Life Beyond Earth?

Our Planet May Be More Impressive Than You Think

Imagine for a moment that you have been selected for a colonization project on another planet. Straws were drawn, and you are now (willingly or unwillingly) part of a “privileged group” of people hurtling through space toward your new home. An unlikely scenario, for sure, but it is one that raises some valid and important questions. What would it take to set up a survivable, sustainable ecosystem on an otherwise barren space rock?

Let’s go a little further. Upon arrival at the new settlement, you are relieved to see that the team of scientists is just putting the finishing touches on the colony’s huge, manufactured Earth-Dome, where conditions on Earth are closely replicated. Your new home, workspace, and every other aspect of life are in that complex. “Glad they know what they’re doing,” you think to yourself.

After settling in to your room and getting a good night’s sleep, you start the next morning wide awake and ready to acquaint yourself with your new surroundings. As you step out into the great indoor-version-of-the-outdoors, you are immediately struck with a sense of awe for the amazing diversity of animal and plant life all around. If it weren’t for all the Dome’s metal frame working and such, one could easily forget they were even on another planet. You smile; “I could get used to this!”

“I’m glad to hear that!” Surprised by the voice, you turn around to see one of the scientists that had been working on the project the day before. Following some short introductory conversation, he asks if you would like a tour of the grounds. He didn’t have to ask twice! Walking around such a grand place with one of its creators would be the experience of a lifetime, and you want to soak up everything you can.

Beyond the obvious trees, shrubs, birds, and beasts is an equally rich and intriguing world. The soil itself, he explains, was difficult for his team to get just right, as Earth soils are an incredible mixture of materials and nutrients that are further teeming with microbial life. As your scientist friend details the constantly cycling systems they constructed for things like water, temperature, and sanitation, a certain word begins to circulate in your mind: balance. The whole ecosystem is linked together like an intricate web, only much more intricate than that of any garden spider.

This balanced web is multi-dimensional and took an enormous amount of intelligence and planning. And interwoven into all of this is your own life.

The day passed quickly, and after just a few weeks you felt quite comfortable in your little paradise under the Dome. However, over the course of several years, you began to notice a lack of energy; was it a shortness of breath? A furrow of concern slowly and permanently became etched on your scientist friend’s brow. The melodies of various songbirds became rarer and rarer, and the morning time buzz of bees around the fruit trees finally gave way to an unnerving quietness. Not silence, just quietness, as many animals continued with their daily lives among the typical sounds of wind and water.

Concerned, you made your way toward the scientists’ quarters. What better source to alleviate your fears than the creators of this system themselves? Unfortunately, one look at your friend’s face says it all: the colony is failing. “I thought we had it just right,” he kept saying to himself. You hope people from Earth send help soon.

Although this sad scenario isn’t all that likely to begin with, the basic idea is actually not too far off from what happened with Biosphere 2. This Arizona-based, closed-system project in the ‘90s was designed at least partly with future other-planet colonies in mind. Filled with a variety of environments and living things (including eight people), the project failed to reach its two year mark before major problems and grand extinctions arose, largely related to imbalanced microbial life (i.e. bacteria).¹

How much better is our Creator’s design for the real biosphere! He has designed it with such care, forethought, and precision, that it is still working 6,000 years later. Even further, He has constructed it to restabilize itself after catastrophes and human mismanagement. Although marred by sin, His creation continues to show His handiwork, wisdom, and glory. The highly complex systems of life on Earth are wondrously balanced, and they showcase an intelligence far greater than what we can comprehend. As the scriptures say in Isaiah 45:18, our God has truly “formed it to be inhabited.”