During the late 1980’s early 1990’s Cuba’s economy was hit with a sledge hammer when the Soviet Union collapsed. What was once their primary source of outside goods and revenue their over dependence on imports failed them. The effects of peak oil crisis hit Cuba before anyone else, isolated, their entire way of life changed for survival. According to the in class film “How Cuba Survived the Oil Crisis,” Cuba’s imports and exports dropped tremendously by eighty percent. They encountered an energy famine virtually overnight, no oil, lack of electricity and food. Starvation quickly settled in and the people of Cuba needed to act quickly and adapt in order to survive. Agriculture skyrocketed. With no more food coming in, people needed to make their own. Those who lived in rural areas actually had the advantage of land, and farmers became much more respected wealthy. In fact some took from the city to rural settings. The government purchased with what money it had left thousands of bikes for its people with the knowledge that transportation would be an issue. Cars and other motor vehicles for the most part became useless blocks of metal that took up space. There was no oil to power them. The Cuban government also began rationing, so people could only get a certain amount of food a month necessary. However this was not enough. Farming and gardening began to spring up everywhere including the city called urban gardening. According to the movie, October of 1993 with the help of $26,000 American dollars began the popular rooftop gardens in cities. This urban gardening movement eliminated the need for transportation of food over long distances and of course all of this created new jobs and eventually revitalized the Cuban economy. This was not an easy process however; organic farming as they realized, takes a drastic transition. After such abuse of the land’s soil using artificial fertilizers and pesticides, the soil takes time to rebuild. Housing became much simpler due to the increase in difficulty to create cement and now many rely on the use of solar panels for electricity and to heat things such as water, when before the crisis hit, 95% of Cuba was connected to the grid. Air conditioning is hard to come by which is especially annoying a climate such as theirs, also most elevators are no longer in use. So many things we take for granted have been swept from them, but this did not hinder their ability to thrive. They found other ways to do things. Now twenty-one times less pesticides are used, finding adequate organic substitutes to solve problems, people even fabricated green house type housings for their gardens and farms constructed of fabric mesh that not only reduces the amount of pestering insects, but also increases their growing season. Another movie fact according to the urban planner who spoke, transportation is still terrible but what used to only have three major universities, Cuba now has fifty small universities spread all over the country; a perfect example of how the country has adapted to its problems on so many levels. In their struggle, a transition which took about six years Cubans have built much closer communities and strong cultural ties, with each other’s help for example among city dwellers who don’t have much land to garden, they now help each other. With cooperation and reciprocation, together they have the potential to gain much more and live more comfortably. In six years, one can argue that Cubans were eating almost as well as they did before 1989. In fact it is true that they are eating much healthier diets as a result of their organic transition, and how ironic is it that their infant death rate is less than that of the U.S., a developed country!
Cuba’s energy famine in 1989 was and still is a great example of what and a similar oil crisis may hold in store for us. In fact after famous geologist Hubbert accurately predicted the U.S. peak oil in 1970, which resulted in record high interest rates, gas prices, energy shortage, and of course the resultant plunge of the economy. Perhaps if we had took this more seriously along with the example of Cuba, and began seriously implementing steps for an organic transition sooner, maybe we would not be facing the much larger problem of the imminent Global Oil Crisis now. Alright well as I say, better late than never. Our way of life has to undergo drastic changes. Yes, I know way easier said than done, but what are we to do when it is too late? What kind of life will our kids have, and our kid’s kids? We can start by large scale urban agricultural and local growing more than ever. Making the transition to organic foods is one of the most important steps to take. A fact from the in class film, “the typical American a year consumes 10 barrels of oil for food, 9 for cars, and 7 for houses.” That just goes to show you how much we depend on oil for food. Is this an inclination for future starvation? Probably not for the U.S., as we discussed in class, due to the climate and diversity of land in the U.S. we will probably be okay. However that is a very egocentric way of looking at things being that as humans, shouldn’t it be our duty to collectively work together to save our planet globally? What is six years in the scope of things? This is about how long it took Cuba to get on its feet after its energy famine, why not strive for this before we stare our issue in the face, and smell it nasty breathe. Cuba did have an arguable advantage to undergo this transition indeed, because they a dictatorship nation, the government sort of put its foot down and made the initial decisions that forced people to keep the ball rolling. You could say they were thrown into the water, and had to learn how to swim, and that they did.
Home for the weekend, this morning I actually went on a short bike ride with my family to a new walkway bridge that opened up over the Hudson. On the way there passing through the city of Poughkeepsie I noticed plastic wind turbines sort of things, sort of like giant ‘whirligigs’ that harness any wind and convert it to electricity via wiring system of some sort. Surprised I actually stopped to take a picture which is below in a comment as soon as I find my camera cable. My town also has a local farming system built and farmed by locals, where one is able to purchase their all organic produce. I see how this sort of thing builds closer knit communities, and I enjoy it. It really makes me want to get more involved. Slowly I see changes, but this needs to be far more invasive in everyone’s lives to make any difference. My favorite quote by a speaker from the in class movie was, “If you don’t take care of the earth, the earth will take care of us,…get rid of us!” Human’s can and have always adapted, however it is up to us whether we would like to take a slightly easier path, than the hardest. By no means will anything be easy but much better than doing nothing.
References-
In Class Movie“The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived the Oil Crisis”
