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The Power of Community: How Cuba survived Peak Oil

Submitted by TTTAdmin on 29 July 2008 - 1:43pm.

Date and time:

18 Sep 2008 - 8:00pm - 18 Sep 2008 - 10:00pm

Venue:

Totnes Methodist Church

Price:

£5 (£4 concession)

Brief description (3 lines max):

An evening talk by Roberto Peres with Cuban music.

The big words on many people's minds today are climate change and peak oil. The big question is how do we make the transition to a low energy society, and what would such a society be like? Where are there models we can learn and take inspiration from? If you have seen the award-winning documentary film, ‘The Power of Community’ you might promptly reply "Cuba". Roberto Perez, Cuban Permaculturist and star of the film ‘The Power of Community’ is coming to give a talk in an evening that also featuring live Cuban music on Thursday 18th September at the Totnes Methodist Church.
When

Cuba

lost access to Soviet oil, fertilizers and export trade market in the early 1990s, the country faced virtual overnight economic collapse and an immediate crisis - feeding the population. The story of the Cuban people's hardship, ingenuity, and triumph over sudden adversity --through cooperation, conservation, and community--to create a low energy society is inspirational. Cuba's transition to organic agriculture, and rapid relocalisation based on decentralized health care and higher education, bicycles and public transport, and community response to radical change is both thought provoking and empowering.
Roberto Perez, Cuban permaculturist, featured in the film, will spend 2 months touring Australia sharing the Cuban experience through public presentations, national and regional conferences. Roberto attributes much of the success of Cuba's urban agriculture and food security to the introduction of permaculture by a group of Australian permaculture trainers during the early years of the Cuban crisis, or ‘Special Period'. The city of Havana now produces over 60% of its fruit and vegetables within the city and peri-urban areas. This unmissable evening will tell a story of hope, of courage and of people taking action and responding creatively to crisis.

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