Talk:The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

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I recommend seeing this documentary. It has many useful concepts that we can apply here in the U.S. I visited Cuba in 2003 and was saddened to hear about their struggles but amazed to see what they have overcome. They have done so much with so little. I walked the streets freely, took the cabs and talked with young people and old. The fact that I am Puerto Rican and spoke the language helped me to avoid being treated like a typical tourist that stood out so I beleive a lot (not all I am sure) I was told was pretty sincere. It was a great experience I woould recommend to anyone once our adminitration loosens the travel blocks. I went legally on an educational visa as an interpreter. Marisol1960 09:47, 14 December 2006 (UTC)


 * A very interesting article, but one that might benefit from separation into two - one for the film (under the title for the film), and another that is less restricted and brings in other sources - perhaps under the heading of Peak oil in Cuba? Gralo 15:44, 20 December 2006 (UTC)
 * Merged that article with Special Period. NJGW (talk) 16:17, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

Thank you for that suggestion. I am learning how to use Wikipedia and will be adding photos and seeing how else to get information on this documentary to be more accessible by linking it and posting it as you suggested.Marisol1960

I am totally sure that Cuba has NOT 11% of the population of Latin America. Its population estimates for 2006 (in its Wikipedia article) are roughly 11 million people. The Latin American population (also in its Wikipedia article) is around 548 million people. This gives Cuba only 2% of the Latin American population. I certainly have heard Cuba has a lot of doctors, but I don't dare to correct the phrase, keeping the percentage of latinoamerican doctors in Cuba at 12%.--Ciroa 22:50, 15 January 2007 (UTC)


 * Cuba != America. Cuba is a Communist country; we capitalist democrats need to find a capitalist democrat way to deal with Peak Oil. 204.52.215.107 (talk) 19:37, 24 May 2008 (UTC)

"cuba survived without oil" is a legend
The article relates the views given in the film without any opposing view.

Let's have a look at some hard fact : cuba's oil consumption, in thousand barrels per day.

in the late 80's in was about 220. In 1992, with less supplies from russia, it had fallen to 170 (figures from AIE, but a bit approximative, i read them from a graph). That's a shortage, similar in amplitude to what european countries knew during the 70's oil shocks, not more. And then it went up again, to 205 now. 70 are produced locally, the rest is mainly imported from venezuela at preferential rates.

So, yes, consumption peaked in 1990, but the fall is not impressive. France now consumes 20% less than in 1979.

Now, let's divide this consumption per the population. 11 million inhabitants, so that's 6.8 barrels per people and per year. That's quite high for a developping country. Almost as much as venezuela (7.72), exactly as much as mexico. I'm using population figures from CIA world factbook, oil consumption figures from BP.

Also, note that cuba produces very low quality oil they can't refine, and they burn it directly in power plants, together with residuel fuel oil from refining imported cride. They had a power shortage because of ageing plants (built with soviet assistante), so in 2005 they bought a lot of diesel generators to renew they electricity fleet more oil-based power! In you look here [www.oas.org/dsd/reia/Documents/geocaraibes/cuba_presentation.ppt] you discover that the vast majority of there electric power is from petroleum, with some electricity also provided be small dams, biomasse (mainly residue from sugar cane) and now wind power. By comparison, the US and Europe have phase out almost all oil-fired power plants.

Last but no least, Cuba is actively trying to attract oil companies to explore its coast :.

So where is the post-oil country? Cuba as a post-oil society is a urban legend, facts and figures destroy that theory. The article should somehow reflect that; --Raminagrobis fr (talk) 00:41, 22 June 2008 (UTC)

"Cuba began a slow recovery focused not on finding new energy sources, but on rejecting consumption in favor of sustainable growth" needs reference?
This statement looks to me like something that needs a reference beyond the film itself or its makers' observations; or it should be framed as the argument of the film and the observation of its makers. Sorry, I checked edit-page help but did not see how to insert a "citation needed". I'll see if I can find this elsewhere and make the note myself if I find out how to do it. Michael (talk) 23:05, 30 August 2010 (UTC)