1At the turn of the century, nearly eight thousand varieties of apples grew in the United States. Today, ninety-five percent of those species no longer exist. Similarly, in 1949, Chinese farmers were able to grow more than ten thousand types of wheat; by 1970—just twenty-one years later—they were able to grow only one thousand types! This narrowing and specializing trend in farming is threatening the diversity of food crops. 2Numerous corn and potato species are already extinct. Imagine if one of the extinct potato types happened to carry a gene that is resistant to a new plant disease—that gene would now be lost to the world! Trends such as this have alerted scientists to the need for a global seed bank, to ensure that the genetic diversity of the world’s food crops is preserved for the future.

3Though over one thousand seed banks exist throughout the world, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located in the permafrost mountains of Norway, is the largest. Finished in February of 2008, it has the capacity to store four and a half million duplicate seed samples from collectors around the world. Scientists think of the bank as a sort of “back-up hard drive” for seed varieties to ensure that nature’s treasures don’t disappear over time. Nicknamed “The Doomsday Vault” by the media, many believe that the bank is the key to humanity’s survival in the event of environmental disaster. Others feel that climate change would irrevocably change the environment, making seed banks useless.

4The seed samples in Svalbard come from gene banks in countries of varying climates—hot, cold, wet, and dry. Scientists painstakingly record data about the conditions under which each type of crop was successfully grown, including information obtained from interviews with regional farmers regarding the history and characteristics of the various crops. These seed samples are then shipped to Svalbard, placed in specially designed four-ply foil packages, and then sealed in boxes to be placed on high shelves within the vault. The seeds are stored at minus eighteen degrees Celsius to cause a delay in the aging process. At such temperatures, seeds may be preserved anywhere from ten to one thousand years—depending on the species—for future generations.

5Many of the gene banks from which the Svalbard duplicates come are located in developing countries. The seeds in these banks could potentially fall victim to natural disasters, war, or simply a lack of proper funding to sustain their storage. In such an event, the duplicates in Svalbard could reestablish these collections. In this way, the seed bank is a tool to help reduce hunger and poverty throughout the world. But Svalbard means even more; it is the answer to a call from the international community to ensure the safety of the world’s crop diversity.

Which BEST describes the narrator’s tone in the second half of the passage?
A)playful
B)serious
C)determined
D)sympathetic