The abandoned Jerry Myers Fish Hatchery in Skagway, Alaska was a vocational project offering local high school students a chance to work with even smaller fry.

Eureka, Ikura!

A photo dating from 1971 at the Alaska Dept. of Fish and Game’s digital archives depicts only a single main building named the “Skagway Salmon Hatchery”. Under one name or another, it would appear the endeavor enjoyed an extensive period of successful growth… much like a young salmon, one might say.

Down the Hatchery

The hatchery had always been operated by the City of Skagway school board – run rather well, as in 1989 it was named the Alaska Vocational Education Program of the Year. On the heels of this triumph, the complex was renamed the Jerry Myers Fish Hatchery. The bronze plaque above is dated June of 1990, though it doesn’t appear to have aged all that well. Alaskan weather will do that.

Skagway the Hard Way

Skagway is situated about 100 miles northwest of Juneau in the Alaskan Panhandle. The smallish city (officially a “Municipality and Borough”) was founded in 1897, achieving widespread fame and notoriety as the jumping-off point for prospectors lured north during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Run, Salmon, Run

Those golden glory days have long gone – Skagway only has about 1,000 permanent residents today. That said, the population roughly doubles in the summer when cruise ships dock at the Port of Skagway. Almost a million tourists visit Skagway annually – not exactly a gold rush but respectable (and profitable) nonetheless. Fees and taxes collected from these temporary visitors help fund projects benefiting locals, one of which being this abandoned fish hatchery.

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Many times larger than life, the faces of indigenous Brazilian people illuminate the darkened Amazon Rainforest, projected directly onto the trees as a symbolic representation of their connection to the land. The Suruí Tribe, led by chief Almir Surui Narayamoga, are being displaced by massive deforestation that has already destroyed nearly 20% of the forest over the past 40 years, with another 20% projected to be lost within the next 20 years.

The chief invited French photographer and street artist Philippe Echaroux to bring attention to the plight of the tribe through land-based art. Capturing portraits of individual members of the tribe, Echaroux enlarged the images and projected them onto trees in the village’s section of the rainforest in strikingly beautiful and often eerie compositions.

“Victims of massive deforestation and gold washers who did not hesitate to violate the Surui’s territory to seize deposits of precious stones, the Surui people want to raise awareness of this horrible and greedy slaughter that endangers a territory and its people,” says Echaroux.

The installation, entitled ‘The Crying Forest,’ was never meant to be seen in person by the public. It’s almost like a private ceremony just for the forest and the people who know it so intimately – but photographs of the display will be on exhibit at the Taglialatella Gallery in Paris from November 10th through December 15th 2016. You can catch more of Philippe Escharoux’s work on his Instagram.

Like rainwater flowing from rooftops to roads, The Water Tank Project seeks to artistically enhance New York City‘s gritty skyline from the top down.

Spearheaded by artist/activist Mary Jordan, The Water Tank Project does double duty as both a cool art installation and an innovative awareness campaign spotlighting the global water crisis.

Compared by one of the participating artists to “a museum waiting to happen,” NYC’s rooftop water tanks expand the 2D format of advertising billboards into the next dimension!

Over 30 artists including Jay-Z and Jeff Koons signed on to transform dozens of otherwise nondescript rooftop water tanks into colorful examples of activist art. The tanks themselves won’t be painted – preparing the exterior surfaces alone would be expensive, time-consuming and environmentally unfriendly.

Instead, the artists will work on vinyl “canvases” customized to fit each individual water tank. Once imprinted with the artwork, the rectangular pieces will be wrapped around the tanks and secured against wind and weather. As The Water Tank Project is neither a permanent nor a fixed exhibit, works can be removed and/or replaced quickly and easily as required.

The Water Tank Project was organized by Word Above The Street, headed by Mary Jordan, who was inspired to shine a spotlight on wasteful water use after visiting Ethiopia in 2007. “Water is our most challenged but taken-for-granted resource. It’s all around us but virtually invisible,” explains Neville Wakefield, a member of the project’s curatorial team. “By drawing attention to the water tanks, we hope to alert the world to the wastage of our most precious commodity.”

