How Cuba survived peak oil.

How Cuba survived peak oil.

This very inspiring article shows how Cuba is building a green economy (although I don't quite see this as a rejection of their socialist politics!), Greens should be working very hard to make sure that Cuba and Venezuela are not demolished by the USA, these are countries where practical green solutions are advancing fast and of course the Bush regime is very keen to snuff them out. While we should remain critical and thoughtfull, lets be aware that the USA is not motivated by the need to promote 'democracy' but by the desire to maintain global capitalism.

Please support solidarity groups and learn more about Cuba and Venezuela....Richard Gott's recent book on Venezuela is essential.

Promote solidarity with Cuba and Venezuela www.cubasolidarity.net/cubalink.html, www.vicuk.org and www.ratb.org.uk

Perhaps email Megan and see if you can show the film on Cuba (available in the US, not sure about rest of the world) for your Green Party or Cuba solidarity meeting.


This article appeared in the special Peak Oil issue of Permaculture Activist,
Spring 2006, (www.permacultureactivist.net). The author, Megan Quinn, is the
outreach director for The Community Solution, (www.communitysolution.org), a
program of Community Service Inc., a nonprofit organization in Yellow Springs,
Ohio. For information about its soon-to-be-released documentary, "The Power of
Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" visit its website, e-mail her at
megan@communitysolution.org, or call 937-767-2161.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

By Megan Quinn

From Permaculture Activist

Havana, Cuba-- At the Organipónico de Alamar, a neighborhood agriculture
project, a workers' collective runs a large urban farm, a produce market and a
restaurant. Hand tools and human labor replace oil-driven machinery. Worm
cultivation and composting create productive soil. Drip irrigation conserves water,
and the diverse, multi-hued produce provides the community with a rainbow of
healthy foods.

In other Havananeighborhoods, lacking enough land for such large projects,
residents have installed raised garden beds on parking lots and planted
vegetable gardens on their patios and rooftops.

Since the early 1990s, an urban agriculture movement has swept through Cuba,
putting this capital city of 2.2 million on a path toward sustainability.

A small group of Australians assisted in this grass-roots effort, coming to
this Caribbeanisland nation in 1993 to teach permaculture, a system based on
sustainable agriculture which uses far less energy.

This need to bring agriculture into the city began with the fall of the
Soviet Union and the loss of more than 50 percent of Cuba's oil imports, much of
its food and 85 percent of its trade economy. Transportation halted, people went
hungry and the average Cuban lost 30 pounds.

"In reality, when this all began, it was a necessity. People had to start
cultivating vegetables wherever they could," a tour guide told a documentary crew
filming in Cubain 2004 to record how Cubasurvived on far less oil than usual.


The crew included the staff of The Community Solution, a non-profit
organization in Yellow Springs, Ohiowhich teaches about peak oil - the time when oil
production world-wide will reach an all-time high and head into an irreversible
decline. Some oil analysts believe this may happen within this decade, making
Cubaa role model to follow.

"We wanted to see if we could capture what it is in the Cuban people and the
Cuban culture that allowed them to go through this very difficult time," said
Pat Murphy, The Community Solution's executive director. "Cubahas a lot to
show the world in how to deal with energy adversity."

Scarce petroleum supplies have not only transformed Cuba's agriculture. The
nation has also moved toward small-scale renewable energy and developed an
energy-saving mass transit system, while maintaining its government-provided
health care system whose preventive, locally-based approach to medicine conserves
scarce resources.

The era in Cubafollowing the Soviet collapse is known to Cubans as the
Special Period. Cubalost 80 percent of its export market and its imports fell by 80
percent. The Gross Domestic Product dropped by more than one third.

"Try to image an airplane suddenly losing its engines. It was really a
crash," Jorge Mario, a Cuban economist, told the documentary crew. A crash that put
Cubainto a state of shock. There were frequent blackouts in its oil-fed
electric power grid, up to 16 hours per day. The average daily caloric intake in
Cubadropped by a third.

According to a report on Cubafrom Oxfam, an international development and
relief agency, "In the cities, buses stopped running, generators stopped
producing electricity, factories became silent as graveyards. Obtaining enough food
for the day became the primary activity for many, if not most, Cubans."

In part due to the continuing US embargo, but also because of the loss of a
foreign market, Cubacouldn't obtain enough imported food. Furthermore, without
a substitute for fossil-fuel based large-scale farming, agricultural
production dropped drastically.

So Cubans started to grow local organic produce out of necessity, developed
bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers as petrochemical substitutes, and
incorporated more fruits and vegetables into their diets. Since they couldn't fuel their
aging cars, they walked, biked, rode buses, and carpooled.

"There are infinite small solutions," said Roberto Sanchez from the
Cuban-based Foundation for Nature and Humanity. "Crises or changes or problems can
trigger many of these things which are basically adaptive. We are adapting."

A New Agricultural Revolution

Cubans are also replacing petroleum-fed machinery with oxen, and their urban
agriculture reduces food transportation distances. Today an estimated 50
percent of Havana's vegetables come from inside the city, while in other Cuban
towns and cities urban gardens produce from 80 percent to more than 100 percent of
what they need.

