AllMovie

Filmmaker Michelle von Flotow speaks with a variety of top scientists on the subject of global food security at a time when rising temperatures and devastating droughts leave the future of food production in an uncertain state of peril. Take a trip to the Norwegian town of Longyearbyen, where approximately 4 million plant samples are currently being preserved in a massive seed bank known as the "Doomsday Vault." We like to think that we're prepared for the worst, but what good is it having that many seeds when your natural environment makes growth impossible. As people like national Seed Bank director Zachary Muthamia strives to preserve every type of plant imaginable, scientists such as Marianne Banziger struggle to develop non-genetically modified seeds that yield greater quantities of harvest under extreme weather conditions. Should she fail, mankind may discover his ultimate fate sooner, rather than later.