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  • 2 weeks ago
When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1990, Cuba's economy went into a tailspin. With imports of oil cut by more than half – and food by 80 percent – people were desperate. This film tells of the hardships and struggles as well as the community and creativity of the Cuban people during this difficult time.
Transcript
00:07Our industrial progress and economic growth was fired by what many seem to look on as
00:13endless energy. Oil is finite, natural gas is finite, coal, uranium, so there's going
00:21to be a peak for all of these, and peak oil is just the beginning.
00:30Right now, we're consuming about five barrels of oil for every one that we discover.
00:36I don't see that countries who depend largely on imported oil are thinking about alternative
00:43sources of energy. They are just planning for the next week.
00:48The effect on our culture could be extreme. Our economy and our way of life are based on
00:54consuming oil and other fossil fuels.
00:56We're flying blind, and so we need examples of what's the best way to do it, what's not
01:02so good. Cuba has already undergone a kind of energy famine.
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