| | |  | CUBA | Home » » The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil | | | | | | | Description: | | When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba’s economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half and food imports cut by 80 percent, people were desperate. This fascinating and empowering film shows how communities pulled together, created solutions, and ultimately thrived in spite of their decreased dependence on imported energy. In the context of global Peak Oil worries, Cuba is an inspiring vision of hope. The Community Solution is a nonprofit organization that designs and teaches low-energy solutions to the current unsustainable, fossil fuel–based, industrialized, and centralized way of living.
| | | Product Details: | | | Format:
| Color | | Language:
| English | | Number of Discs:
| 1 | | Studio:
| The Community Solution | | Run Time:
| 53 minutes | | Average Customer Rating:
|  based on 13 reviews |
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| | | | Customer Reviews: | |
Average Customer Review:
 ( 13 customer reviews )
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43 of 48 found the following review helpful:
 Perhaps a useful blueprint for others in the future...Aug 13, 2007
By Robin G. Sowton
"rsowton"
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba became the first country faced with the peak oil crisis. Suddenly a supply of 13 million tons of oil a year dropped to 1 million. The change was seen almost immediately-within weeks. There were power outages, no air conditioning, and no elevators running. People would try to get to work with whatever transportation was available only to discover that there was no electricity at their jobs. The Cuban government had to import 2 million bicycles for transportation. Even construction was very limited because cement production requires high levels of fuel.
However, the biggest and most immediate problem became food scarcity. There was no fuel to transfer food and no electricity to refrigerate it, and the massive use of oil-based fossil fuel for pesticides and farm machinery had disappeared. Within the first few years of this crisis, these constraints, coupled with the continued U.S. blockade on food, resulted with most Cubans losing an average of 20 lbs per person.
With hunger spreading, people were left with no other choice and resorted to growing food wherever they could, and this led to widespread urban gardening. Famine was prevented by converting every open space in the city into gardening. Because they could no longer get access to oil-based pesticides, farmers had to resort to growing food organically.
Farmers also began the practice of crop-mixing to reduce pests, and scientists began making and exporting bio-pesticides. Changes resulted in smaller farms and more privately-owned cooperatives. Decision making became localized with fewer state regulations. Even schools became more decentralized.
Despite the many problems that Cuba continues to face, the Cubans have managed to find a way to use less energy. Today, the average Cuban uses 1/8 the energy of the average American.
Whether you view peak oil as real and inevitable, or as just a `market creation,' I think that you will still find this film interesting and insightful--and perhaps, inspiring.
19 of 24 found the following review helpful:
Fascinating, Educational and Empowering.Jun 29, 2007
By Rejoice!
"Aloha"
This incredible documentary proves necessity is the mother of invention. Cuba now boasts 90% organic farming, and has myriad solutions to deal with the paucity of oil. This movie is fascinating, educational and empowering. After viewing this documentary I no longer fear Peak Oil.
Bonus: the music is great.
16 of 20 found the following review helpful:
Eliminating Oil DependencyMar 08, 2007
By Mary Nelson
We need hope that we can have oil independence and have a sustainable world. A crisis of lack of oil pushed Cuba as a nation to do just that. This video succinctly shares the community wide action that eliminated oil dependency. It took some time and a lot of effort, but it is a hopeful example that oil independence can happen, even here in America. Good video to share with classes, groups, etc.
5 of 7 found the following review helpful:
Encouraging WordsFeb 16, 2009
By G. S. Moore
It's difficult to imagine life after oil, but from the example of one society that has drastically reduced its oil consumption, we can be hopeful that the future is not necessarily a bleak one. In the 1990s, because of the Soviet Union's collapse and a US trade embargo, Cuba lost 50% of its oil supplies. It entered what was known as "the Special Period": an 80% drop in export and import markets, food scarcity, and blackouts for sometimes 14-16 hours a day. By 1994, as a result of the special period, the average Cuban lost 10kg.
The Power of Community offers an encouraging story of how Cuba emerged from the special period and outgrew much of its earlier dependence on oil. The big topic is food supply, which was one of the areas hardest hit during the special period. With no more access to Russian chemical fertilizers or new equipment, domestic agricultural began to go into paralysis. Cubans had to reinvent the way they grew their food, and this began with an ad-hoc urban gardening movement which saw every available space utilized. With help from a group of Australian experts on permaculture, 400 Cubans were trained in organic gardening, and these trainees went on to spread their skills in towns, cities and rural areas. By the time The Power of Community was released in 2006, 80-100% of food in small cities and towns was being produced locally, farmers had become some of the highest paid workers, and use of pesticides had dropped from 21,000 tonnes per annum in the 1980s, to 1000 tonnes p/a. 80% of Cuban agriculture is now organic.
Faced with a national famine, Cubans broke up large-scale farms, returned to the land en masse, and began to explore some old ways of doing things (such as use of oxen), as well as some newer power alternatives (such as solar energy). In the process of transforming the scale of agriculture, and because scarcity demanded co-operation on so many levels, a shift occurred, not just in productivity, but in Cubans' connections to one another. As organizer Roberto Peres explains in the documentary, `The communities have changed. People didn't know their neighbours. People recovered a sense of neighbours. For me, it's not going backwards.' Patricia Allison, an expert on permaculture, described how, `The people co-operating with and caring about each other are the main factors that we need to encourage. It's not the technology, it's the human relationships.'
The Power of Community is about people facing hard times, trialling new approaches, and discovering through their actions, a more engaged relationship with their local community.
12 of 18 found the following review helpful:
Inspiring and shows the way aheadDec 14, 2006
By Stephen M. Amy
Cuba is the only economy in the world to have transitioned from being dependent on petroleum and natural gas to reducing to a fraction of former use. As "Hubbert's Peak" shows us (this reference is explained in the film), what Cuba has done will serve as a model for us all.
So, it's time to get used to a life of more careful consumption and employment in labor-intensive industry (old-fashioned farming). Not to worry: we are adaptable as far as what we think we need. Thoreau did it, and Cuba has done it on a nation-state basis.
See all 13 customer reviews on Amazon.com
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