Posting topic and quotes from the following source:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/03/20/60minutes/main3954557.shtml

I just finished watching the CBS news show “60 Minutes” and they talked about how scientists around the world have been working together to gather more than 1.5 billion seeds and saving them in an underground vault on one of the Svalbard islands off the coast of Norway.

Here’s an excerpt from the article on the 60 Minutes website: “Officially, the seed bank is the ‘Svalbard Global Seed Vault.’ It’s built to warehouse backup copies of all the world’s crops – 1.5 billion seeds – including everything from California sunflowers to ancient Chinese rice. If an asteroid strikes the earth, seeds to restart agriculture would come from the vault. But science fiction aside, the main purpose is to protect against a doomsday that is unfolding right now because the plants we’ve been eating for 10,000 years are going extinct.”

I found this story particularly interesting because there is obviously SOME scientists and visionaries in the world thinking about our delicate future. They estimate this vault will keep the seeds frozen at least 25 years after the rest of the world has melted and electricity has turned off.

It begs the question, “What else are governments, NGOs, universities and other scientific groups doing in preparation to survive our warming world?”

Are any of you working on other such projects?

Does anyone else think, like me and groups such as “The Slow Food Movement” that we need to start migrating back to a more agrarian lifestyle? Most people living in cities today (and even agri-business mono crop farmers) don’t know how to raise their own food. To them, food comes from a grocery store, not the earth.

Saving the world’s seeds is wonderful; a fantastic achievement! But seeds are only one part of a complex equation. Knowledge of sustainable farming is another. We need to make sure we save all the permaculture and sustainable farming methods so we not only continue promoting a healthier lifestyle now, but also help ensure we remember how to grow these seeds across all the world’s climates.