Will the energy descent and/or climate chaos hit us slowly or quickly? Well in the case of Cuba, it was over a period of just 6 short months.
Linda Woodrow from The Witches Kitchen, and her family spent a year in Havana, Cuba during the Special Period teaching permaculture, some years after the country’s economic collapse and during shortages of imported food and oil. It changed the Cuban’s lives forever, but not as badly as some may think.
Please join me in listening to an interview with Linda about her time in Cuba, and some of the lessons that can be learnt by people living in urban and suburban landscapes that are dependant on external resources for their survival.
There are many things we can learn from a country that has already experienced the sorts of issues we will also face during energy descent. I for one learnt a lot from today’s interview. A big thank you to Linda for sparing some of her time today.
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gavin, i got 42mins into the podcast and had to go to work, now im back how can i listen to the last ten minutes without having to go thru the whole thing again?
Hi Brendie, If you have a look on the left hand side bar there is a link to the podcast archive. You can download the full MP3 from there and play it in your normal player and scroll the the relevant time slot.
Gav x
cheers got it:)
it was very interesting. ive discussed with one of my stepchildren about when oil runs out, there reply..we can just grow it cant we from crops? the sugar crop of cuba is a good living example of how this can still fail. now how to get self absorbed teens to listen
Oh Gosh that was good..I felt like I was in a big ole convo with you both.. I am often thinking on alot of these same issues(water storage, sustainable living etc)so it was nice to be in on a likeminded convo.Cheers and thanks to you both
Just wanted to let you know that I found this to be an excellent interview and one that really gives pause to thought on where we are heading and how it could turn out. I was surprised to hear that the Cubans new so little about growing there own food before the Special Period and considering all that they accomplished in such a short period of time gives me hope for our own country.
That was brilliant! Thank you to Linda for sharing her experiences and insights. The stories really got me thinking, even more, about my family’s goals toward living lightly on the earth. In an odd way, I am a bit less fearful of the future-even in the face of extreme change there is hope. And I do hope that people everywhere find a way to pull together and help one another.
This was very good for me to listen to tonight.
I’ve just found out that my 9m worth of wicking beds were filled with a “compost” I bought that has a ph of 10. This would explain why all of my brand new plants are dying. I was feeling very sad and sorry for myself, but now I feel a bit more empowered, seeing as I’m doing everything Linda said the Cubans would have done if they’d known the Special Period was coming. (Except the bike riding… I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it!)
Now to research how to fix my problem. I really hope it doesn’t entail pulling all of the soil from the beds… it was such a hard slog putting it all in in the first place!
That was absolutely fascinating. Thanks for sharing it!
Hi Gav,
Great interview. I was particularly surprised by the comments about missing having a good bike with gears. Off shopping now to get one. I think I may also pick up some razor wire to put around my chook pen (that’s a joke for now).
Daniel