Senator Cardin Delivers North American Chili Peppers to Arctic Seed Vault.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

As an historic climate bill is stalled in the Senate, some United States legislators have decided to reach across party lines and lead a bipartisan effort to address climate change in their own way.

Seven congressmen, led by Senator Benjamin L. Cardin (D-MD), spent their 4th of July on a long trip to the arctic, where they hand delivered seeds, including those of unique North American chilies, to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault located on a remote Norwegian island.

The vault, which opened in 2008, contains the seeds of more than 525,000 crop varieties, and was constructed as a fail-safe back-up plan to protect the existing world food supplies from destruction in the event of a large-scale catastrophe, built deep inside of a mountain to withstand rising sea levels and even a nuclear explosion.

more...http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/13/doomsday-seed-vault-senat_n_644513.html



Video of Svalbard Seed Vault
http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/how-the-earth-changed-history/all/Videos/08330_00

[tabatha]

1. I wonder how many republicans

of any stripe have donated.

[HillbillyBob]

2. Or a back up plan against what monsanto is doing to

food crops..
We are switching to heirloom varieties only for our garden. You can keep seeds from year to year. Agent Orange on my food, I don't think so.

Although it was reported as a wholesale victory for Monsanto, the recent Supreme Court decision on "Roundup Ready" alfalfa has actually put food activists in a good position to maintain the ban on Monsanto's genetically engineered GMO seeds.

The court ruled that the planting of GMO alfalfa is still illegal, but it assigned authority to the USDA to determine whether to allow some provisional planting to go forward as soon as next spring. The responsibility for maintaining a total ban on the GMO seeds — and protecting organic crops from likely contamination — falls squarely on the shoulders of USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack. link to petion ----

http://act.credoaction.com/r/?r=5771&id=10007-1941398-vDAJVNx&t=8

[aquart]

3. Excellent idea.