Abandoned and Left For Dead, These People May Be Our Greatest Hope By Marjory Wildcraft

I am going to get to visit a country that went through a sudden, complete, and sustained economic collapse.

Cuba had embraced industrialized agriculture more than any other Latin American country.

When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, overnight Cuba lost most its fuel imports, pesticides, fertilizers, and tractor parts. The lights went out, the cars and buses stopped running, and the average Cuban lost 20 pounds. The economy plummeted by 60%.

Instead of offering help, the US further tightened it’s embargo.

Hunger became overbearing. How do you feed 11 million people? The social structure turned upside down as lawyers and doctors lost status and turned to their gardeners to learn how grow food.

How did they ever survive? They certainly weren’t expected to. But they did. And the Story of Cuba’s survival has many lessons for all of us.

Today, Cuba is the undisputed world leader in urban sustainable agriculture. Cuba has the lowest infant mortality rate in the Western Hemisphere and Cuban life expectancy is beginning to outstrip the US. It is not quite paradise, but considering what they’ve been through, it looks pretty good.

I’ve jumped through all the State Department’s hoops and am getting to go on a research trip to visit this fascinating country. Although you can get dial up Internet access in Cuba, I won’t be staying at the fancy hotels that have it. But I promise to photograph and video as much as I can.

Did Cuban’s erupt in violence as seems to be expected here in the US? Was there hoarding or black market sales? Was there death from starvation? How do you convert massive acres of conventional agriculture to local sustainable food supplies? What advantages or disadvantages does Cuba have over the situation in the US? Certainly a sudden dollar collapse would put us in the same situation, but how would we handle it?

I’ll bring back insights into how these people faced a severe, sudden, and sustained change of life and I’ll do my best to sort through both Governments propaganda machines to get a sense of the truth of the situation. Stay tuned!

Warmly,

Marjory Wildcraft
www.GrowYourOwnGroceries.com