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From: Arun M <arun@gnu.org.in>
Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2011 07:08:06 +0530
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To: Coordinadores de Hipatia <coordinadores-hipatia@listas.hipatia.info>,
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Subject: [hipatia] Fwd: How Cuba survived peak oil
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The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil [2006 Community Service
Inc: The Community Solution program, DVD 53 Min, ISBN 0-910420-32-7] is a
marvelous film that provides a welcome contrast to the abundance of toxic,
depressing predictions for the future in the world of post-Peak Oil. All who
have been demoralized by the succession of books foretelling societal
disaster post-Peak Oil can take hope and learn from the experience of Cuba
following the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Cuba's Peak Oil preceded the world's by ten years or more. In the early
1990s, Cuba's curtailed supply of Soviet oil resulted in major challenges:
both how to feed the nation and how to sustain an economy on much less
readily available energy. Hunger and a paralyzed transportation and
industrial system were imminent. Initially the Cuban government imposed
rationing to assure everyone had access to the basic necessities, as some of
us will recall was done in the US during WWII. But that only managed the
severe shortages. The Cuban people responded to the food crisis by largely
abandoning their large scale agricultural system based on fluid fossil fuels
and by developing a system of locally managed and operated farms and urban
plots worked sustainably. Virtually ever arable acre of land has been
employed. Farmland that for years had been poisoned by over-reliance on
oil-based pesticides and gas-based fertilizers and degraded by mechanized
cultivation has been regenerated and replenished with soil-enriching organic
farming techniques that require more individual labor but much less fossil
fuels.

Rather than degenerating into factional, fratracidal conflict over the
diminishing food supply, Cuba's Peak Oil necessitated societal changes that
resulted in more and better cooperation among neighbors for the local good
of communities. Jobs that formerly required heavy industrialization are now
managed on a much smaller scale using human or animal power in place of
mechanization. Transportation has altered radically. Initially the Cuban
government obtained millions of bicycles from China to supplant the fleet of
private motor vehicles. Now, fuel remains scarce, and is used largely for an
enhanced public transportation system that includes buses carrying up to
three hundred passengers.

Obviously the innovations and techniques applicable to subtropical Cuba may
not be suitable in specific detail for adoption in Eurasia or North America.
But the spirit of resourcefulness and return to personal and cooperative
group effort is hopeful and inspiring.

Although this film appropriately indicts the United States for its
long-term, ongoing embargo of Cuba, its principal message is the ingenuity,
perseverance and ultimate triumph of the Cuban people over unanticipated
crises. As, decades too late, the reality of world Peak Oil dawns on the
rest of the planet, it is deliciously ironic that Cuba not only has survived
the enmity of its northern neighbor, but - perforce of its own misguided
reliance on a transient foreign source of energy - has shown a way to
persist and survive sustainably. The keys are three C's: community,
conservation and cooperation.

As one speaker put it: "Work with the planet, not against it!" For millions
of years life on Earth has persisted and evolved in concert with the
chemical, physical and biological processes in the environment. The advent
of the Age of Liquid Fossil Fuels brought humanity the ability to jump start
and force-march many of these processes at terrible cost to the planet's
environmental viability. In the waning days of the Oil Age, it is time for
humanity to relearn the lessons of the past tens of thousands of years of
civilization: life, human and otherwise, on Planet Earth can recover and
maintain its viability and sustainability only as we rediscover working WITH
this planet's environment, animate and inanimate, not against it!

There are many lessons for America and the rest of inhabited Earth to learn,
adapt and employ from the successful experience of Cuba, a bellwether and
stalking horse in the quest for viable ways to continue to occupy this
planet sustainably. If only we will but do so!

-John N. Cooper

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<div class=3D"gmail_quote"><br>
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil [2006 Community Service =
Inc: The Community Solution program, DVD 53 Min, ISBN 0-910420-32-7] is a m=
arvelous film that provides a welcome contrast to the abundance of toxic, d=
epressing predictions for the future in the world of post-Peak Oil. All who=
 have been demoralized by the succession of books foretelling societal disa=
ster post-Peak Oil can take hope and learn from the experience of Cuba foll=
owing the collapse of the Soviet Union.<br>


<br>
Cuba&#39;s Peak Oil preceded the world&#39;s by ten years or more. In the e=
arly 1990s, Cuba&#39;s curtailed supply of Soviet oil resulted in major cha=
llenges: both how to feed the nation and how to sustain an economy on much =
less readily available energy. Hunger and a paralyzed transportation and in=
dustrial system were imminent. Initially the Cuban government imposed ratio=
ning to assure everyone had access to the basic necessities, as some of us =
will recall was done in the US during WWII. But that only managed the sever=
e shortages. The Cuban people responded to the food crisis by largely aband=
oning their large scale agricultural system based on fluid fossil fuels and=
 by developing a system of locally managed and operated farms and urban plo=
ts worked sustainably. Virtually ever arable acre of land has been employed=
. Farmland that for years had been poisoned by over-reliance on oil-based p=
esticides and gas-based fertilizers and degraded by mechanized cultivation =
has been regenerated and replenished with soil-enriching organic farming te=
chniques that require more individual labor but much less fossil fuels.<br>


<br>
Rather than degenerating into factional, fratracidal conflict over the dimi=
nishing food supply, Cuba&#39;s Peak Oil necessitated societal changes that=
 resulted in more and better cooperation among neighbors for the local good=
 of communities. Jobs that formerly required heavy industrialization are no=
w managed on a much smaller scale using human or animal power in place of m=
echanization. Transportation has altered radically. Initially the Cuban gov=
ernment obtained millions of bicycles from China to supplant the fleet of p=
rivate motor vehicles. Now, fuel remains scarce, and is used largely for an=
 enhanced public transportation system that includes buses carrying up to t=
hree hundred passengers.<br>


<br>
Obviously the innovations and techniques applicable to subtropical Cuba may=
 not be suitable in specific detail for adoption in Eurasia or North Americ=
a. But the spirit of resourcefulness and return to personal and cooperative=
 group effort is hopeful and inspiring.<br>


<br>
Although this film appropriately indicts the United States for its long-ter=
m, ongoing embargo of Cuba, its principal message is the ingenuity, perseve=
rance and ultimate triumph of the Cuban people over unanticipated crises. A=
s, decades too late, the reality of world Peak Oil dawns on the rest of the=
 planet, it is deliciously ironic that Cuba not only has survived the enmit=
y of its northern neighbor, but - perforce of its own misguided reliance on=
 a transient foreign source of energy - has shown a way to persist and surv=
ive sustainably. The keys are three C&#39;s: community, conservation and co=
operation.<br>


<br>
As one speaker put it: &quot;Work with the planet, not against it!&quot; Fo=
r millions of years life on Earth has persisted and evolved in concert with=
 the chemical, physical and biological processes in the environment. The ad=
vent of the Age of Liquid Fossil Fuels brought humanity the ability to jump=
 start and force-march many of these processes at terrible cost to the plan=
et&#39;s environmental viability. In the waning days of the Oil Age, it is =
time for humanity to relearn the lessons of the past tens of thousands of y=
ears of civilization: life, human and otherwise, on Planet Earth can recove=
r and maintain its viability and sustainability only as we rediscover worki=
ng WITH this planet&#39;s environment, animate and inanimate, not against i=
t!<br>


<br>
There are many lessons for America and the rest of inhabited Earth to learn=
, adapt and employ from the successful experience of Cuba, a bellwether and=
 stalking horse in the quest for viable ways to continue to occupy this pla=
net sustainably. If only we will but do so!<br>


<br>
-John N. Cooper<br>
</div><br>

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