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By some predictions, Earth will become nearly uninhabitable within just a few generations – and between now and then, one of the most damaging events will be the loss of genetically diverse food crops. Luckily, there are some pretty smart folks out there who are dedicated to keeping seeds safe for the future. Whether it be on a grand, global scale or just a grassroots (pardon the pun) movement at a local library, these seed storage sites might prove to be an incredibly important part of the future of the human race.

Svalbard Global Seed Vault – Norway

This is perhaps the mother of all seed vaults. Tucked away on a frigid island near the North Pole, Svalbard is the backup storage vault for 1,750 other seed banks all over the world. If other seed collections are damaged or lost due to a global crisis, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault is the place we’ll go to begin rebuilding the Earth’s vegetation.

The permanently frozen, difficult-to-access, post-apocalyptic location wasn’t chosen by chance – this was a calculated decision based on careful foresight. The vault is set nearly 400 feet into a sandstone mountain on Spitsbergen Island. Although no permanent staff are assigned to guard the vault, the structure has an impressive security system that would foil even the most nefarious of seed stealers. When an organization deposits seeds, only they are able to access the boxes containing those seeds; the organizations retain ownership, making Svalbard simply a storage and preservation facility for the good of the planet.

Furthermore, the site is favored for its lack of seismic activity and its altitude; at 430 feet above sea level, the vault would be spared from flooding even if the polar ice caps melt. The site’s permafrost is ideal for storage of genetic material, as well. Even if the vault’s refrigeration units were to fail, it would take several weeks for the interior temperature to rise from its stable -0.4° F to the ambient temperature of 27° F.

As of 2015 – seven years after the facility opened – approximately 4000 plant species are preserved in the vault, with a total of around 840,000 total samples. The facility has the capacity to store a total of 4.5 million samples. Besides being an important part of the future of humankind, Svalbard is an incredibly cool-looking facility that would be equally effective as a supervillain hideout.

Millennium Seed Bank – Kew Royal Botanic Gardens – UK

The Kew Royal Botanic Gardens is a must-see destination in England, but their conservation arm is equally fascinating. According to the Millennium Seed Bank Partnership, between 60,000 and 100,000 species of plants are in danger of extinction – this number represents approximately one-fourth of all of Earth’s plants. Most of the threat to plants comes from human activities such as over-exploitation and poor farming practices.

The Seed Bank’s mission is to preserve these endangered plants – as well as those that are not yet in danger of extinction – for the good of the planet and all of the living things occupying it. Partnering with more than 80 countries worldwide, the Millennium Seed Bank has collected seeds from 34,088 wild plant species, representing more than 13% of wild species from around the world. Their goal is to raise that number to 25% by 2020.

Researchers at the seed bank study the properties and value of each plant variety and produce more seeds to increase biodiversity in plants all over the planet. They also study optimal storage conditions for the seeds and try to determine why some seeds die during preservation. Their research can help future generations of conservationists store valuable seeds more effectively.

Australian PlantBank – Australian Botanic Garden

Acting as the research and storage facility of the Royal Botanic Gardens and Domain Trust, the Australian PlantBank (formerly NSW Seedbank) focuses on horticultural research and conservation of native Australian plant species. The facility uses traditional seed preservation methods as well as tissue culture – a conservation method that involves growing new plants from small pieces of plant tissue.

In the seed vault, more than 10,035 collections of wild-sourced seeds are preserved, totaling a staggering 100 million individual seeds. The seeds represent 4669 species, mostly collected from NSW in an effort to conserve the complex and unique area’s native plants. More than 600 plant species are considered endangered in NSW alone.

Seeds and tissue samples are regularly tested for health and viability to ensure that the facility isn’t simply housing millions of dead seeds. The PlantBank researchers point out that, while in storage, plant species do not have the ability to evolve and adapt to changing conditions. Therefore, any seed or tissue sample that is banked today is a “snapshot” of the plant’s genetic makeup today.

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