In turning to gardening, individuals and neighborhood organizations took the
initiative by identifying idle land in the city, cleaning it up, and planting.

When the Australian permaculturists came to Cubathey set up the first
permaculture demonstration project with a $26,000 grant from the Cuban government.

Out of this grew the Foundation for Nature and Humanity's urban permaculture
demonstration project and center in Havana. "With this demonstration,
neighbors began to see the possibilities of what they can do on their rooftops and
their patios," said Carmen López, director of the urban permaculture center, as
she stood on the center's rooftop amongst grape vines, potted plants, and
compost bins made from tires.

Since then the movement has been spreading rapidly across Havana's barrios.
So far López' urban permaculture center has trained more than 400 people in the
neighborhood in permaculture and distributes a monthly publication, "El
Permacultor." "Not only has the community learned about permaculture," according to
López, "we have also learned about the community, helping people wherever
there is need."

One permaculture student, Nelson Aguila, an engineer-turned-farmer, raises
food for the neighborhood on his integrated rooftop farm. On just a few hundred
square feet he has rabbits and hens and many large pots of plants. Running
free on the floor are gerbils, which eat the waste from the rabbits, and become
an important protein source themselves. "Things are changing," Sanchez said.
"It's a local economy. In other places people don't know their neighbors. They
don't know their names. People don't say 'hello' to each other. Not here."

Since going from petrochemical intensive agricultural production to organic
farming and gardening, Cubanow uses 21 times less pesticide than before the
Special Period. They have accomplished this with their large-scale production of
bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers, exporting some of it to other Latin
American countries.

Though the transition to organic production and animal traction was
necessary, the Cubans are now seeing the advantages. "One of the good parts of the
crisis was to go back to the oxen," said Miguel Coyula, a community development
specialist, "Not only do they save fuel, they do not compact the soil the way
the tractor does, and the legs of the oxen churn the earth."

"The Cuban agricultural, conventional, 'Green Revolution' system never was
able to feed the people," Sanchez said. "It had high yields, but was oriented to
plantation agriculture. We exported citrus, tobacco, sugar cane and we
imported the basic things. So the system, even in the good times, never fulfilled
people's basic needs."

Drawing on his permaculture knowledge, Sanchez said, "You have to follow the
natural cycles, so you hire nature to work for you, not work against nature.
To work against nature, you have to waste huge amounts of energy."

Energy Solutions

Because most of Cuba's electricity had been generated from imported oil, the
shortages affected nearly everyone on the island. Scheduled rolling blackouts
several days per week lasted for many years. Without refrigerators, food would
spoil. Without electric fans, the heat was almost unbearable in a country
that regularly has temperatures in the 80s and 90s.

The solutions to Cuba's energy problems were not easy. Without money, it
couldn't invest in nuclear power and new conventional fossil fuel plants or even
large-scale wind and solar energy systems. Instead, the country focused on
reducing energy consumption and implementing small-scale renewable energy
projects.

Ecosol Solar and Cuba Solar are two renewable energy organizations leading
the way. They help develop markets for renewable energy, sell and install
systems, perform research, publish newsletters, and do energy efficiency studies for
large users.

Ecosol Solar has installed 1.2 megawatts of solar photovoltaic in both small
household systems (200 watt capacity) and large systems (15-50 kilowatt
capacity). In the United States1.2 megawatts would provide electricity to about 1000
homes, but can supply power to significantly more houses in Cubawhere
appliances are few, conservation is the custom, and the homes are much smaller.

About 60 percent of Ecosol Solar's installations go to social programs to
power homes, schools, medicals facilities, and community centers in rural Cuba.
It recently installed solar photovoltaic panels to electrify 2,364 primary
schools throughout rural Cubawhere it was not cost effective to take the grid. In
addition, it is developing compact model solar water heaters that can be
assembled in the field, water pumps powered by PV panels, and solar dryers.

A visit to "Los Tumbos," a solar-powered community in the rural hills
southwest of Havanademonstrates the positive impact that these strategies can have.
Once without electricity, each household now has a small solar panel that
powers a radio and a lamp. Larger systems provide electricity to the school,
hospital, and community room, where residents gather to watch the evening news
program called the "Round Table." Besides keeping the residents informed, the
television room has the added benefit of bringing the community together.

"The sun was enough to maintain life on earth for millions of years," said
Bruno Beres, a director of Cuba Solar. "Only when we [humans] arrived and
changed the way we use energy was the sun not enough. So the problem is with our
society, not with the world of energy."

Transportation - A System of Ride Sharing

Cubans also faced the problem of providing transportation on a reduced energy
diet. Solutions came from ingenious Cubans, who often quote the phrase,
"Necessity is the mother of invention." With little money or fuel, Cubanow moves
masses of people during rush hour in Havana. In an inventive approach, virtually
every form of vehicle, large and small, was used to build this mass transit
system. Commuters ride in hand-made wheelbarrows, buses, other motorized
transport and animal-powered vehicles.

