[Ache]

Taken from Peak Oil UK....Entering the Age of Oil Depletion.


"Question : Is there an absolute limit to growth ? Which country best model ?

CC : Yes, Cuba ! "

Can someone please explain me this ?

Is Cuba the model to follow ?

[MonteQuest]

This is rather vague. Please elaborate.

MQ

[Ache]

In order to survive ... Do we need to follow Cuban model ?

[MonteQuest]

In order to survive ... Do we need to fallow Cuban model ?

That doesn't make sense. What on earth are you talking about? Do you mean follow? Is English not your language?

[clv101]

Campbell believes there is an absolute limit to growth, when asked which country provides a good model for the future he suggested Cuba - It was a joke more than a serious suggestion.

[americandream]

Campbell believes there is an absolute limit to growth, when asked which country provides a good model for the future he suggested Cuba - It was a joke more than a serious suggestion.

Think about it though......is Cuba the best model to emulate in terms of maintaining some lifestyle rather than canibalism....

[savethehumans]

Actually, several experts have pointed out that Fidel & Company did a pretty good job of pulling the country back together after they lost their Soviet sugar daddy. Might not be as much of a joke as you think!

[larrydallas]

True but keep in mind that Cuba is protected from foreign invasion and agression for 2 reasons. The first being that the US (mainly the republican party) will never touch Cuba so that the refugees turned citizens in Florida will vote republican in all elections as a payback for amnesty. That refugee gen and the gen that is their children is still very young politically speaking.

The second reason is because Cuba is bascially isolated from the world by water. The island is so close to the US that any agressor which would wish to harm Cuba is left with no option but to stand down because the US would fight them if planes or ships came so close to the US in fighting Cuba.

In a post peak world that protection would not exist for any nation because all bets would be off. In fact, there may be a huge influx of invaders into Cuba to try to take over what appears to be a 100% free of all external variables way of life where it is all self sufficient.

I guess I came up with this line of thought after having watched an old Harrison Ford movie (The Mosquito Coast). In the movie he abandons life in America and builds a paradise in the jungle with air conditioning. All is well until his family is taken hostage by a group of armed rebels.

[Ache]

So it was all a joke.

Because I'm been in Cuba and things could not turn out much worse than Cuban way of life.

[Ache]

In a post peak world that protection would not exist for any nation because all bets would be off. In fact, there may be a huge influx of invaders into Cuba to try to take over what appears to be a 100% free of all external variables way of life where it is all self sufficient.

What are you gonna take from Cuba ? There is only sand and water.

[Leanan]

I think there are lessons to learn from Cuba. They certainly handled the loss of Soviet handouts much better than North Korea did.

But I wonder how much of what they did will help us. In some ways, being a small Communist dictatorship is an advantage. You can order food rationing and car pooling, and make it stick. You can send resources where they are most needed by society, not to those who pay the most.

However, there are some things we can't copy. Cuba is blessed with a tropical climate and relatively low population density. They can grow food year-round. And they never were entirely food-sufficient. They imported staples, like rice and beans.

I fear our experience is much more likely to be like North Korea's. Feed the army, and use them to keep order over the rest.

[Doly]

In some ways, being a small Communist dictatorship is an advantage. You can order food rationing and car pooling, and make it stick.

You don't have to be a communist dictatorship to do that. Several allied countries had food rationing during WWII, and made it stick.

[RobintheDruid]

How can Cuba be a good model for surviving PO? Its climate is different to much of the worlds and that alone gives it an advantage. Besides, it doesn't have the population problems that many other countries have.

[larrydallas]

What are you gonna take from Cuba ? There is only sand and water.

Desparate times would call for matching measures. You see water and sand now only because I assume you have food in your belly, gas in your car (if you are like most Americans who have private cars), a roof over your head, and the power is on all of the time.

Cuba will appeal to people because it will seem to have the solution of self reliance since they use only what they produce.

It works now because of the reason I gave in my first post as well as because of the tropical climate, low population density, and the mentality of the people to not pathologically crave new stuff or more stuff in mass mass mass quantities.

The world will shatter for people who just take it for granted that things are produced and put up for sale in stores and stuff like oil, employment rates, wages, transportation, cost of raw materials, availability of materials, etc have nothing to do with it.

[RobintheDruid]

Actually Larry Dallas, I read an article on Cuba once (I think it was in 'The Ecologist' magazine) which described their organic agricultural practices. It seemed to me to be a very green society to be in. But I'm wondering about the general quality of life there, and just how 'free' they might be considering they live in a dictatorship.