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This is the story of the Cuban people s hardship after they lost access to Soviet oil in the early 1990s. In their own words the people tell of their ingenuity and triumph over sudden adversity through co-operation, conservation and community. It is a model of how to create a low-energy society using permaculture, transforming fossil-fuel intensive farming to small, less energy-intensive organic farms and from a highly industrial society to a more sustainable one that fosters better education and health care. Subtitles in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Norwegian, and Taiwanese-Mandarin
Synopsis
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 approximate running time is 53 minutes.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 13 people found the following review helpful
This is the antidote to 'A Crude Awakening', 'The End of surburbia' and 'An Inconvenient Truth'. All good films - but their tag line should be, "You thought the world was bad? Well, actually it's worse..."
This film is for you if you are already convinced of peak/oil and climate change and prefer practical solutions from real-life, large-scale examples.
This is simply the most inspiring film I have seen. It shows clearly how an oil dependent country can make the transition to life without oil. Cuba rediscovered living sustainably when the Soviet Union could no longer supply oil to it. Over three years Cubans lost a few pounds (most of them could afford to as the film points out!) as they couldn't transport food very far. Forced to grow organically (due to no petrochemical fertilisers) it took this three year period for their soil to recover from the hammering it had taken. But they emerged a resilient, self sufficient nation after this period of adjustment.
Cuba faced lack of oil early but is much the better for it. Every country will have to go through it someday and if the climate isn't going to get wrecked that day needs to be sooner rather than later. See this film, pass it on to your politician!
This is a positive film and I found it utterly refreshing after the barrage of doom-laden messages about the state of the world today. It made me put extra time in to my allotment!
This film is for you if you are already convinced of peak/oil and climate change and prefer practical solutions from real-life, large-scale examples.
This is simply the most inspiring film I have seen. It shows clearly how an oil dependent country can make the transition to life without oil. Cuba rediscovered living sustainably when the Soviet Union could no longer supply oil to it. Over three years Cubans lost a few pounds (most of them could afford to as the film points out!) as they couldn't transport food very far. Forced to grow organically (due to no petrochemical fertilisers) it took this three year period for their soil to recover from the hammering it had taken. But they emerged a resilient, self sufficient nation after this period of adjustment.
Cuba faced lack of oil early but is much the better for it. Every country will have to go through it someday and if the climate isn't going to get wrecked that day needs to be sooner rather than later. See this film, pass it on to your politician!
This is a positive film and I found it utterly refreshing after the barrage of doom-laden messages about the state of the world today. It made me put extra time in to my allotment!
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
There's so much doom and gloom from the green camp these days that it's easy to become numb to environmental issues so it was great to see such an inspiring story involving real solutions.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 Cuba was the subject of an import embargo by the US - any ship docking in Cuba could not enter a US port for 6 months. Cuba's access to oil was reduced by 50 percent and access to food by 80 percent. This short film covers the reaction of the Cuban government and its people in facing the challenges of oil shortage and food/ goods shortage. Many people see this as a test case for how other countries and communities can adapt to the diminishing supply and increasing cost of crude oil.
I was blown away by the ingenuity and sense of community that the `crisis' (referred to as The Special Time by the Cubans) brought out in the people. The government imported 1.1 million bikes from China to help people get around, converted lorries into buses and subdivided state owned farms to give free leases to local people to farm as co-operatives.
Communities were strengthened by the challenge and in cities people began cultivating their gardens, parks and rooftops. Access to chemical fertilisers was reduced by a factor of 21 and so organic farming practices were adopted - necessitating a small scale labour intensive approach to agriculture. Just like the good ol' days. Older farmers were brought out of retirement to teach people how to plough with Oxen and permaculturalists from Australia travelled to Cuba to help set up centres of learning where the community could share ideas and relearn traditional cultivation practices.
People had to de-centralise their lives as transport became more difficult. City people migrated back to the countryside to work on the land and live in small communities and university campuses sprung up all over Havana so that students could attend lectures locally. Incidentally Cuba now has more trained doctors than any other South American Country.
