New Documentary Film on Cuba
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
Friday August 18, 2006 7:00pm
Karpeles Manuscript Museum
21 West Anapamu St. Santa Barbara, CA
Admission: Free!Doors open at 6:30 p.m. Speaker and discussion to follow film. With the loss of Soviet oil in 1990, Cuba was forced to undergo an artificial "Peak Oil." This documentary explores how the island nation, through its focus on community, managed not only to survive but to transform their entire society to a sustainable, low-energy-use system. Also what is the future of Cuba post-Fidel? Want to travel to Cuba? Come and learn how! For more information please contact Tanya Cole at hola2tanya@yahoo.com or call 805-646-7129.
Speaker-Rachel Bruhnke Biography
Rachel Bruhnke specializes in the research of sustainability policies in Cuba and their relevance to U.S. communities and decision makers. She was granted an M.S. in Environmental Engineering for her research on renewable energy policy in Cuba, and afterwards directed the Eco Cuba program at the Global Exchange. Ms. Bruhnke was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras for 3 years, and has traveled and worked extensively throughout Latin America. She teaches High School Spanish and is the mother of a 2-year old Cuban American daughter, Alma. She is founding director of the nonprofit organization CUSSP (Cuba-US Sustainability Project) which supports environmental understanding between the United States and Cuba. She can be contacted at: sojournerrb@yahoo.com
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
YELLOW SPRINGS, Ohio – May 2006 The just released film, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, documents Cuba’s emergency transition to local organic agriculture, renewable energy, and large-scale mass transit. The transition occurred following the Soviet collapse in 1990, when their massive subsidies of imported oil and food to Cuba were halted.
In this documentary, ordinary Cubans talk about the immediate hardships they faced. Their GDP dropped by more than one third, transportation nearly stopped and food became scarce - the average Cuban lost 20 pounds during the first years of this economic crisis.
The film visits urban gardens and organic farms, explains the relationship between food and fossil fuels, and shows how a society can change from an industrialized, global focus to a local, community-based one. It is a rare view into this island culture, using firsthand reporting that focuses on what Cubans learned about adapting to living with less.
Cuba’s experience provides a living model for how the rest of the world can respond to the coming world oil production peak and irreversible decline some oil experts say will occur this decade. “Everyone who is concerned about Peak Oil needs to see this film,” said Richard Heinberg, author of The Party's Over and Powerdown. “It is a story not just of individual achievement, but of the collective mobilization of an entire society to meet an enormous challenge.”
The documentary is drawing rave reviews with such comments as,
“…The most uplifting portrayal of a success story coming out of chaos,” and “A must see for survival in the next energy age beyond oil.” Viewer Joshua Lockyer, of Atlanta said, “If we want to know how we as a nation are going to survive the peak oil crisis we need to have models...This film begins to show us how.”
The Community Solution, Executive Producer of the film, is a non-profit organization in Yellow Springs, Ohio dedicated to seeking viable, low-energy options to the coming peak oil crisis. It hosts the annual “U.S. Conference on Peak Oil and Community Solutions,” and offers other programs to increase public awareness about peak oil.
Producers Faith Morgan, Pat Murphy, and Megan Quinn traveled to Cuba in 2004 to capture Cubans’ story on film. Greg Greene, videographer and writer/director of the documentary The End of Suburbia, and photographer John Morgan, traveled with them as additional crew in Cuba. Eric Johnson was editor and Tom Blessing IV, associate producer.
The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil runs for 53 minutes and is available on DVD or VHS for $20 plus shipping and handling. To order, visit, visit www.communitysolution.org/cuba or call 937-767-2161.
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