every single person I tell that I’m a
marine biologist in Tucson laughs at me
and says why is a marine biologist in
the desert and I really then explained
to them well I live in a desert but it’s
not far from the ocean and it’s actually
connected to the ocean so I wanted a way
to tell that story generally to people
who come here from all over the world
and think they’re just in a desert
that’s so far from the ocean but they’re
actually really connected to the ocean
even as they stand in biosphere to
biosphere was built and constructed in
1991 it was the first of its kind to
every built the University of Arizona
taking over management in July of 2007
the notion was is to really think
outside the box and how we could use
biosphere if you want to think of it
biosphere really is an Earth Science
Laboratory our ocean originally it was
designed after a Caribbean reef
environment which meant that the
temperature that the water was
maintained at was a relatively narrow
band that means that you have to use
quite a bit of energy and not let the
temperature drop below your minimum or
get above your maximum and by doing so
oftentimes you use quite a bit of energy
the ocean is the most expensive biome to
maintain and in fact when when we took
it over there was a serious conversation
as to whether we should just empty it
out but we were still having those sorts
of conversations when Rafe showed up
when it was a coral reef you actually
had to keep it in a very narrow range of
temperature and that causes a lot of
cost and energy expenditure in terms of
heating and cooling to really control
the temperature in a narrow range and
that coral reef is basically dead now
and so what we have now is a huge ocean
environment with very little life in it
and we saw it as an ideal opportunity to
showcase a regionally appropriate ocean
system which is the Gulf of California
in order to show our visitors and
conduct research on the connections
between the desert and the ocean and
what I love and what inspires me is that
this is all happening within the
biosphere 2 which is one of the best
living examples we have of big visions
and practical application coming
together for a long time there has
really never been that scale of science
dedicated to the earth sciences so now
we have an opportunity with the ocean
project in particular to really think
about it as a tool is you know how do
you build an ecological system
rave has already created the vision that
we can educate people about the
importance of the Sea of Cortez to to
the desert that we live in
actually the desert that we have now
would not exist if we didn’t have that
ocean next to us
marine biologist in Tucson laughs at me
and says why is a marine biologist in
the desert and I really then explained
to them well I live in a desert but it’s
not far from the ocean and it’s actually
connected to the ocean so I wanted a way
to tell that story generally to people
who come here from all over the world
and think they’re just in a desert
that’s so far from the ocean but they’re
actually really connected to the ocean
even as they stand in biosphere to
biosphere was built and constructed in
1991 it was the first of its kind to
every built the University of Arizona
taking over management in July of 2007
the notion was is to really think
outside the box and how we could use
biosphere if you want to think of it
biosphere really is an Earth Science
Laboratory our ocean originally it was
designed after a Caribbean reef
environment which meant that the
temperature that the water was
maintained at was a relatively narrow
band that means that you have to use
quite a bit of energy and not let the
temperature drop below your minimum or
get above your maximum and by doing so
oftentimes you use quite a bit of energy
the ocean is the most expensive biome to
maintain and in fact when when we took
it over there was a serious conversation
as to whether we should just empty it
out but we were still having those sorts
of conversations when Rafe showed up
when it was a coral reef you actually
had to keep it in a very narrow range of
temperature and that causes a lot of
cost and energy expenditure in terms of
heating and cooling to really control
the temperature in a narrow range and
that coral reef is basically dead now
and so what we have now is a huge ocean
environment with very little life in it
and we saw it as an ideal opportunity to
showcase a regionally appropriate ocean
system which is the Gulf of California
in order to show our visitors and
conduct research on the connections
between the desert and the ocean and
what I love and what inspires me is that
this is all happening within the
biosphere 2 which is one of the best
living examples we have of big visions
and practical application coming
together for a long time there has
really never been that scale of science
dedicated to the earth sciences so now
we have an opportunity with the ocean
project in particular to really think
about it as a tool is you know how do
you build an ecological system
rave has already created the vision that
we can educate people about the
importance of the Sea of Cortez to to
the desert that we live in
actually the desert that we have now
would not exist if we didn’t have that
ocean next to us
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