If the current pandemic, Covid-19, has taught us anything, it is that we are one tiny apocalyptic-level disaster away from humanity coming to serious harm. I mean, this virus has nothing on a Texas-sized asteroid that could hurtle toward Earth at any time and can only be stopped by a rag-tag group of oil drilling rough-necks and since Bruce Willis only plays a superhero in movies we’re pretty much screwed. So, let’s do everything we can to protect our environment and to preserve the bounties of nature while we still can.
The good people of Norway are doing their part. They have built a large self-sustaining fortress surrounded by natural barriers to keep a backup copy of as many seeds as possible. Seeds of course are the foundation of modern agriculture, and have been, well, since the dawn of agriculture10,000 years. Agriculture depends on crop diversity and that translates into seed diversity. It is no exaggeration to say the survival of humankind depends on seeds. In the event a natural or man-made disaster strikes, we can restart agriculture with the contents of this “doomsday vault.” Surprisingly enough, even though we have over a million seed varieties, the bulk of the global diet comes from just a few seeds; rice, corn, and wheat. When more than 50% of our diet comes from just a few seeds it becomes easier to see why preserving our food chain is so important and delicate.
One of the most likely scenarios that would cause such a devastating global disaster is climate change. Shifts in weather patterns, warming temperatures, the melting of polar ice caps, and changes to the ozone layer are just a few examples. As if Mother Nature wanted to prove a point, this seemingly impenetrable fortress buried under permafrost was almost flooded in 2017 due to global warming. While water only reached the entryway, it was a stark reminder that when we put our environment last, everything is in jeopardy. After millions of dollars worth of upgrades, the vault is once again secure. It can protect seeds for up to 1,000 years even in the event of global disaster. This is why many people refer to the Svalbard vault as the “Doomsday Vault.”
Today
the Svalbard Seed Vault boasts over 1 million seeds after a recent deposit of
over 60,000 varieties from all over the world. Even the Cherokee Nation made a
deposit of some precious seeds that predate European colonization. The project
has been hailed as one of the 50 most influential in the world. Seeds do
deteriorate over time so a dedicated staff spends time testing and replacing
older seeds as needed, as well as monitoring the building itself to prevent any
future weather interventions or failures of the vault. The Svalbard Seed Vault
is one of many loss prevention projects around the world, but it is perhaps the
most important and the best known. Carl
Kruse, a blogger who writes on nonprofits and scientific projects, recently
wrote an update on the goings-on at Svalbard.
You can reach Carl’s article here:
Carl Kruse Writes About Svalbard.
