Strange Country Ep. 230: Biosphere 2

Could we actually replicate the biomes of Earth on other planets? In September 1991, eight intrepid explorers entered Biosphere 2 in the Arizona desert to spend two years seeing if humans could sustain life in the same way biosphere 1, the Earth, does. And it wasn't so great, unless you're heavily into mites, cockroaches, Steve Bannon and pot-bellied pigs. Strange Country cohosts Beth and Kelly discuss this failed experiment and why it might more sense to fix this planet than try to ruin other ones. Theme music: Big White Lie by A Cast of Thousands Cite your sources: Bruck, C. (2017, May 1). How Hollywood remembers Steve Bannon. The New Yorker. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/05/01/how-hollywood-remembers-steve-bannon Cooper, M. (1991, April 2). Take this terrarium and shove it. Village Voice. http://www.science-bbs.com/184-skeptic/fde8be2039817870.htm Dewdney, A. Kee. Yes, We Have No Neutrons: An Eye-opening Tour through the Twists and Turns of Bad Science. New York City, Wiley, 1997. Reider, Rebecca. Dreaming the Biosphere: The Theater of All Possibilities, Albuquerque, U of  New Mexico  P, 2010 Report Urges Biosphere 2 to Spend More Time on Science to Succeed. (1992, July 26). New York Times. https://link-gale-cay.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A174904647/STND?u=nysl_sc_ahs&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=f39c5a28. Rose, Steve. "Eight go mad in Arizona: How a lockdown experiment went horribly wrong." Guardian. The Guardian, www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/13/spaceship-earth-arizona-biosphere-2-lockdown. Accessed 13 June 2022. Science beyond reproach. (2001, September 26). Arizona Daily Star [Tucson, AZ], B1. https://link.gale.com/apps/doc/A80229662/STND?u=nysl_sc_flls&sid=bookmark-STND&xid=276e0926 Spaceship Earth, directed by Matt Wolf, Neon, 2020. Stern, E. (1996, May 30) Project had a 'secret' cult. Tucson Citizen. http://tucsoncitizen.com/morgue2/1996/05/30/113-project-had-secret-cult/ Wylie, I. (2001, May 5). Play your part in the Big Brother house: Win four months at the Biosphere 2 project. Guardian [London, England], 8. https://link-gale-cay.orc.scoolaid.net/apps/doc/A74296697/AONE?u=nysl_sc_ahs&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=453bcf7a Zimmer, Carl. "The Lost History of One of the World's Strangest Science Experiment." The New York Times, 29 Mar. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/sunday-review/biosphere-2-climate-change.html. Accessed 13 June 2022.