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The Arctic Doomsday Seed Vault

Posted by samzenpus on from the who-replants-barter-town dept.

Anonymous Cow writes "A giant refrigerated genetic bank built into the island of Svalbard has been brought online. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway is designed to house up to 4.5 million seeds in the case of a catostrophic event. The bank is funded by the Norwegian government, Monsanto Corporation, and the Gates, Rockefeller, and Syngenta Foundations. The Global Crop Diversity Trust has completed construction of the doomsday vault and is getting the facility ready to preserve the genetic heritage of the world's agriculture for future generations. There will be no full-time staff, but the vault's relative inaccessibility will facilitate monitoring human activity. Spitsbergen was considered ideal due to its lack of tectonic activity and its permafrost, which will aid preservation. Locally mined coal will provide power for refrigeration units which will further cool the seeds to the internationally recommended standard 20 to 30 C."

27 of 322 comments (clear)

  1. Monsanto... by locokamil · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ... in charge of saving our agricultural bacon? The same people who tried to bring agricultural holocaust to the developing world with their you-can't-save-our-seeds-for-next-year's-crop shenanigans?

    Hopefully their influence will be counterbalanced by some of the less evil groups participating in the project.

    1. Re:Monsanto... by alshithead · · Score: 4, Insightful

      "... in charge of saving our agricultural bacon?"

      Let's be fair. It is their best interests (and ours) to save specimens of original seed stocks. It's always good to be able to look back to see how you got from there to here...and maybe try and fix some huge mistake so you don't get your ass sued into oblivion. Or, worse case scenario, save the world from your "innovations". We should look at this as a plus.

      --
      I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
    2. Re:Monsanto... by svnt · · Score: 3, Insightful

      It's a brilliant plan. After Armageddon the seeds from the vault will produce plants that don't go to seed, and then next season we'll all be forced to buy them from... wait a minute.

    3. Re:Monsanto... by timmarhy · · Score: 1, Insightful
      you mean the people trying to develope drought and pest resistant plants so that 3rd world countries in even the most dry area's are able to feed themselfs. yeah wow what assholes.

      sure they are trying to make a profit, but that doesn't instantly dismisss the good they can do.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    4. Re:Monsanto... by locokamil · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Please understand that I have no issue with Monsanto making a profit... as long as they do so by creating and selling progressively better products.

      Yes, the new drought-resistant, high-yield strains are wonderful things that allow the starving masses to feed 'themselfs'. But by throwing in a genetic time bomb and neutering the crops, Monsanto is in effect resting on its laurels and obviating the need for further innovation.

      In fact, it's nothing more than genetic DRM. And in this case, the "DRM == bad" meme is fully and wholly applicable.

    5. Re:Monsanto... by squidinkcalligraphy · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Though I'm a seed saver myself, and thus am at odds with Monsanto's terminator technology (and GM in general), terminator seeds are probably quite a useful way to stop GM seeds spreading into the rest of the environment. I mean, that's one of the main arguments against GM: that GM crops may breed with other crops and weeds, creating unwanted effects, or exposing effects that might not have been apparent in the short period of testing available. Making GM crops sterile reduces the validity of this argument.

      --
      "I think it would be a good idea" Gandhi, on Western Civilisation
    6. Re:Monsanto... by wizardforce · · Score: 2, Insightful

      ... in charge of saving our agricultural bacon? The same people who tried to bring agricultural holocaust to the developing world with their you-can't-save-our-seeds-for-next-year's-crop shenanigans?
      If we are ever stupid enough not to build up a back up vault and Monsanto is our only hope, then shame on us.
      --
      Sigs are too short to say anything truly profound so read the above post instead.
    7. Re:Monsanto... by alshithead · · Score: 5, Insightful

      "Do I want Monsanto goons having access to the only safe seed left? Hell no. Ever hear of blackmail? What if the only viable unmodified corn was here, and Monsanto 'kidnaps' it. Maybe not for ransom, but for power."

      Wait while affix my tinfoil hat...okay, I can agree to a certain point. If you're really that worried then buy some Monsanto stock. That way you win too.

      "Now that I think of it, if you wanted to preserve DATA about the DNA, that would be easier maybe than preserving the actual DNA."

      With tinfoil hat still firmly in place...how does that save you in an apocalyptic scenario? Where does the technology come into play that gives us a good starting point with seed stock if the technology to manipulate DNA isn't available because of the collapse of civilization? :)

      --
      I reserve the right to think for myself. Others' opinions are optional. Puppy on lap = typos...not illiteracy.
    8. Re:Monsanto... by riker1384 · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Something could happen to prevent the farmers in other coutries from getting new seeds from Monsanto. A war, embargo, natural disaster or other event could cut them off from America or the Western world, leaving them unable to grow more food and dooming millions of people to starvation. It would be insane to let this become a widespread method of farming. If something happens in one part of the world you want the rest to be able to carry on.

    9. Re:Monsanto... by nebosuke · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I have no love for 'Monsatan', but the benefit of biotech research for, e.g., corn is undeniable. Do a quick google search on the subject, and you'll see tons of graphs like those contained in this article.

      Ironically enough, organic farming is only economical because of the biotechnology developed and funded by the likes of Pioneer Hi-Bred, and the companies that were amalgamated into Syngenta or Monsanto. Their research is what produced the varieties with such productive genetics compared to the wild progenitor that organic farms of commodity crops can even have a chance of being economical.

    10. Re:Monsanto... by timmarhy · · Score: 2, Insightful
      You people are unbelievable at times.

      This isn't aimed at you personally, but you just confirmed WHY the anti GM food movment is insane.

      There was all this bull about GM crops cross pollenating "organic" crops when GM crops were first planted. Monsanto said no, we have engineered the crops so that they can't seed or pollenate to avoid this.

