I have often said that the most important thing now is to prepare for climate change, we cannot stop it now.
Well, I have known about this for a while, but it has taken on added importance now. The Global Seed Vault is a facility in way northern Norway. It built to preserve seeds from around the world. The idea is that if a global or regional catastrophe occurs, the seed bank could be used to replenish plants.
The seeds might be needed is a disease kills, say, GMO corn; the seed bank holds many different types of corn seeds to restart farms.
The Nordic Council. Americans are focused on drag queens and guns. Russia is focussed on war. China and Asia are focussed on fears of war. Poor countries are focussed on providing food and shelter to their populations. Most of the west is able to accomplish thing like this. But we don't.
The Global Seed Bank isn't only used in some sci-fi future either. The GSB provided the right seeds when typhoons destroyed certain farming habitats in the Philippines. The GSB provided seeds to southern African nations as drought and climate creeps into the area.
This is something we, as humans, can be proud of. It is what I would rather be doing with our resources. The seed vault costs about $41 Million dollars to build and update ($8M to build and $332M in upgrades over time).
By comparison, the cost to build Texas' At&T stadium and UK's was $1.48 BILLION dollars. About the cost of 36 Seed Banks. Los Angele's So Fi stadium was about $5 BILLION!
It's not that we don't have the funds, we don't have the will. Britain's Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and Wembley Stadium and the US's Atlanta, New York, and Las Vegas Stadiums were all between 1.3 and 1.9 Billion to build.
In fact, my own Condo building was less than $41 Million.
I am not sure why our own priorities sadden me. Our country does a lot of good in the world. And a lot of bad. I just wish we did better.
As for upkeep yearly. Norway pays.
That is wonderful!
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