by Katie K
With climate change and other forces threatening our planet and its diversity scientists in Norway have worked towards preserving what they call the “fundamental building blocks” of the planet. On February 26, on a remote island in the Arctic Circle, Norway’s Prime Minister cut the tape opening the doors to the world’s most promising and technologically advanced “time capsule.” The Svalbard Global Seed Vault contains 100 million different seeds from over 100 countries. These seeds are kept at the vault preserved on an island that is likely to be one of the least effected from global warming. The temperature of the vault is also regulated with the promise of preserving the seeds for over 2,000 years. Norway funded the seed vault project as a service to the world. There is a growing fear that we are quickly diminishing our biodiversity and that future generations will not have the luxuries in the food department that we do today. The loss of such diversity has a huge impact on our nutrition and ultimately, human survival. I think the idea behind the seed vault is ingenious. So frequently I’ve thought about what the human race would do in the wake of a significant natural disaster, global warming, or any of the other threa ts that Hollywood often poses to us. The opening of the vault and my thoughts led me to question the reality of such Hollywood portrayals. Obviously there is a different between fact and fiction and although this isn’t a traditional human biology issue, the issue of “doomsday” haunts us all. So what about movies like 28 Days Later, The Day After Tomorrow, and Doom Runners? How realistic are their threats? Is building something like the seed vault assumed to be a necessary commodity in our near future?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svalbard_Global_Seed_Vault
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/editorials/hc-vault.artmar04,0,4923728.story
