The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

Many people look down on Cuba and consider the US ahead of their time. However, after I visited Cuba and watched the documentary, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, I learned that it is ahead of the US in a few ways.

In the 1990s, Cuba reached “Peak Oil” (the point at which oil rate of production peaks and then heads into a steady decline) after the Soviet Union cut off all oil exports to them. There was an immediate crisis in Cuba often referred to as “The Special Period,” which included frequent black outs and shortages of food. The Cubans were forced to come up with alternatives, first, after the downfall of the Soviets and then, the embargo with America in 1992. So, how did they survive?

They reused the beer bottles to store tomato paste

They changed their ways to more sustainable practices. The Soviets originally supplied the Cubans with large amounts of fertilizers and pesticides. Once they cut off their supply, the Cubans adopted sustainable practices to include composting, crop rotation, green manure and worm humus (richer humus worms produce after they consume organic compost). From the 1980s to present day, Cubans were able to reduce their use of pesticides from 21,000 to 1,000 tons. Now, 80% of their agriculture is organic (without pesticides). Even more, the produce Cubans consume is grown locally though urban agriculture and other methods. Because farmers are able to provide food and money for their family, farming is considered one of the best jobs in Cuba.
 

To store the heat from the sun

I asked one farmer who works on an organic farm if Cubans would use pesticides if they were accessible to them. He responded that he wouldn’t because he realizes the damage it would do to human health and the health of the land. As of right now, pesticides are quite limited and expensive in Cuba due to its embargo with the US. I only wonder what will happen when the embargo is lifted. Will Cuban farmers fall victim to the low prices and high production? Or will they use what they learned from the past to resist these harmful chemicals?

The best meal I have ever had- and it was all organic!

When will America hop on board to an agricultural system based on the well-being of human health and the earth instead of the fast-paced, mass-producing ways of a backward society? Will we only be able to reach this turning point when we hit “Peak Oil” production or will we be able to start moving in the right direction of sustainable agriculture without being “forced” into it? 

 

     These pictures are all from Organoponico Vivero Alamar, an organic farm outside Havanna, Cuba

 

 

 

 

 

Two Sides of the Same Coin: Environmental and Economical for Cuba

Again, I find myself preaching the same message, if you are environmentally friendly, you are economically friendly.

Let me give you a few examples.

Organic Farms: Pesticides-Very few families use them- why? Pesticides are expensive. It makes more sense (cents!) financially to practice alternative methods of pest control.
How to Keep Away Plants

1) Use alternative plants with a powerful smell

• basil
• marigolds

2) Multiple Crops in One Spot so the plants can benefit from one another
3) "Hotel" Plant

• corn stock or alternatives can be used as an "hotel" to distract insects on their way to their destination

They also recycle their beer bottles by using them to store tomato paste! They compost, and use solar techniques such as the aluminum bowl to store heat.

Recycling: The interesting thing about recycling here, is that many impoverished people do it not necessarily for the environmental reasons, but more to gain the extra cents. They get 8 pesos for 2.5 lbs of plastic (not very much!).

Reuse: Unlike the consumer culture in the West, the people here reuse most items. They make their old coke cans into race cars and pretend cameras. They hardly ever use plastic bags, simply because it is not economically viable. When people are provided with less, they seem to be more creative and waste less to conserve money. At the same time, they are also helping the environment.

The Encapsulated City

Upon arriving, at our hotel, Tejadillo, in the old port of Havanna, Cuba, I learned something right off the bat: life is simple here.

And in that way, it is nice and cozy. Picture America in the early 1950s. Old cars- pink and baby blue, polished and preserved . Little boys run past us as they play baseball in the parks. Small drugstores are filled with medicine hidden inside porcelain vases. Pastel- colored houses line the streets with women drying their clothing on their balconies and children lining up for ice-cream cones.

And I think this is how it was for us to at one point too, right? Children weren’t locked instead their rooms playing video games? Parents put family before work?

I almost feel as though I have traveled back in time. I want to warn them of what the future has in store. I want to remind them to always put community first, and limit the use of electronics.

It is this simple way of life that many people in America want to go back to. In some ways, I feel as though that is what bring people to Cuba in the first place. They like shaking that fragile snow globe and watching as everything falls right back to place.

But at the same time it is scary to think that this will all change soon. That the government will fall, embargos will end, and large American corporations will sneak into the market. Soon, there will be McDonalds on every block and AT&Ts selling IPhones to the kids.

And this lifestyle in which Americans fled from will soon take over. This fragile, simple snow globe will be broken.