Tag Archive for 'Kew Gardens'

Hello SuperForest!

I’m so excited to share with you news of my recent SuperForesty outing: as Jackson and Carla mentioned in the last SuperForest News, last week I had the opportunity to go and see head of the MSB project and friend of SuperForest, Dr Paul Smith give a talk at the British Library about the Millennium Seed Bank Project (the “MSB”) and all the exciting work that they’re doing, and it was great! I would’ve taped a little to share with you, but the Library was audio recording it themselves (to be placed on the publicly available  National Archives)… BUT nevertheless, I learned a whole heap more about what the MSB is doing AND managed to have a good chat with the lovely Doctor about the MSB, the  Save-A-Seed Coalition,  SuperForest and (at his instigation!) Jason Mraz… super fun oddness, and just so much botanical goodness. In essence, the MSB is important, effective and pretty damn cool! and the good Doctor laid down some info that I’d like to share:

Think of a seed, think of what it CAN be.. think of what it COULD be…

The Millennium Seed Bank is a project of incredible scope, based in Wakehurst, England, but active globally, that aims to preserve the world’s seeds…yep, seeds of all of the world’s plant species. We all know that plants are essential for our extraordinary pale blue dot to function as it does, but why do we care about plant diversity?

Plant life performs a multitude of functions – from provisioning of food, clothing and medicine, to regulating ecosystems by way of the nutrient cycle and soil preservation, to cultural functions in educational and spiritual roles. None of us wants to lose that. But in terms of plant diversity, did you know that 80% of the world’s plant-based food comes from just 12 species (including wheat, maize and rice) from more than 30,000 species that people eat?!? That seems an awful lot like putting all your potatoes in one very small basket…(look at dutch elm disease for a sad example of how one disease can decimate a plant population).
And when you think about medicine: so many of the medicines we don’t even think about (eg aspirin, quinine, digoxin – there’s a nice list here) are derived from plant sources.. and yet, of the approximately 5000 plant species used in traditional Chinese plant medicine (and approximately 7000 in India) only one fifth of these have even yet been tested by Western Science.

Honestly, I probably can’t do better than a quote by the American enivironmentalist Aldo Leopold that Dr Paul Smith (I’d like to call him SuperDoctor Paul Smith? DoctorForesterSmith ? okay, I’ll go with SuperForester Paul for now, and hope that he doesn’t mind;) turned me on to:

“The last word in ignorance is the man who says of an animal or plant “what good is it?”…  If the biota, in the course of aeons, has built something we like but do not understand, then who but a fool would discard seemingly useless parts?”

Clearly it is preferable to preserve naturally occurring habitats intact (“in situ“), but – despite 12% of the world’s land being formally protected – ecosystems are under threat from repurposing of land, climate change and more. Given this, seed banks (“ex situ” storage) provide a second line of defence – an “insurance policy” that preserves the diversity of plant life in a way that makes possible our future repopulation and innovation, adaptation and resilience.

Seeds are truly awesome - the MSB saves thousands of seeds of each species: and each of these seeds is potentially a plant sprouting up and showing its leaves to the sun. A sunflower seed can remain viable for 165 years, a lettuce for 447 years, a soybean for 1,122 years and a sugar beet for 10,500 years!!! Your grandchildren could enjoy the fruits of a seed that we save… Buck Rogers could enjoy a sugary beet that we preserved! It really is incredible – as SuperForester Paul says “there is no technological reason why any plant species should become extinct“.

A large part of what the MSB does is collaboration with its international partners – in joint seed collection, technology transfer and knowledge sharing. They have over 120 partners in more than 50 countries – and they work at true partnerships, rather than any kind of ‘imperial’ instructing. The MSB works with national partners to collect seeds that reflect national priorities – from species that are known to be threatened, to widespread species that can be used for habitat restoration projects to plants with known uses. Kew can then use its expertise to research the sort of germination and propagation knowledge that have enabled it to faciliate rehabilitiation of, by way of example, degraded farmland in places from Burkina Faso to Australia.

In Super Exciting Seed Bank News!, despite the funding issues of the last year, the hard work of the MSB and its international partners mean that the MSB is due to meet its initial goal of conserving 10% of the world’s plant species, by October this year! Ten per cent! And the lovely SuperForester Paul said that we could get involved in the 10% celebrations!!! If you’re keen, I’m keen SuperForest!

And, in true SuperForest style, done is the engine of more! – and the MSB has realised that, despite the amazing work they’ve done thus far, it’s time to step it up: the aim is to preserve 25% of the world’s plant species in the next 10 years!

As well as having a chat, SuperForester Paul was kind enough to do a little flip video for SuperForest:

And, in a delightful aside, SuperForester Paul is a SuperForester Jason Mraz fan, and shared with me his aim to get Mr Mraz out to visit the project next time he’s touring in the UK – synchronicity is fun, huh? Seeds of Mraziness all about the place :)

You may think: well yes, these scientists are doing great sciencey work, but I’m no scientist! But these awesome scientists just cannot do their thing without support, and unless people know, and unless people understand and care what they’re trying to do, then the little winged dollar birdies don’t fly their way, and none of this is possible.  And that’s where we come in!

I’m excited to be a part of what these guys are doing: using their incomparable scientific expertise to pursue a goal that is not just epically laudable, but efficient and effective. Not just safeguarding our future options from Sussex, but going out there and shaping the world: sharing their crazy knowledge with those who want and need to know, and sharing it all with us! These guys rock and I can’t think of anything SuperForestier than acknowledging them with a visit to their site, or your local botanic garden, or better yet, an enormous comedy-sized cardboard cheque – maybe with a robot! and our smiling faces! (I promise you here and now SuperForest – we make our target to SAVE A SEED! and I’ll employ the very best of my artistic “talents” to realise exactly whatever you suggest into an absurdly sized check to take to Wakehurst)

Because Science is what we need to do this, but it won’t happen without our awareness.

This is such a smart way of preserving our future options – Join Save-A-Seed! tell your friends! The more we know, the less we waste.
Love to each of you, and the seeds of our beautiful future that you all are.