"The Power of Community" to be Shown Next Thursday, February 21

Occupy the NEK will show the third in a series about shaping our future, "The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil" on Thursday, February 21 at 6 PM in the State Conference Room on the 2nd floor of the Hebard Building (100 Main Street) in Newport. In 1990 a major disaster struck the island of Cuba. It was not a hurricane or an earthquake, not a plague or enemy invasion. It was the fall of the Soviet Union. Cuba's economy was heavily dependent on the Soviet Union as a market for its goods and as a supplier of oil for the island's for-export plantation style agricultural system. There was much suffering. Food was scarce and the average Cuban lost 20 pounds of body weight. This film is about the remarkable recovery of Cuba's food production system through the development of sustainable, low input farming. In addition, Cuba put many hundreds of acres within urban areas into diversified food production. Ninety percent of Havana's food supply is now provided by urban farms. Those who fear chaos and social breakdown in the U.S. if our food supply and energy production were disrupted should see this movie. It is a testament to what can be done through "the Power of Community."