An example for sustainability and survival: Cuba

[blindpig]

Washington, Oct 26: A report published by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) claims that the only country in the world with "sustainable development" is Cuba.

The WWF includes in its report a graph, which shows two features -- the Human Development Index (established by the united nations) and the so-called "ecological footprint" which shows the per person energy and resources consumed in each country.

Surprisingly, only Cuba has passed in both areas, which is enough to be designated a country that "meets the minimum sensitivity criteria".

The study`s authors credit the high level of literacy, long life expectancy and low consumption of energy for this success. The authors also claim that Latin America is the region that leads in sustainable development.

That generalisation is a little bit far-fetched, however, comments alternative US website vivirlatino.Com.

"For 20 years we`ve lived our lives in a way that far exceeds the carrying capacity of the earth," said Carter S Roberts, president and CEO of World Wildlife Fund on presenting the report.

The living planet report 2006 was released globally Monday from Beijing, China, and carries data indices which indicate the earth`s well-being.

http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?rep=2&aid=331619&sid=ENV&ssid=26

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Las Terrazas sets an example of Cuba’s concern with sustainability to include: (1) Raising the standard of living through satisfying in an integral manner the material and social needs of the population with emphasis on raising the educational and cultural level and including the environmental dimension in the economic and social development of the country, (2) Integration of economic, fiscal, commercial, energy, agriculture and industry policies to protect the environment and guarantee the sustainable use of natural resources in a framework of justice and equity, (3) Preserving for the next millennium the social achievements of the revolutionary process, (4) Defending collective access to the fundamental social services which are the guarantee of equity supporting sustainability, (5) Searching for greater efficiency in the productive processes, alternative sources of energy and sustainable agriculture practices, (6) Better education and dissemination processes aimed at increasing environmental awareness, and (7) Finding solutions to key environmental problems in the country such as land degradation, water contamination, sewage and environmental conditions in human settlements, deforestation, and loss of biological diversity.

http://library.witpress.com/pages/PaperInfo.asp?PaperID=14789

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School kids play in the shade of a photovoltaic panel that powers lights in their remote village school. Down the road a few dozen kilometers, a couple of teenagers sit next to a small hydroelectric plant, listening for subtle changes and tinkering with the manual controls to keep the frequency stable as load varies. Throughout the countryside, large sugar mills pump electricity back into the national grid. In Havana, a father pedals past an empty gas station on a bicycle loaded with his son on the handlebars and his wife on the back, each carrying a large bag of groceries. These are images of a country struggling in creative ways with a serious energy crisis.

The collapse of the Soviet Union and dissolution of the socialist bloc at the end of the eighties brought an end to trading terms that had allowed Cuba to trade sugar for oil and other imports at favorable rates, an arrangement that had helped Cuba rapidly develop its economy. The U.S., still looking for ways to put an end to a socialist revolution just off Florida's coast, saw in this turn of events an opportunity to put economic pressure on the government led by Fidel Castro. In 1992 and again in 1996, the U.S. intensified the economic embargo on Cuba, making access to resources and up-to-date technologies difficult and expensive. This triggered an economic crisis - which Cubans euphemistically refer to as the "Special Period" - that has put a major strain on this previously flourishing economy. As prices of energy and other resources have skyrocketed, production in the country has plummeted. Commodities ranging from oil, soap, and foodstuffs to medical equipment like pacemakers and even basic medicine have become scarce and expensive.

Cuban annual per capita energy consumption has dropped to about four barrels of oil equivalent, half of what it was before the Special Period. By comparison, the U.S. uses the equivalent of 59 barrels of oil per person annually.

http://tlent.home.igc.org/renewable%20energy%20in%20cuba.html

[msongs]

1. dead people also use less energy - it's the CHE model of energy independence nt

[blindpig]

2. Care to back that up? n/t

[wuushew]

4. Do you think the world doesn't have sustainability problems?

We need to modify our economy and material expectations in some manner. Just because you are a Cuba-phobic doesn't mean that we can't draw parallels to other regions like Europe and Japan.

The United States is on a fast track to join other fallen civilizations on the ash-heap of history.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

3. I saw an article about that several years ago in the Atlantic or some other

middle-of-the-road magazine.

The loss of Soviet subsidies coupled with the U.S. embargo sent them into deep trouble for a while, but they've been quite ingenious in coping.

[blindpig]

5. Cuban agriculture

Over the past decade, Cuba has increased domestic food production through dramatically restructuring agricultural production, distribution and marketing systems within an environmentally and socially sustainable framework. Prior to 1989, Cuban agriculture was based on large-scale, capital-intensive monoculture systems for export to the Soviet Block, and more than 90 percent of fertilizers and pesticides were imported from abroad. When trade relations with the socialist bloc collapsed in 1990, pesticides and fertilizers virtually disappeared, and the availability of petroleum for agriculture dropped by half. Food imports also fell by more than half. This crisis, called the Special Period in Cuba, catalyzed a shift away from production systems based on imported inputs of fuel, fertilizers, pesticides and high-tech equipment towards organic, low-capital, self-reliant farming systems. Today, Cuba is moving towards food self-sufficiency, due in part to a thriving small-scale farm sector, widespread community and household gardens, and direct marketing networks. Cuban agricultural policy promotes ecologically sustainable production through soil conservation, organic soil inputs, biological pest control, and the reincorporation of rural and urban populations into agriculture.

Cuba appears to have broken the policy barriers that have inhibited the widespread adoption of organic and biologically intensive farming and has undergone a comprehensive conversion to sustainable and organic farming. The Cuban Association for Organic Farming, a non-governmental organization, maintains that Cuba offers the very first large-scale test of sustainable agricultural production alternatives in action. The CSANR-sponsored Cuba Sustainable Agriculture Study Tour provided a good opportunity to observe what has worked and what has not worked in regards to a wholesale conversion to sustainable agriculture practices.

http://csanr.wsu.edu/Cuba/CubaTripReport2003-09-09.pdf