116 / SEEDWORLD.COM DECEMBER 2018 ON OCT. 23, 2018, British Columbia’s “whimsical scientist” Kurtis Baute stepped inside a 10x10x10-foot homemade greenhouse filled with plants that he erected in his brother Greg’s yard. His intention was to, in his own words, make a “crash course video series on YouTube about the air and how we inter- act with it and how our interactions affect the environment.” Here’s a step-by-step guide to Baute’s experiment and what it tells us about the important work plants do, and the important effect we humans have in contributing to climate change. WHY KURTIS BAUTE SEALED HIMSELF IN A GREENHOUSE To spark conversion about climate change, this B.C.-based “whimsical scientist” lived in a jar for 14 hours. Here’s how he did it and what he learned. Marc Zienkiewicz mzienkiewicz@issuesink.com 1. Baute creates his jar, nine square feet in size, using a wooden frame and one continuous sheet of plastic sealed with duct tape and silicone. He fills the biodome with 200 plants (including corn, sunflowers and a cactus) and about 80 liters of water. At midnight on Oct. 23, he steps inside, seals himself in and begins the experiment. He live-tweets using the hashtag #KurtisInAJar to keep the world updated on his progress. The world is definitely interested — Baute’s experiment makes it onto CNN, the BBC and beyond. 2. Carbon dioxide levels begin to increase soon after he enters. He knows he won’t make it three days inside the jar but is confident the plants will begin to use up the excess CO2 and create fresh oxygen, allowing him to stay inside longer. The air we breathe is only about 21 percent oxygen. The rest is nitrogen and other assorted gases including CO2 (which itself only makes up about 0.04 percent of the air we breathe). While in his jar, Baute tweets “#ClimateChange is real, we’re causing it, and it’s a real big deal. Scientists are at a consensus on this. But seriously, how many people know enough about the air we breathe to fully appreciate what’s going on?” 3.