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Key to the Global Seed Vault

FEEDBACK thinks the Global Seed Vault in the Norwegian territory of Svalbard, which opened in February (New Scientist, 15 March, p 54), is an idea to marvel at. Brush aside the that there’s no substitute for actually growing seeds and maintaining the environments they grow in – not to say supporting the farmers who grow them. Just wonder at the vision of dedicated technicians maintaining the means to rebuild agriculture, come what may, secure behind the massive steel doors in an Arctic mountainside, guarded (in Feedback’s imagination) by the Panserbørn Division of armoured bears from Philip Pullman’s…