manage the planet better.

Columbia on Monday officially opened the Biosphere's Human Habitat and a hands-on, interactive exhibit on climate change and life on Earth. Developed by the American Museum of Natural History and the Environmental Defense Fund, the exhibit toured the country for several years, but will be based here permanently.

The area where the exhibit is originally housed livestock for Biosphere 2's first mission, which began in September 1991. Eight people lived inside for the next two years, raising their own food and recycling their air, water and wastes. People no longer live inside the complex.

Seeing inside Biosphere 2 Monday was a thrill for about 70 seventh-grade students from Tucson's Pistor Middle School.

The children eagerly hovered around computers and models showing the effect of greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane, and played with a globe that warms to the touch.

"I think it's really cool," student Amanda Robinson said. "To be the first people in, it's really an honor." She said she was impressed with the global impact of the project. "I think it would be interesting to do something like this that would affect everyone."

"I think it's pretty neat how they were able to live and survive for two years," said 12-year-old Steve Toy, who said he had taken earlier tours, which restricted visitors to the outside.

Crow said other ecological centers might develop around Biosphere 2, focusing on issues such as ecosystems management and water. He also contrasted the wide scope of weapons research with that devoted to the planet's environmental future.

Edward P. Bass, the Fort Worth, Texas, billionaire who financed and owns the project, said he thinks it is "well on course. I don't know what to expect, but I hope an awful lot."