斯瓦尔巴德全球种子库, 其闪闪发光的外墙由艺术家戴维·桑尼设计, 斯瓦尔巴特群岛, 挪威 Svalbard Global Seed Vault with a glittering facade designed by artist Dyveke Sanne, Svalbard, Norway (© Pal Hermansen/Minden Pictures)

斯瓦尔巴德全球种子库, 其闪闪发光的外墙由艺术家戴维·桑尼设计, 斯瓦尔巴特群岛, 挪威 Svalbard Global Seed Vault with a glittering facade designed by artist Dyveke Sanne, Svalbard, Norway (© Pal Hermansen/Minden Pictures)

Even nature needs a backup plan…

This glittering monolith of cold metal is a lot like that still-sealed emergency survival kit languishing in your basement since 1999: Reassuring to have around, but a bummer when you actually have to use it. The Svalbard Global Seed Vault—better known by its cute nickname, the 'Doomsday Vault'—was established on this far-northern Norwegian isle in 2008 to archive frozen genetic copies of seeds already housed in seed banks around the world: a backup of all the backups. Kept at -0.4 degrees F within the Seed Vault, precious botanicals from food to fibers to flowers are safe from disasters, even of the apocalyptic variety. Lucky us: It'll take a healthy diet of veggies to fight off the zombies.

But hey, doomsday can wait. Today is Seed Swap Day, an event encouraging horticulture buffs to propagate positivity by trading their favorite species and strains. So, no matter how green your thumb, try to get your hands on some new seeds today—let's plant a future where this Arctic chamber can stay good and sealed.

即使是自然界也需要备份计划…

这颗闪闪发光的冰冷金属巨石很像自1999年以来一直在地下室里煎熬的那个密封的应急救生包：有人在身边让人放心，但当你真的不得不使用它的时候，它却让人扫兴。斯瓦尔巴特全球种子库（Svalbard Global Seed Vault）因其可爱的绰号“末日宝库”（The Doomday Vault）而闻名于世，该库于2008年在挪威这个遥远的北方岛屿上建立，目的是将已经存放在世界各地种子库中的种子的冷冻基因副本存档：所有备份的备份。保存在-0.4华氏度的种子库，珍贵的植物从食物到纤维到花都是安全的，即使是世界末日的品种。幸运的我们：这将需要一个健康的素食饮食来击退僵尸。

但是，世界末日可以等。今天是种子交换日，这是一个鼓励园艺爱好者通过交易他们喜爱的品种和品种来传播积极性的活动。所以，不管你的拇指有多绿，今天就试着去收获一些新的种子，让我们种下一个未来，让这个北极小屋保持良好和密封。