The upshot was that health improved, happiness improved and the Cuban people bounced back from the Crisis with a proud smile. The population were more exercised, more in touch with the land and even in cities up to 80% of their fruit and vegetables is produced with sustainable methods in their local area.
This DVD being my only source of information on the subject I hope that it's not hyped up propaganda as it was truly inspirational.
After the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1990 Cuba was the subject of an import embargo by the US - any ship docking in Cuba could not enter a US port for 6 months. Cuba's access to oil was reduced by 50 percent and access to food by 80 percent. This short film covers the reaction of the Cuban government and its people in facing the challenges of oil shortage and food/ goods shortage. Many people see this as a test case for how other countries and communities can adapt to the diminishing supply and increasing cost of crude oil.
I was blown away by the ingenuity and sense of community that the `crisis' (referred to as The Special Time by the Cubans) brought out in the people. The government imported 1.1 million bikes from China to help people get around, converted lorries into buses and subdivided state owned farms to give free leases to local people to farm as co-operatives.
Communities were strengthened by the challenge and in cities people began cultivating their gardens, parks and rooftops. Access to chemical fertilisers was reduced by a factor of 21 and so organic farming practices were adopted - necessitating a small scale labour intensive approach to agriculture. Just like the good ol' days. Older farmers were brought out of retirement to teach people how to plough with Oxen and permaculturalists from Australia travelled to Cuba to help set up centres of learning where the community could share ideas and relearn traditional cultivation practices.
People had to de-centralise their lives as transport became more difficult. City people migrated back to the countryside to work on the land and live in small communities and university campuses sprung up all over Havana so that students could attend lectures locally. Incidentally Cuba now has more trained doctors than any other South American Country.
The upshot was that health improved, happiness improved and the Cuban people bounced back from the Crisis with a proud smile. The population were more exercised, more in touch with the land and even in cities up to 80% of their fruit and vegetables is produced with sustainable methods in their local area.
This DVD being my only source of information on the subject I hope that it's not hyped up propaganda as it was truly inspirational.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
This video reflects part of the story told in "Eating Fossil Fuels" where Cuba was forced to respond to a sudden drop of oil imports due to the collapse of the Soviet Union. The story is told of how Cuba adopted Organic farming techniques, along with other Permaculture principles. A little introduction to Peak Oil is made, more as supporting material than the main subject.
Since it is unusual to see a film presenting good things about Cuba, along with the fact that much of the film is narrated from Permaculture practitioners, there is a suspicion that what the film portrays is too good to be true. Whether the solutions presented in the film can be adopted in other countries, with their different climate, social structure and leadership, remains to be seen. It was interesting to see the story corroborated (although only touched on) by "Monty Don's 80 Gardens"
All in all this is a very positive solutions-based documentary about how Cuba's agriculture responded to oil shortages, and how it is regarded as pioneering in terms of how similar responses may need to be adopted around the world as energy shortages spread from country to country. Highly recommended.
Since it is unusual to see a film presenting good things about Cuba, along with the fact that much of the film is narrated from Permaculture practitioners, there is a suspicion that what the film portrays is too good to be true. Whether the solutions presented in the film can be adopted in other countries, with their different climate, social structure and leadership, remains to be seen. It was interesting to see the story corroborated (although only touched on) by "Monty Don's 80 Gardens"
All in all this is a very positive solutions-based documentary about how Cuba's agriculture responded to oil shortages, and how it is regarded as pioneering in terms of how similar responses may need to be adopted around the world as energy shortages spread from country to country. Highly recommended.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Excellent Positive Film
An excellent film, a must see! Brilliantly captures the truth about peak oil and all the positive changes we can make to our world if we see peak oil as a challenge rather than a... Read more
Published 8 months ago by O. TAYLOR
A really engaging and inspring overview of sustainability in practice
Whilst sold on the underlying message of "The End of Suburbia", that DVD really didn't do anything for me - there was only one (USA-focussed) thing that I learnt from it and I... Read more
Published on 26 July 2009 by J. S. Hardman
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