One special Havanatransit vehicle, nicknamed a "camel," is a very large metal
semi-trailer, pulled by a standard semi-truck tractor, which holds 300
passengers. Bicycles and motorized two-passenger rickshaws are also prevalent in
Havana, while horse drawn carts and large old panel trucks are used in the
smaller towns.

Government officials in yellow garb pull over nearly empty government
vehicles and trucks on Havana's streets and fill them with people needing a ride.
Chevys from the 1950s cruise along with four people in front and four more in
back.

A donkey cart with a taxi license nailed to the frame also travels Cuba's
streets. Many trucks were converted to passenger transport by welding steps to
the back so riders could get on and off with ease.

Health Care and Education - National Priorities

Even though Cuba is a poor country, with a per capita Gross Domestic Product
of only $3,000 per year (putting them in the bottom third of all nations),
life expectancy is the same as in the U.S., and infant mortality is below that in
the U.S. The literacy rate in Cubais 97 percent, the same as in the U.S.
Cuba's education system, as well as its medical system is free.

When Cubans suffered through their version of a peak oil crisis, they
maintained their free medical system, one of the major factors that helped them to
survive. Cubans repeatedly emphasize how proud they are of their system.

Before the Cuban Revolution in 1959, there was one doctor for every 2000
people. Now there is a doctor for every 167 people. Cubaalso has an international
medical school and trains doctors to work in other poor countries. Each year
there are 20,000 Cuban doctors abroad doing this kind of work.

With meat scarce and fresh local vegetables in abundance since 1995, Cubans
now eat a healthy, low-fat, nearly vegetarian, diet. They also have a healthier
outdoor lifestyle and walking and bicycling have become much more common.
"Before, Cubans didn't eat that many vegetables. Rice and beans and pork meat was
the basic diet," Sanchez from the Foundation for Nature and Humanity said.
"At some point necessity taught them, and now they demand [vegetables]."

Doctors and nurses live in the community where they work and usually above
the clinic itself. In remote rural areas, three-story buildings are constructed
with the doctor's office on the bottom floor and two apartments on the second
and third floors, one for the doctor and one for the nurse.

In the cities, the doctors and nurses always live in the neighborhoods they
serve. They know the families of their patients and try to treat people in
their homes. "Medicine is a vocation, not a job," exclaimed a Havanadoctor,
demonstrating the motivation for her work. In Cuba60 percent of the doctors are
women.

Education is considered the most important social activity in Cuba. Before
the revolution, there was one teacher for every 3,000 people. Today the ratio is
one for every 42 people, with a teacher-student ratio of 1 to 16. Cubahas a
higher percentage of professionals than most developing countries, and with 2
percent of the population of Latin America, Cubahas 11 percent of all the
scientists.

In an effort to halt migration from the countryside to the city during the
Special Period, higher education was spread out into the provinces, expanding
learning opportunities and strengthening rural communities. Before the Special
Period there were only three institutions of higher learning in Cuba. Now there
are 50 colleges and universities throughout the country, seven in Havana.


The Power of Community

Throughout its travels, the documentary crew saw and experienced the
resourcefulness, determination, and optimism of the Cuban people, often hearing the
phrase "Sí, se puede" or "Yes it can be done."

People spoke of the value of "resistir" or "resistance," showing their
determination to overcome obstacles. And they have lived under a U.S.economic
blockade since the early 1960s, viewed as the ultimate test of the Cuban ability to
resist.

There is much to learn from Cuba's response to the loss of cheap and abundant
oil. The staff of The Community Solution sees these lessons as especially
important for people in developing countries, who make up 82 percent of the
world's population and live more on life's edge. But developed countries are also
vulnerable to shortages in energy. And with the coming onset of peak oil, all
countries will have to adapt to the reality of a lower energy world.

With this new reality, the Cuban government changed its 30-year motto from
"Socialism or Death" to "A Better World is Possible." Government officials
allowed private entrepreneurial farmers and neighborhood organizations to use
public land to grow and sell their produce. They pushed decision-making down to the
grassroots level and encouraged initiatives in their neighborhoods. They
created more provinces. They encouraged migration back to the farms and rural
areas and reorganized their provinces to be in-line with agricultural needs.

From The Community Solution's viewpoint, Cubadid what it could to survive,
despite its ideology of a centralized economy. In the face of peak oil and
declining oil production, will Americado what it takes to survive, in spite of its
ideology of individualism and consumerism? Will Americans come together in
community, as Cubans did, in the spirit of sacrifice and mutual support?

"There is climate change, the price of oil, the crisis of energy ..." Beres
from Cuba Solar said, listing off the challenges humanity faces. "What we must
know is that the world is changing and we must change the way we see the world."

This article appeared in the special Peak Oil issue of Permaculture Activist,
Spring 2006, (www.permacultureactivist.net). The author, Megan Quinn, is the
outreach director for The Community Solution, (www.communitysolution.org), a
program of Community Service Inc., a nonprofit organization in Yellow Springs,
Ohio. For information about its soon-to-be-released documentary, "The Power of
Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" visit its website, e-mail her at
megan@communitysolution.org, or call 937-767-2161.