      And now your trashing them for the exact thing that everyone jumped up and down and wanted in the first place.

      I mean fuck whats a billion dollar company to do? you people want the impossible.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
    11. Re:Monsanto... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      What scares the shit out of me is the list of companies participating in this ordeal. I don't think these individuals would prepare like this if they didn't have some fucking scarey plans.

    12. Re:Monsanto... by timmarhy · · Score: 2, Insightful

      nothing you have said there has anything to do with GM crops, and everything to do with patent law, which i readily agree is fucked.

      --
      If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
  2. Coal - refrigerate & coal - global warming by alexandre · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Coal to refrigerate seeds against a catastrophic worlwide ecological disaster in part caused by a large amount of coal?

    makes sense... :P

  3. Good idea but... by canuck57 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Good idea but who is going to be around to plant them?

    1. Re:Good idea but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful
      all these measures so that humans can destroy the planet all over again. I am not of sadistic personality but IMO, if the most capable (note: i didn't say intelligent) species on the planet self-destructs, they don't deserve a second chance. and I doubt that destruction of human race can be caused by extra terrestrial events.

      So, after the 1000 years is up, the vault springs into action. It barfs out ... That won't work. There have to be at least ~150-200 seeders on the planet to make it work. plus, what is going to power it for 1000 years? yeah i know, a nuclear reactor could provide power for that long but is it going to last that long. earthquakes, material degradation, solar winds, ... the list goes on.
    2. Re:Good idea but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Put in as many Rosetta Stones as possible. Put frozen humans in there, too, so future generations (hopefully) don't think aliens seeded the planet. ... or God.

  4. Old news and FUD by drunken_boxer777 · · Score: 5, Insightful
    This is old news.

    The linked article in the summary looks like a lot of FUD to me. Read at your own risk.

    From the article:

    The bank will have dual blast-proof doors with motion sensors, two airlocks, and walls of steel-reinforced concrete one meter thick. ... There will be no full-time staff...

    My question is, if there is a doomsday event, how do we get in?

  5. I hope it will never actually be needed by FudRucker · · Score: 3, Insightful

    and i hope they keep Monsanto's genetically modified seed and intellectual property separate from natural seeds, thats all we need in the future is for Monsanto having a monopoly on global food crops...

    --
    Politics is Treachery, Religion is Brainwashing
  6. Plan for Global Domination by weighn · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ...all we need in the future is for Monsanto having a monopoly on global food crops... 1. Acquire patent for nature;
    2. Usher in the apocalypse;
    3. Rebuild the world under license
    4. Name it Monsanto-World (TM)
    5. Bwa-hah-hah-hah-hah !!
    --
    Mongrel News all the news that fits and froths
  7. Maybe for now, but... by Valdrax · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yes, the new drought-resistant, high-yield strains are wonderful things that allow the starving masses to feed 'themselfs'. But by throwing in a genetic time bomb and neutering the crops, Monsanto is in effect resting on its laurels and obviating the need for further innovation.

    Maybe for now, but patents expire. Someone's going to make a small bundle by making terminator-free varieties once the patents on them expire. Of course, by then, we'll have an entire generation of farmers used to paying the piper for their seeds, and I'm sure that Monsanto will have something new to offer by the end of 20 years.

    --
    If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
    1. Re:Maybe for now, but... by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Who will? Developing countries that have hardly the means to develop their own crops, not to mention reverse engineering ones that exist?

      This is, if anything, creating more dependency for those countries on the seed vendors. Now they have seeds that will create more seeds next year. It's not high yield, but it does at least give them some independence. With terminator crops, they become fully dependent on the company selling them the seeds.

      I wouldn't really call that an improvement.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  8. It's all relative by NotQuiteReal · · Score: 5, Insightful
    One species' "doomsday" is another species chance to thrive. I don't see any giant reptiles bitching over their fate now, do I?

    Just think how pissed you'd be if a bunch of velociraptors popped out of some jurassic "doomsday" vault next week and started chomping down on your homo sapiens brethren?

    Think about the long term. Modern Humans have been around for as few as 6000 years according to some folks, as long as a few hundred thousand years, maybe a bit more, according to more rational minds.

    The same rational minds that put the age of the universe several orders of magnitude greater.

    One way or the other, what's the difference?

    --
    This issue is a bit more complicated than you think.
  9. Flaws by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I see many many flaws with this.

    First off, Svalbard? How in the hell would anyone, if anyone exists, post-epoch get to such a remote place?

    Second, coal-powered? I mean, sure the Soviets mined it there for years and the Norwegians still do. But if we are at a point to use the doomsday seed thing, the Norwegians would have been long extinct along with the rest of the world. No coal, no perfectly conditioned environment for keeping dormant seeds.

    I've read some people offer the suggestion of solar power. That's nice and all. Except there is the nuclear winter doomsday hypothesis. So that might be out of the question.

    Nuclear power would require too much maintenance to power the refrigerators. And with no people left, totally out of the question.

    Geothermal would probably be the most reliable source of power for the facility. But that brings me to my next point...

    If there are going to be a doomsday apocalypse, why even bother with seeding the planet?

    --
    The game.
  10. just great by SoyChemist · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Monsanto is involved with this, so after the apocalypse, Indian peasant farmers will still be taking it in the shorts from big corporations.

  11. Pollenation by deets · · Score: 2, Insightful

    What happens to the plants once all of the pollenators are gone? Also, a lot of seeds require special conditions to be viable (i.e. passing through the digestive track of animals).

  12. Cool or Hot Seeds? by carsurf · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Preserving the seeds at 20-30 degrees C seems a little bit hot to me are you not sure its -20 to -30 degrees C?