If there ever is an apocalypse then we are all saved

tagwex

Svalbard Global Seed Vault, Norway
Imagine a world forever changed by a massive natural disaster: Earth’s population ravaged, its infrastructure devastated, its food sources decimated. A lone survivor’s mission: to rebuild.
In such a Hollywood-inspired apocalyptic scenario, where does a hero go? Enter the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, humanity’s last stand against a global food crisis.

Located 120m inside a sandstone mountain on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen in the remote Arctic Svalbard archipelago, 1,300km from the North Pole, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the most highly secured, robustly guarded seed bank in the world.

Opened in February 2008, the vault guards Earth’s crops against global catastrophe. With 250 million crop seeds from around the world packaged in special four-ply packets and heat-sealed to guard against moisture, it provides samples of seeds that may be lost due to accident, equipment failures, funding cuts and natural disasters.

There’s a reason scientists chose Spitsbergen: the island isn’t rocked by tectonic activity, has preservation-boosting permafrost and is 130m above sea level, ensuring the site will remain dry – and the seeds safe – even if global warming causes ice caps to melt. So secure is Spitsbergen, in fact, that studies project seeds could survive there for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
But, said Nargis Ansari, “unless you’re a designated researcher or plant breeder you’re not allowed inside the vault.”

Blowin · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 6:34 am Post subject:

Probably not as secure, there's one in Ardingly (Sussex) that's pretty big.

Would 'natural disaster' include you moving to Donegal?

Greengage · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 7:27 am Post subject:

You should see the security in Dingle for Star Wars. Laughing

tagwex · Posted: Fri Mar 04, 2016 9:38 am Post subject:

Ado 2 · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 2:10 pm Post subject:

Tut tut ! !

tagwex · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:24 pm Post subject:

It's true and you know it!

Ado 2 · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 8:25 pm Post subject:

Happy Mothers Day to me ! !

Good guy · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:15 pm Post subject:

And to all of them, everywhere.

Ado 2 · Posted: Sun Mar 06, 2016 9:24 pm Post subject:

Cheers !

tagwex · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 11:07 am Post subject:

My thread has been hijacked........... Adoooooooo

Sue Deacon · Posted: Mon Mar 07, 2016 11:32 pm Post subject:

Seed banks are all well and good - providing the seeds stay viable. But no matter how secure the seeds are, if the soil is contaminated or just washed away, all the seed saving in the world is not, if you'll excuse the pun, going to amount to a hill of beans.

Perhaps it is the soil we should be saving?

tagwex · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 12:53 am Post subject:

If you're stuck for a decent bit of soil I could send up a lorry load to replace your bog.

Sue Deacon · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 9:04 am Post subject:

Well, I wasn't referring to my garden - it hasn't yet been washed away - I was thinking globally. But since you offer......... I would never say no to a bit of mineral rich top soil. It is one of the few things I miss about Staffordshire, that lovely, rich sandy loam that made up my old garden. Hey Ho, can't have everything. Here we have the river Erne and Atlantic Ocean, there we had the Trent and Trentham lake. As Dr. McCoy would say 'it's water Jim, but not as we know it'. Laughing

Good guy · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:14 am Post subject:

I think we could also apply Dr McCoy's comment to soil!
So much agricultural soil is becoming degraded by the constant use of artificial fertilisers, pesticides that destroy the soil fauna and the failure to replace humus-making material. I saw a farmer recently, on EcoEye, talking about being 'a slave to the fertiliser bag' - and for what? Modern intensive agriculture is unsustainable, in the long run.

Sue Deacon · Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2016 10:38 am Post subject:

GG see my post, Food for thought, the link is all about that and, on a more positive side, the difference us 'backyard farmers' and Gardener's can make.

It beggers belief that farmers have to save all the cow poo in a (very dangerous) tank and then every so often dump it, as they do around here, on one field or the bog. Instead of providing much needed nutrient to the soil, it just poisons one field and runs off straight into the rivers Shocked

What are we doing?

We know more about outer space than we do about the soil under our feet. Unless we get that right, there is no point saving seeds. Tagwex, that IS the global catastrophe you talk about.