[Scpg] Food/peak oil film in Santa Barbara - "The Power of Community"

[Faramarz Nabavi]

This film should be interesting to all permaculturalists...


From: Tanya <hola2tanya at yahoo.com>
Date: August 8, 2006 7:43:26 AM PDT
To: listings at independent.com
Subject: please post in Independent-film screening

New Documentary Film on Cuba

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil
Friday August 18, 20067:00pm

Karpeles Manuscript Museum
21 West Anapamu St. Santa Barbara, CA

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 at yahoo.com or call 
805-646-7129.

Speaker-Rachel Bruhnke Biography
Rachel Bruhnke specializes in the research ofsustainability policies in 
Cuba and their relevance toU.S. communities and decision makers. She was 
grantedan M.S. in Environmental Engineering for her researchon renewable 
energy policy in Cuba, and afterwardsdirected the Eco Cuba program at the 
Global Exchange.Ms. Bruhnke was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Hondurasfor 3 
years, and has traveled and worked extensivelythroughout Latin America. 
She teaches High SchoolSpanish and is the mother of a 2-year old 
CubanAmerican daughter, Alma. She is founding director ofthe nonprofit 
organization CUSSP (Cuba-USSustainability Project) which supports 
environmentalunderstanding between the United States and Cuba. Shecan be 
contacted at: sojournerrb at 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.