65 Life on the Edge Extreme Homes

CHAPTER 1 Unlikely Homes SEE WHAT LIFE IS LIKE IN THESE UNLIKELY HOMES. Describe your perfect home. Would it be comfortable, with lots of space? Would you like a yard or maybe a garden? Maybe you would like theaters or a library nearby. Or would you like something more extreme? If so, why not move to Scott Base? Scott Base has thirty bedrooms, modern bathrooms, and its own professional cook! There's a room with comfortable chairs for relaxing, reading books, or watching videos. If you prefer to be outside, Scott Base has a lot to offer, too. There is a field for skiing, and even a golf course for the summer months. There is one small problem: Scott Base is in Antarctica. If you want to play golf there, you should bring a jacket, or two, or three. Summer temperatures at Scott Base almost never climb above 0C. The golf balls they use are pink, so they can be found easily in the ice and snow.

Scott Base is a research center for scientists studying things like Antarctica, wildlife, and climate change. There are many research bases in Antarctica. Some, like Belgium's modern Princess Elisabeth Station, are only open during Antarctica's summer months, November to February. Others, like New Zealand's Scott Base, are open all year. In Antarctica, winter temperatures drop very low. Between the months of March and October, the average temperature for Scott Base is around -30C. (That's cold, but it's not the coldest temperature ever measured on Earth. That was —89.2C at Russia's Vostok Station in 1983.) The cold isn't the only problem. Winter brings 24-hour darkness to Antarctica. For people staying through the winter at Scott Base, the last sunshine they see is in April. They don't see the sun again until late August. Of course, summers in the Antarctic have the opposite problem: 24-hour sunlight. Both extremes can make it difficult for the people who live there to work and sleep.

Many kinds of workers, including researchers, electricians, mechanics, and cooks, live at Scott Base, Most workers live there for either six or thirteen months. However, if you have special training and you enjoy the cold and dark, perhaps there's an even more extreme place for you to live. Why not try the International Space Station? The International Space Station (ISS) is 350 kilometers above the Earth and traveling at 28,000 kilometers per hour. Because the ISS is traveling so fast, it takes two days to get there. A spaceship must match its speed before it can connect with the station. There are always six people living at the ISS, though most visitors stay less than six months. Each person is given a closet-sized bedroom, but the bedrooms have no beds. Beds are useless in zero gravity. Showers are useless, too. Most people in the station clean themselves with wet towels.

The ISS has an area for cooking and lots of food for its residents. However, eating can be a problem. On Earth, we use gravity to help us swallow food. In space, swallowing is more difficult. Many people say it is a lot like eating while lying down. If you do plan on visiting the ISS, be prepared to be very busy. There are jobs to do almost every hour of the day, including two hours of exercising. People in zero gravity must work hard at staying fit. Otherwise, their return to Earth's gravity could be too hard on their body. Sometimes, when people return from the ISS, they must be carried away on stretchers because they are too weak to walk.

CHAPTER 2 Dangerous Homes WOULD YOU LIVE AT A PLACE CALLED "FIRE MOUNTAIN"? THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE IN INDONESIA DO. Scott Base and the ISS are temporary homes. People who choose to live in those extreme places know they will stay there for only a few months. But around the world there are permanent homes that are more extreme, and more dangerous. People have lived in many of these places for thousands of years. One such place is Indonesia's Mount Merapi, also known as "Fire Mountain." Mount Merapi is in the center of the island of Java, one of the world's most densely populated islands. The 2,911-meter tall mountain is an active volcano, extremely active. It erupts regularly, every five to ten years, and that makes it a very dangerous home.

A group of eruptions in October and November of 2010 covered the area in a cloud of hot ash. People driving cars 250 kilometers from the volcano had to turn on their lights because of the darkness caused by the ash cloud. Near Mount Merapi, over 300 people were killed and over 100,000 had to get away fast. Most left with just the clothes they were wearing and had to live in tents or other temporary shelters. Even with its history of eruptions, many people still choose to live near Mount Merapi. One reason is the dense population on Java around 1,000 people for every square kilometer. With so little space, some people must live in places others feel are too dangerous. Another reason is farming. The rich land around Mount Merapi is perfect for farmers to grow many types of plants.