#seedsoftime

Sandy McLeod in the documentary Seeds of Time explains how if we don’t take action we could lose our food supply due to changes in climate, pests, and disease. McLeod supports her argument by showing several locations varying in climate and how each community is struggling, particularly Peru. The filmmaker’s purpose is to inform the public in order to bring awareness and hopefully action to improve the situation. The film has a formal tone for those who want to learn more on sustainability and agriculture.

Cary Fowler is the focus of this documentary and is the head of an international consortium to store seeds from every agricultural plant in the world. He guides this documentary to various locations around the world. He is first shown with his two sons fishing, making dinner, etc. He seemed like a very family oriented man. Then the rest of the documentary is him working on preserving agriculture. They were trying to have the audience get to know him first before the documentary really started and get a general idea of why he is doing what he does. There is also a part in the documentary where he talks about his cancer and how he was told he had 6 months to live, at this part they show nature taking a turn for the worst to emphasize the fact that he was told he wouldn’t live long. The music then picks up once he says he lived long past 6 months.

One scene that really stood out to me was during the meeting of The Global Crop Diversity Trust, the representative from Philippines, Teresita Borromeo had to discuss how their gene bank was destroyed in a fire. She could not stop crying, it was heartbreaking. Dramatic and sad music accompanied this heart wrenching scene.

Mariano Suta Apucusi and Lino Mamani Marca both in charge of the potato park in Peru. Peru was a major location in this documentary, and with them being natives, they both brought great insight to how their community is dealing with these climate issues on a personal level.

Pamela K. Anderson (International Potato Center) and Alejandro Argumendo were also some great resources in this documentary to give professional insight to why these issues were occurring.

This documentary had a very diverse group of people interviewed, from high up professionals, to farmers in the mountains of Peru.

“Seeds of Time” shed light on an issue I didn’t know we had, losing vital crop diversity. This is a worldwide issue and I’m glad they brought light to it. This documentary touched on several topics but it all came down to the fact that we need more sustainable agriculture. My favorite part was when they discussed the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. According to Crop Trust, this is a secure seed bank on the Norwegian island of Spitsbergen near Longyearbyen in the remote Artic Svalbard. 810 miles from the North Pole and deep inside the side of a mountain. Seeds from all over the globe are sent here for safe keeping preventing extinction. This film informed me much more on various aspects of my topic.

Sustainability is a word dominant in many global conversations aimed towards change and decision-making. The concept has permeated--and impacted--how we view a multitude of things, like transportation. Energy. Food. However, most of the food and sustainability discussion focuses on the consumption of food rather than its production: eating locally; veganism. 

That’s why this Sandy McLeod documentary is a standout-- a recent concern is that GMOs and other factors may be contributing to the decline of genetic diversity in our food sources. Especially in this age of climate change and globalization, plant disease travels readily. This could have catastrophic repercussions, for if only a few varieties of corn remain, and those varieties are all susceptible to a new blight, there will be a lot of hungry people. 

Seeds of Time tells the story of Cary Fowler’s remarkable idea to build the world’s first global seed vault, described as a “frozen Garden of Eden”, on a Norwegian island. It also tells the story of a Peruvian highland potato bank, a place where the community preserves as many types of potatoes as they can. 

I think the film’s strongest points include beautiful photography from around the world--the viewer will never get bored of seeing the same place throughout this documentary. Also, I appreciate how, although GMOs are often pointed out as directly consequential to genetic preservation, this film doesn’t dwell on that. The story of Svalbard Seed Vault, to me, is sufficient to spark interest in the preservation of our food sources’ genetic diversity. And, is that not what a documentary film intends to do? 

https://vimeo.com/73726895

This movie was something straight out of a science fiction flick. Like what? There’s a mountain under the ice in the arctic circle filled with seeds in the event of a global catastrophe? Like sign Mark Wahlberg up as the leading role baby! But no honestly one of the better ones we watched this class. Excellent discussion points that are not brought up enough, even in a environmental setting such as Unity College. I had never even thought about what would happen if a plague destroyed all the types of potatoes, and what could we do to develop genetic resistance to that. But freaking Cary Fowler thinks about that all the time. That’s his job for crying out loud. I’m gonna assume Sandy McLeod was not only the director of the movie but the person behind the cinematography of it as well. Some of those shots were incredible, particularly the time lapses. It has to be tough filming in the arctic, and they truly nailed it. Helicopter shots are a must. Just to capture that barren landscape, that when filmed correctly doesn't even really look barren. Back to some of the points though, is it even possible to sustainability feed the planet? At what point do we look for alternatives, like synthetic food? Wouldn't that be something? What a cool job Fowler has however, going around the world to collect seeds from various locations. He’s like a bounty hunter, just a botanist. A Botany Hunter.

http://www.ted.com/talks/cary_fowler_one_seed_at_a_time_protecting_the_future_of_food?language=en