present:
Learning from the Most Sustainable Place on Earth
with
Cuban Permaculturist Roberto Perez
Friday, August 23,
6:30-9pm 2013
Sebastopol Grange Hall
Benefit Donation $15 -$20
A benefit for the Eleventh International
Permaculture Convergence Scholarships
The Occidental Arts and Ecology Center's Permaculture Program and Sebastopol Grange co-hosts Roberto Perez, Cuban environmental
educator featured in the award winning documentary, "The Power
of Community, How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" currently in the
U.S. promoting the 11th International Permaculture Convergence (IPC11) to
be held in Cuba in November of 2013. OAEC Permaculture Program Director and Sebastopol Grange member Brock Dolman has been invited to be one of the international co-teachers of the 2-week Design Course. Additionally, OAEC Permaculture Program DIrector Kendall Dunnigan and School Garden Program Director Vanessa Carter will be traveling to Cuba to participate, learn and share during this critical international convergence. Come hear more and learn about ways you can help support this important gathering!
The Living Planet Report from the World Wildlife Fund in 2007 identified
Cuba as the only sustainable country in the world. The study
involved two key parameters for measuring sustainable development, a
commitment to "improving the quality of human life while living
within the carrying capacity of supporting ecosystems".
Cuba was the ONLY country on earth to achieve satisfactory benchmarks in
both criteria for sustainable development.
Formerly importing most of its food, Cuba's agriculture is now 95%
organic, with the city of Havana producing over 60% of its own fruits and
vegetables within the city's urban spaces. At the same time, Cuba
has been engaging in a massive reforestation campaign, and has invested
massively in alternative energy production, with a focus on solar and
biofuels.
A small island nation with 11,000,000 people, struggling with poverty,
devastating tropical storms, and the U.S. Embargo, how did Cuba achieve
these goals and distinction? What can we learn from Cuba's
struggles and successes?
Born in Havana in 1970, Roberto Perez is the Environmental Education
& Biodiversity Conservation Program Director of the Antonio Núñez
Jiménez Foundation for Nature and Humanity, the oldest environmental
organization in Cuba. A graduate of the University of Havana with a
degree in Biological Sciences, he later did post graduate specialization
in Community Based Natural Resources Management at the University of Nova
Scotia, Canada.
Roberto has been part of the Cuban Permaculture movement since its
introduction in the country in 1993 after the so called "Special
Period", caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union when Cuba lost
access to oil, fertilizers, pesticides, and virtually all trading
partners that the small island nation depended on to survive, facing
economic collapse overnight. Roberto has traveled extensively
presenting Cuba's approach to sustainable living in the face of declining
petroleum and other non-renewable resources.
As part of the Cuban Organizing Group for the upcoming International
Permaculture Convergence in November, Roberto is touring the U.S. in
support of scholarships for IPC11 attendees from sometimes cash poor, but
skill rich countries and USA , wanting to attend and share their work &
projects with other Permaculturists from around the world.
Traditionally International Permaculture Convergences take place every 2
years and switch between continents & hemispheres. Past host
sites have been Australia, USA, New Zealand, Scandinavia, Nepal, Croatia,
Brazil, Africa & most recently Jordan in the Middle East.
The event takes place on Friday, August 23, 6:30pm-9pm