[Peakoil-announce] Tonight: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

[Alex P]

Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
"The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil", documents Cuba’s
emergency transition to local organic agriculture, renewable energy, and
large-scale mass transit. The transition occurred following the Soviet
collapse in 1990, when their massive subsidies of imported oil and food to
Cuba were halted.
In this documentary, ordinary Cubans talk about the immediate hardships they
faced. Their GDP dropped by more than one third, transportation nearly
stopped and food became scarce - the average Cuban lost 20 pounds during the
first years of this economic crisis.
The film visits urban gardens and organic farms, explains the relationship
between food and fossil fuels, and shows how a society can change from an
industrialized, global focus to a local, community-based one. It is a rare
view into this island culture, using firsthand reporting that focuses on
what Cubans learned about adapting to living with less.
Cuba’s experience provides a living model for how the rest of the world can
respond to the coming world oil production peak and irreversible decline
some oil experts say will occur this decade. “Everyone who is concerned
about Peak Oil needs to see this film,” said Richard Heinberg, author of The
Party's Over and Powerdown. “It is a story not just of individual
achievement, but of the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet
an enormous challenge.”
The Community Solution, Executive Producer of the film, is a non-profit
organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio dedicated to seeking viable, low-energy
options to the coming peak oil crisis. It hosts the annual “U.S. Conference
on Peak Oil and Community Solutions,” and offers other programs to increase
public awareness about peak oil.
Producers Faith Morgan, Pat Murphy, and Megan Quinn traveled to Cuba in 2004
to capture Cubans’ story on film. Greg Greene, videographer and
writer/director of the documentary The End of Suburbia, and photographer
John Morgan, traveled with them as additional crew in Cuba. Eric Johnson was
editor and Tom Blessing IV, associate producer.
Speaker/Host:  ANU Enviro Collective & Green Left Weekly
Venue:  Manning Clark Theatre 5
Date:  Tuesday, 3 October 2006
Time:  6:30 PM - 8:30 PM
Website:  www.communitysolution.org
Enquiries:  bess on 0401 868 197  


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Alex
O4O4873828

ACT Peak Oil
http://act-peakoil.org