Doomsday Ark for Seeds
February 28, 2008
Posted by CindyC in : Opinions & Thoughts , trackback
Most of us are pretty familiar with the story of Noah’s Ark but on Tuesday, a “doomsday Ark” opened to protect food crop seeds. In the event of war, natural disasters or impacts of climate change, this Arctic Mountain vault (located in a remote region of Norway) will secure “biologic diversity for future generations,” according to the Norwegian Prime Minister.
Source: Global Crop Diversity Trust
This Svalbard Global Seed Vault can withstand natural disasters and even nuclear war. This vault is a backup to the 1,400 other seed banks around the world, some of which have been destroyed in floods or war. Countries can keep their seeds in the vault free of charge. Temperature in the vault is cooled to -0.4 degrees, which can preserve seeds for up to 1,000 years.
I guess it’s good that there’s a place to protect our food crops but it makes me sad to think we even need such a vault to ensure continued biodiversity.
CindyC at Organicpicks
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Comments»
Good point, Cindy. I’ve spent so much time just being fascinated by the concept and hopeful that it will work that it never dawned on me how horrible it is that we’ve gotten to a point that we need to seriously, seriously consider setting aside seeds to secure our species own survival.
My question- in the event of a disaster- ANY disaster- how does anyone KNOW where this vault is and how does the average person gain access? This has never been stated. Is it padlocked? Will someone need a hammer? Or a cutting torch? Or maybe we should just show up with a box of dynamite or a bulldozer or–maybe these seeds are for the rich only? After all the poor will all die, right?
Nice idea but do ya notice they never mentioned any of this?