EFTA00601918.pdf

Frontlines SCIENCEBUSINESSNATURETECHNOLOGYCULTUREPOLITICS I WINTER 2008 Peace in Annual per capita water consumption in the United States: 660,430 gallons. In China• 184,920 gallons The Garden UST FALL IN THE GERMAN EARTHY SECRETS Now night BA city of Kassel, a group of battens b.&Wetted about 15 women harvested by global warming') a bumper crop of pumpkins, squash, and wine grapes from a small community gar- den. Nothing unusual there. perhaps—except that the women were from Morocco. Afghanistan, Somalia. arid the former Yugoslavia. The -intercultural garden" in Kassel is one of about 100 in Germany, but the only one run entirety by women. lAnd alter the gardeners had long discussions about the haz- ards of pesticides, its produce will be totally organic.) The gardens began in 1995, after a group of Bosnian women in Gottingen, waiting out the Balkan conflict, told social workers how much they missed the famous plum and apple orchards of Bosnia's Drina Valley. There has been adversity BIOLOGISTS DIG DEEPER along the way. A garden in Berlin had to be placed under Canada's new Biotron superlab contains miniature chunks of the natural world that police protection alter it was will help us predict the impact of climate change on living organisms targeted by neo-Nazi protest- ers In Cologne the gates of another garden have been BY LINDSAY BORTHWICK destroyed three times. And it isn't always easy to coax tra- GROUP OF PLANT SCIENTISTS GATHERED IN VIENNA IN 2005 AT THE ditional crops such as Afghan httenvitional Botanical Congress. The meetingwaspretty much whatyou would mint. coriander, and Iranian expect until its conclusion, when the congress declared: "As a matter of urgency, leeks from the mineral-rich facilities for controlled, ecosystem-scale experiments are required now." Walt- German soil. Yet the gardens out a better toolbox to study how the natural world responds to global climate thrive. Says Behoumi, a change. "sustained human habitability of Earth" would be at risk. 31-year-old from Morocco, Fortunately, just such ii toolbox was already being designed by Norman 'Without the beauty of the Winer, a Canadian biochemist and plant biologist. Honer had begun work or. his Biotron Institute for garden I could not survive.' Experimental Climate Change Research in 1999 In early 2008 it wit open its doors, the first facility in the —ANOELA BOSKOVICH WINTER 2002 unearth 13 EFTA00601918 EFTA00601919 researchers tested in two sepa- use aces sectionsolAnxic penna- RONTLINES rate 'missions whether humans frost transported from northern could live sustainably in a sealed. Canada, so researchers can study self-contained environment as how it reacts to rising tempera- a precursor to colonizing outer tures: As the permafrost thaws, world that will allow researchers space. The Biotron, scientifically how much methane gas will be to recreate and study how a com- speaking, is in a different league. released? How will bacteria and plete ecosystem, such as Arctic The superlaboratory is a overwintering insects be affected tundra or boreal forest, responds joint project of the University of by changing freeze-thaw cycles? to climate change. The Biotron, Western Ontario, the University Scientists will design and study Nihon/ Hither says. is 'as close as you of Guelph, Ontario, and Agricul- more temperate ecosystems, can get to nature lin a labl." ture and Agri-Food Canada, a as well, to learn how changes Far From The Biotron will help integrate federal agency. The nondescript in temperature and CO, affect biology into the scientific study of five-story building, located in the the growth of photosynthetic Nirvana global warming. Existing climate agricultural heartland of south- organisms, including crops and NEW YORKCITYSANITABHA change models, says Miner, are western Ontario, is 211 engineer- boreal forest. Buddhists are full of good more about physics than biology; ing marvel, yet a bargain at just &CODY' researches MI] also be intentions. Last stammer moreover, they descriie changes U.S $2S maim able to study the benefits and risks members of the group bought that are happening to the planet Inside are state-of-thean fa. of biotechnology in agriculture, hundreds of eels, frogs, and rather than to particular habitats, Waits that support research into forestry, and medicine by examin- turtles from the citys China- specks, or individuals. Scientists microorganisms, insects, and ing the basic biology of geneticaly town markets and released haven't been able to create pre- plants, all of which can be geneti- modified organisms What is the them into New Jersey's Pas- dictive models, for example, cally modified to suit research- rate of gene transfer from trans- saic River to save them from of how changes in rainfall and en' needs. Temperature in the genic plants to wild ones? Can the dinner table. The problem: plants be to manufac- the states Department of ture medicinal compounds that Environmental Protection has Researchers will vie for access to will benefit humans? strict rules for the release of the Biotron much as physicists compete The Biotron will be equipped animals into its watersheds. to use the world's few particle with a sophisticated imaging and and the group now faces fines analysis system—avirtual control for illegally introducing iriVa- accelerators or astronomers the latest and room—that ail expand its reach sive species. To make matters biggest optical telescopes globally, allowing researchers worse, the animals may not anywhere to manage and moni- survive. —ADAM SPANGLER tor experiments remotely over temperature will affect soybean Biotron's climate chambers can the Internet in real time. A scien- yields in the U.S. grain belt or be varied from -40 degrees Fahr- tist in India studying the impact They Didn't butterflies in the Amazon basin, enheit to 122 dtprCS, to simulate of climate change on rice could because, with a few exceptions, anything boat the Arctic winter to instruct the Biotron to raise the Mean That they haven't had the tools to a tropical rainforest On the maid temperature or COI concentra- GE OUR FALL 2007650E. measure the impact of climate thebuidiag siebioniesa—air- tion in a biome set up to simulate Howard Frumkin of the S change on living organisms locksd. greathousehice stuchres a South Asian rice paddy.Then he Centers for Disease Control Now there's a place where that have been custom designed or she could monitor the impact warned that global warming 8 whole ecosystans can be scrupu- toprecisely control environmental of this change through images was "perhaps the largest a lously recreated and organisms factors such as temperature, UV and other data autocratically col- looming public health chal- scrutinized, from their DNA to radiation, light intensity. wait pre- lected and stored in a supercom lenge that we face.' On et j their interaction with other organ- cipitation,and COs.Each biome is puling network. October 23, Prumkirls isms. With more complete data. large enough to house trees nay Remembers will vie for access boss. CDC director Julie scientists will be able to make than 30 feet tall and to allow for to the Biotron in much the same Gerberding, testified about 8 8 better predictions—and their ex. the recreation of complex biologi- way that physicists compete to climate change to the Sen- perimennl findings could better cal communities that can extend use the world's few particle aced- ate Environment and Public inform policy makers, who might from the highest tree canopies to erators or astronomers the latest Works Committee. By the I for example, provide subsidies for underground soil layers. and biggest optical telescopes. time Bush administration crops that respond well to emerg- If the possibilities seem end- like them. it is a place for frontier officials were done review- ll ing climate patterns. less, they nearly are. The plan is science. where old models aJ fal ing her 12-page draft, it had The Biotron may call to mind for the worlesleadilg scientists to and new and unexpected ones will been stashed to six. Among Biosphere 2. the large artificial rotate in and out of the lab space, arise—except that the goal is not the statements cut: -The COC K habitat plopped down 20 years and the biomes will be regularly to understand our cosmic origins considers climate change a p ago in the Arizona desert. where reconfigured. One such setup will but to influence our destiny. serious public concern. Through personal care products, the average American child is exposed to 27 chemicals daily that have not been proven safe ;,“1 •3=tuw,,,4, 7kivrimaysir”sweammzetsn"...misx „x.; 14 onearth WINTER 2008 .