Yep, the U.N. has approved a plan to create a giant frozen warehouse near the North Pole in which all the varieties of seeds from the world’s food crops will be stored. The hope is that by preserving these specimens, world famine can be avoided in cases of global destruction caused by disaster, terrorism, weather, or whatever.

The story is written with a sense of humor, despite the fact that the action is taken with doomsday in mind. “The new Fort Knox for the world’s crops will start by taking seeds from the network of seed banks run in the Philippines, Mexico, Syria, Nigeria and elsewhere…”

Then they’ll continue adding samples from elsewhere until this permanent library of crop varieties is complete. The World Bank will help fund the project. I guess it’s good to know that we will be prepared in case of global disaster–though the images it conjures up aren’t the kind you want to linger on.