The world as we know it... post armageddon?

While aimlessly hopping through stories of prince harry's adventures in afghanistan, now that it's literally splashed everywhere (i wouldn't say i'm a fanatic of the british royal family, but i have always been curious about the establishment) i came upon a rather interesting article in the new york times dated Feb 29th.

pretty cool entrance to the global seed vault huh?

It seems that scientists and other concerned individuals really have put in some serious thoughts about the possibility of a post armageddon world, and they've already started stockpiling seeds from around the world at the Global Seed Vault, bored into the middle of a frozen arctic mountain topped with snow, buried 500 feet under the permafrost and the entrance tunnel to the seed vault is designed to withstand bomb blasts and earthquakes. The editor dubbed it the "Fort Knox of Food" (in case you don't know Fort Knox is where the US treasury department houses its gold). Apparently the vault’s goal is to store and protect samples of every type of seed from every seed collection in the world. And it's got a digital monitoring system to maintain stable temperature. Does that sound serious or what.

Now i'm not ususally a pessimist, but it really got me started thinking, where would i be if there really was an armageddon in my lifetime. It could result from anything: the impending fuel crisis, a global pandemic, food shortage, war, or hell a giant meteor. We have seen tell-tale signs of what those things can do. People rioting over fuel price hikes, SARS, mass starvation in third world countries, the world wars, etc.

Just a case in point: did you know that all the bananas that you eat everyday, in every corner of the world are identical genetically because they are of a single species from india. and now there are no longer any wild specimens left because of deforestation. that means its gene pool has literally dried up. Even the seed vault wouldn't have helped because if you still remembered the stuff you learnt in primary school, bananas don't produce seeds, they reproduce by grafting. which also means if some unforeseeable "disease" were to strike bananas, the whole world would literally all go bananas because there wouldn't be any bananas left! what'll happen next? I don't know.

you know what, i am kinda thirsty now, i better go grab myself a banana milkshake before they become all extinct...


See more photos of the Global Seed Vault: The Photo Slideshow