I have just caught an Open University (UK) programme about the experiments of Biosphere 2, a massive atmospherically-controlled closed system in California for the study of ecology. The carbon dioxide concentration soared 10 times. The humans decided they had to stabilise the system by sacrificing the desserts, watering them, and creating much more biomass to absorb the CO2. This was at a time when there was a debate about the management of the atmosphere on the earth. It was suggested and will presumably be suggested again, that the rise in CO2 is so inexorable that massive biosphere engineering will be necessary of the order of magnitude of irrigating the Saharah. Of course capitalism would be willing to tender for such projects but only if the finances and the ability to accumulate surplus value is ensured by some sort of global government. Is this fanciful? I think not. A further detail of the Biosphere 2 experiment of the early 1990's was that if anything the CO2 did not rise as much as was expected relative to the fall in oxygen. In fact it was the fall in oxygen that became so marked (down to 14%) that for the sake of the humans the protocol had to be broken and oxygen was pumped in to boost them in oxygen saturation chambers. So where did the CO2 go? It went, and this is ominous, into concrete. The original designers of the experiment had started the soil off with enough organic matter to last 100 years as fertilizer. This was paradise for soil bacteria which produced massive amounts of CO2. But they also had laid down very large areas of concrete as the base. Concrete, containing calcium hydroxide, converts gradually to calcium carbonate with the absorption of carbon dioxide. Now the laying down of concrete is what is happening massively in the world now as people flock off the land into giant conurbations. In ecological terms this is already equivalent to rebuilding the White Cliffs of Dover. What this means is that the rising levels of CO2 in the world now, are occuring *despite* massive urbanised building. This merely delays the decade when humanity will have to sacrifice the desserts to soak up more carbon dioxide. We are already on an escalator requiring more and more active socially responsible involvement in the environment just to keep some stability. Otherwise, less technically than the humans sealed into Biosphere 2, we will die out as a species. Chris Burford London _______________________________________________ CrashList website: http://website.lineone.net/~resource_base
