Carolyn N. Kinder
The daily lives of the biospherians will be a little different from their lives in Biosphere 1. The doctors will be monitoring their ache, their every stumble and their every calorie of food. Reporters will be watching for every puzzle or problem that may signal a crisis. They will even have video cameras installed around the wilderness biomes and the agricultural biome that can be turned on and off by Mission Control.
One modern convenience that will be left behind is toilet paper. The waste disposal system will not be able to handle the problems of decomposing the quantity of toilet paper that eight people will produce. They simply wash off in the traditional European style. Showers are available; they’ll have to use less water than they may have been accustomed to. The ration of water per person per day has been worked out.
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Wastewater from showers, sinks, laundry tubs, and toilets flows into the gravel of the first of three tanks, where microbial and filtering action breaks down solids. The water then flows into the second tank where plants and microbes work together to break waste down further and use them up as nutrients. In the third tank, more pond than marsh, the water receives a final level of biologic treatment before it is pumped into a utility water tank where it is stored and later used to irrigate agricultural crops.
All residents are expected to put a couple of hours of work into some part of the agricultural area every morning. They must also monitor a mechanical system on the scale of the innards of a cruiser. Observations will be made in the wilderness biomes every day as well. Observation in the wilderness will tell them when it should rain and when to lower the temperature. Observations will also help let them know when to alter the tides. The biospherians have to make sure the pH of the ocean, the marshes, and the stream stays within acceptable ranges to avoid any inadvertent, unnecessary extinction. The hummingbird feeders must be replenished regularly, as well as supplemental food processed and made available to other inhabitants of the wilderness biomes, such as the galagos, until it is certain that the system has reached adequate production rates.
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The daily cycle of activities is not simply a sequence of chores; it is a way for the biospherians to manage themselves. Everyone is engaged in the care of both the habitat and the agriculture, as well as the Biosphere as a whole.
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