j e s r u s h . c o m

Time has a fascinating article about Svalbard — the subterranean “seed vault” located in Norway, which is trying to collect and save at least one sample of every plant seed in the world:

Svalbard is the ultimate backup — or as Fowler calls it, the “Noah’s ark of seeds.” The vault was built on the far northern Norwegian island of Longyearbyen, where the Arctic cold helps keeps the seeds viable, in case the electricity that powers the vault’s cold storage should ever go. (Seeds can remain dormant but alive for centuries if they’re kept cool and dry.) The location isn’t an accident — should something truly horrific happen, from extreme climate change to nuclear war, remote Svalbard should remain protected, capable of rebooting global agriculture. “This is an insurance policy we know we need,” says Fowler.

Too cool!

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