There has been a lot of press coverage recently about the Arctic Vault seed bank, a $9.1 million bunker constructed by Norway in an Arctic mountain just 620 miles from the North Pole. Actually named the “Svalbard Global Seed Vault”, it is designed to hold as many as 4.5 million crop seeds from all over the world. It is supposed to be designed to withstand global warming, earthquakes, and even nuclear strikes. The seeds are stored at below freezing temperatures that experts say would keep the seeds viable for 1,000 years.

The bank is designed to serve as a backup to the other 1,400 seed banks around the world. Countries can make a “deposit” of their seeds, and “withdraw” them in the future if needed in order to replace failed crops or plant species. All of this sounds great, and is a remarkable achievement.

The news stories also say that the seed bank is a “Noah’s Ark for securing biological diversity for future generations.” It is also referred to as the “frozen Garden of Eden.” These terms suggest that the seed bank is also an insurance policy in case there is a global disaster such as a meteor strike, global warming, or nuclear war. I suppose the intent would be to use these seeds to repopulate the planet’s destroyed food crops and ensure the survival of the human race.

Here’s where I see a problem. First of all, depending on the nature of the catastrophic event, how would anyone actually get to the bank in the first place? It isn’t as if the survivors would be able to walk to the island, get inside, and help themselves to the seeds. The doors are locked, and the polar bears (if they survive) will also be looking for a new food source. If civilization itself survived, these seeds are intended to provide a genetically diverse source of starter seeds. It isn’t as if the seeds themselves would be used as food. They are intended to be used to re-establish the plant species. This would obviously take several years at the very least before the seeds could be harvested and replanted enough times to actually provide a food source. But if the planet is going through a nuclear winter, or global warming goes haywire, it is going to be very difficult to grow these seeds. What about their environmental origin? Will there be enough free standing water to support growing rice? How will these crops be pollinated and dispersed? Will the soil contain enough nutrients, and will the conditions be acceptable?

I think their intentions are good, but not very realistic. Maybe a better alternative would have been to find a way to put a seed bank on the moon, or in orbit somehow. And instead of focusing only on food crops, perhaps DNA samples of all the currently remaining animal life could be preserved, as well as other biological plant species that aren’t directly linked to our source of food. Yes, it would be impossible for a struggling civilization to travel to the moon and back and use technology to recreate these species. But in this scenario, if the ability to do these things survives, then we would have a more diversified “eco-bank” available to us.

What good will the seed bank do if our only hope is to raise plants that will hopefully feed us, and nothing else?