At its monthly public forum on
October 19th, the South Eastman Transition Initiative
showed the movie, “The Power of Community: How Cuba survived Peak
Oil”. I am writing this column to share the challenge of the movie
with those who did not attend this event.
Basically the movie documents what
happened in Cuba following the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1989.
For many years Cuba had depended on the Soviet Union for most of its
raw materials, including oil. When the oil stopped flowing, Cubans
faced a crisis. They had to re-invent a way of life that did not rely
on cheap and abundant oil.
To focus this context, the movie
offers a quick summary of the state of the global oil industry.
As Dr. M. King Hubbard predicted in
the 1950s, oil production in the USA peaked in 1974. Nevertheless,
appetite for oil continued to soar. On average today, the USA uses 26
barrels of oil a year for every citizen. Globally we use five barrels
for every new barrel discovered. Developing economies like China
exacerbate the problem as they demand lifestyles comparable to those
in America.
It is not likely that our oil will
stop flowing within a matter of weeks, as in Cuba. But Cuba’s
experience ended up being a laboratory experiment that the rest of
the world can learn from. While this “Special Period” was
difficult, it transformed an oil-dependent existence into a higher
quality of life for many: they learned to work along with nature
instead of against it.
With little food to be found
anywhere people started growing food in every available space in the
cities. These “urban gardens” gave rise to a thousand vegetable
kiosks in Havana alone. Beyond city limits, farms became smaller and
employed more people. Depleted soils were rehabilitated through
organic methods like crop rotation, composting, green manure,
inter-planting and the introduction of bio-pesticides and
bio-fertilizers. Oil based pesticides used dropped from 21000 tons a
year to 1000 tons.
Education and health services were
quickly decentralized, bringing them closer to the people. Three
major universities split up into 50 entities spread around the
country. Yet life-span and infant mortality rates continued to equal
those in the USA while using less than one fifth the amount of energy
per person.
There was a major attempt made to
place schools, work places, and recreation facilities within walking
distances of most people. A not so surprising result was a major
upswing in community spirit and participation.
One thing is certain, for most of
our human existence we did not depend on oil, and once the present
blip passes we will again learn how to live without it. That
transformation will not come as quickly for us as it did in Cuba, but
it will come. If not us, at least our children and grandchildren will
have to adapt to a world with less oil that is more expensive.
Jack Heppner
