SOIL,
FOOD, & PEOPLE CONFERENCE
March 27-29, 2000
GROW BIOINTENSIVE conference on the U.C. Davis campus
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PRESENTATIONS
Biosphere II
Ed Glenn
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Ed Glenn is
a professor at the University of Arizona Environmental Research
Laboratory. He worked on the food-production system for Biosphere
II and is now working on the domestication of halophytes as
seawater crops for coastal deserts. He heads a project studying
ocean plant life in order to see what may happen to our own
oceans in the face of global climate change. |
Glenn was hired to be in charge of setting up
a food-growing system for Biosphere II, an experiment some years
back in which a group of people tried to create and live in a self-sustaining
system within an enclosed area. He learned about the work of Ecology
Action and hired Peter Donelan, an Ecology Action apprentice, to
teach them about GROW BIOINTENSIVE growing.
The GROW BIOINTENSIVE food-growing part of the
project worked well in tests before the Biosphere II program officially
began. However, the group later decided to add an unsustainable
amount of compost to the soil - a 10-year supply - causing the program
to fail during its second year. The compost was not thoroughly decomposed,
and Biosphere II filled up with carbon dioxide.
Glenn said that working with the group was
a most enjoyable experience. In addition, everything was recycled.
Discovering How to Grow More Vegetables by John Jeavons was an eye-opening experience
for him. It was very useful in the Biosphere II design and pilot
project work as well as work he has done since.
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Biosphereans
experiment with raising their own food. |
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A model for
their future "space home". |
[Note: Despite the Biosphere
II's challenges, the people in it, using techniques based in part
on those used by Ecology Action, were able to raise about 83% of
their low-calorie diet during a two-year period within a "closed
system" on approximately 2,957 square feet (274 square meters)
per person. This experience indirectly demonstrated that a complete
year's diet for just one person could be raised on the equivalent
of 3,562 square feet (330 square meters).]
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