Six articles by Fidel Castro, written in the spring of 2007. Compiled by Socialist Voice. Download the PDF (264k)
FYI: For those who may not know, Cuba by necessity went to large scale organic farming and now is a recognized leader in the field. Virtually all their food is grown organically and without pesticides. Yes, it can be done on a scale large enough to feed a nation.
It has long been recognized that the resource problem is twofold: too much demand, and too many people. Americans have long been criticized (and rightly, I might add) for defending their “right” to burn as much energy as they can afford, without regard to the consequences to the rest of the globe. But Castro commits the same sin when he attacks that “right” while failing to note that the “right” to reproduce human beings in unlimited quantities is equally unrealistic.
The planet has already exceeded its long-term carrying capacity– even presuming the majority remain in abject poverty. Yet the current economic stratification is consider4ed unacceptable, and many of us feel the moral imperative to reduce poverty. That takes energy, resources, and disposal capacity which are already in short supply.
We’re working on a simple math problem: AveConsumption * Population = Consumption. But consumption cannot be controlled by reducing average consumption as long as population is permitted to increase without limit.
That, of course, is a fallacy: population cannot and will not increase without limit. If we don’t limit ourselves, nature will do the job for us. And we’ll be surprised and shocked that so many people are “suddenly” starving. Actually hunger in the world is already staggeringly high, and is likely to get worse quite quickly as climate changes affect our economy.
For a companion piece, read my review of the must-see movie, “How Cuba Survived Peak Oil” (and then see the movie).
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