BCI Session 3

Today I finally made it up to the pond. I was wearing proper shoes, so I was able to traverse the muddy terrain leading up to it.

Once there, I found a shady spot (the sun does not love on my ginger skin) and started my BCI session.

I had a much easier time keeping my eyes closed and focusing on my surroundings. Only once or twice did I find myself forgetting my discipline and looking around. One of those times was when a poor creature let out a squawk across the pond. It might have been captured or killed or something. Circle of life.

Once I opened my eyes, I began pondering the pond. The body of water is about ten feet above the surrounding terrain, and a small dam controls the flow of water into the stream that runs by the building where I work. I started to wonder where the water went— likely it fed into Olentangy River, which runs North through Columbus. But then I considered where the water was coming from. It seemed like a pretty steady flow over the dam, and it hasn’t rained that recently. Where else was the water coming from?

I also started considering the exchange of CO2 and O2 between the animals and the trees. The exchange results in a net loss of a carbon molecule, meaning we must get our excess carbon elsewhere.

The wind began to blow through the trees, which made me think that the trees make “fresh air” for us, but they probably need their own “fresh air.” Would trees suffocate if there was too much oxygen in the air and not enough carbon dioxide?

Similarly, would air inside a building get stagnant if there wasn’t enough access to the outside systems? How can we plug the synthetic ecosystem of an office environment into the large systems that are already taking place outside?

I considered the dam again. Fish need oxygen to breath. How does the oxygen get into the water? They don’t breath in the water, remove the oxygen, and expel the hydrogen. They breath the oxygen that has been mixed into the water. So I imagine water features like this little dam help to oxygenate the water so the fish can breath.

Could our homes and businesses use a oxygenating water feature? Would a tiny water fall help churn up the air in our synthetic ecosystem so that we’re getting a fresher supply? What if we also include plant life in our synthetic eco system? Would it even be helpful to bring the outside systems in, or would it be a wiser use of space and energy to allow the insides of our structures to “breath” with the rest of the world.

I also saw some pretty sweet dragon flies. Parts of their wings were transparent, making it look like it was sailing on tiny, DaVincian wings. How do dragonflies hover like that?