Spaceship Earth

Deep in the Arizona desert, there’s an enormous glass terrarium where a miniature replica of Earth’s ecosystem lives called Biosphere 2. Its conception began at a countercultural commune, where an innovative group of artists, adventurers, and ecologists, forged an alliance with a Texas oil scion to create Biosphere 2 as a pilot for Mars colonization. They also hoped that their project would be a model for sustainable living on Earth — also known as Biosphere 1.

In 1991 their spectacular project became a media sensation, when eight “biospherians” went to live hermetically sealed under the glass dome for two years. However, shortly after their mission began, the biospherians contended with ecological calamities — from food shortages to oxygen deprivation — and quickly the media’s fanfare turned to scorn. Cult accusations surfaced about the project’s management, and Biosphere 2 was labeled science fiction, instead of credible science.

Despite these tribulations, the biospherians completed their mission, coalescing to cooperatively manage their impact on a model environment. That is until their miniature world was taken over. This is an epic story, spanning half a century, about the forces that threaten our planet, but also the power of small groups to literally reimagine the world.

_“Made up of archival footage, present-day interviews, and news clips, it’s a strange, fascinating, and eerie film to watch while we’re all in quarantine, and while climate change ravages the earth.” _— Hannah Lynn, Pittsburgh City Paper