Day One
Qaanaaq-Greenland, end of October

“Ina few minutes, another ship carrying thousands of seeds collected from places all over the planet is expected to reach its destination, enabling its cargo to be stored in the Global Seed Vault, located in the Arctic Circle, at a strategic mountain spot, on one of the islands of the Svalbard Archipelago. Being the best of its kind, the Vault safely stores, under a temperature of minus 20 degrees Celsius, samples from the majority of cultivable seeds of the world. Specialists call it ‘the Ark’ and say it’s a measure against the possibility of a botanical catastrophe, which could occur according to the scenarios of extreme climatic phenomena, such as prolonged drought or extended floods...” announced the beautiful CNN newscaster, as she appeared on the television set of the brand new café, in the small city of Qaanaaq, early in the morning.

“Analyzing data collected from various monitoring stations across the Arctic zone, meteorologists report an increase of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide, in the atmosphere. During the last one hundred years, there has been an increase in the average temperature of the planet by 5 degrees Celsius and a parallel 17% reduction in the mass of the arctic ice...” a BBC reporter stated in his characteristic British accent, as Knud Sakak was zapping through the channels, while his wife Sara was brewing the first morning coffee of the shop.

“Do you think it will become easier for the tourists to come up here in the north?” Sara asked her husband in secret hopes of that appealing prospect, thinking the customers of her café would increase in numbers.

Knud, rubbed his forehead with his hand, as he thought about the imminent changes in their lives...

The melting of ice would gradually make their small town more accessible, along with some towns of the Svalbard islands–the northernmost settlements in the world–but it would also change the way of life and its profile, which up to that point had been mainly characterized by hunting in sea or land...

Seals, along withnarwhals–the unicorn whales with their big tusk–andhalibut fish–the biggest species of sole fish–are the typical targets of the local fishermen. Some of the locals have already seen mutations of the usual form of seal, such as total loss of its fur, which are attributed to the rapid climatic change and the excessive warming of the planet...

In another part of the town, a local old timer had fixed his empty look on the street, sitting at his porch and listening to the radio:

“Our local temperature is 39 degrees Fahrenheit and the forecast for a winter blizzard indicates a low storm-le