Seed Vault Opens!

Earlier this evening, my friends Joe, Jakob, Anne and I sat in a series of talks with the president of the EU, the Minister of Agriculture for Norway, and many other dignitaries, heads of states, and Nobel Prize winners for the opening ceremonies of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. As it turned out, we were probably the only students from UNIS that got to sit in on the talks in the main auditorium, so we felt very fortunate. The speakers emphasized the importance of farming and the farmers themselves and the effects that climate has on agriculture. I couldn't agree more - experiencing bumper crop harvests and the struggles of drought back home in North Dakota opened my eyes to these topics. To see it discussed in this format was satisfying on so many levels.

The vault has been constructed to provide a "safety net" against accidental loss of biodiversity currently found in traditional genebanks. 70 members of the press from from all over the planet covered the event. The triangular structure in the lower right corner is the seed vault.

.