[GJM] Cosmpopolitan Communities in Petro-modern Habitats/ Mega cities need to get the lessons urgently / The Power of Community (was GJM] Permaculture Association Ebulletin....Allotment petition

Thu Jun 19 23:35:53 MDT 2008

Dear all the distinguished members in GJM,

Cuban experience of the exhuastion of fossil fuel supply is likely to visit all communities everywhere in skyscrapper lader New York, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, London. Cairo..

It is the urban communities that will face the consequences of the loss of the fossil driven service and utilitees and livelihoods. 

For many in the forests this would not make change and for many living on the ecologically sustainable agriculture too, there would not be much change as they would switch to labour intensive and austere traditional consumption modes. It is the people in the urban areas who will face the consequences.

Allah knows better but then we are responsible for inequitable and ecologically hostile consumption and production..

Lets call for shifting of UN headquarters from skyscrapper to a hirizontally spaced out location. Location of hte headquarter in a skyscrapper is indicator of a time when ecologically hostile skyscapper was the sign of success of a nation..

Dr.Muhammad Mukhtar Alam

--- On Fri, 20/6/08, mary rose <maryrose333 at att.net> wrote:

From: mary rose <maryrose333 at att.net>
Subject: [GJM] Fw: The Power of Community (was GJM] Permaculture Association Ebulletin....Allotment petition
To: FixGov at yahoogroups.com, "Discussion Forum for Global Justice" <discussion at globaljusticemovement.net>
Date: Friday, 20 June, 2008, 5:09 AM

The original message here is from the GJM list which originates in England, so 
is locally-oriented. However, it does hold a "heads up" for people everywhere as .
these two sentence exhibits:  "Houses are being squeezed into any available land & new communities are springing up all over the UK. It is vital to embrace local food if we are to cope with the twin challenges of climate change and Peak Oil:" 

But the real jewel of this message is news of the documentary film: "Power of Community" which tells the story of 
"Cuba's attempts to feed itself after the Soviet Union collapsed and they lost 90% of their oil supply almost overnight ."  Here is a URL http://www.powerofcommunity.org/cm/index.php for more on this film. 

And here, written by Janaia Donaldson, a member of the Co-learner's List, is a review of this film published by "Yes" magazine.  

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil 

Reviewed by Janaia Donaldson
Yes Magazine 
Winter 2007 Issue
“The Power of Community” is creating excitement in localization groups, and with good reason. In this film, individual Cubans tell us how they responded to an artificially imposed “Peak Oil” in the 1990s, when the fall of the Soviet Union caused the loss of most food and oil imports. Their stories serve as a valuable model for a world facing Peak Oil on a global scale. Cuba’s transition to a low-energy society is hopeful and instructive.
Interweaving a cogent overview of global Peak Oil with the story of Cuba’s experience, director Faith Morgan outlines the dire consequences of Cuba’s energy crisis. Transportation halted. Electricity was available sporadically. Lacking substitutes for fossil-fuel-based farming, food production was devastated. The average Cuban lost 20 pounds.Morgan shows us the innovative responses of the Cuban people. We see city-dwellers planting urban gardens on every available plot, using permaculture and organic farming to reclaim soils destroyed by chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These local farmers reconnect with their neighbors and willingly supply free food to elders, schools, workers, and pregnant women.
We also see how Cuba coped with a sudden lack of energy for modern infrastructure. Without fuel for cars, Cubans walked, carpooled, and rode buses. They even massively adopted the bicycle, despite the prior absence of a cycling culture. We also see Cubans creatively reducing energy consumption in their homes and workplaces and implementing small-scale renewable energy projects.
Most of the innovations Morgan presents arose from the Cuban people, but she shows how the government fostered them. To increase food production, the government divided state farms into smaller private farms and cooperatives. With smaller farms and local control, farmers replaced fossil fuels with labor-intensive practices, animal power, and Cuban-developed biopesticides and biofertilizers, resulting in increased per-acre productivity.
To help people survive, the Cuban government even expanded their free, localized medical system.
Cuba adapted, survived, and thrived because they mobilized their entire culture. They made changes requiring cooperation, adaptability, and openness to alternatives. As one Cuban in the film remarks, “When told they needed to reduce energy use, everybody did it.”
Janaia Donaldson is the host and producer of “Peak Moment,” www.peakmoment.tv, a TV series about community responses to Peak Oil.   

----- Original Message ----- 
From: ecotort at gn.apc.org 
To: undisclosed-recipients
Sent: Thursday, June 19, 2008 2:37 PM
Subject: [GJM] Permaculture Association Ebulletin....Allotment petition

Allotment petition 
Houses are being squeezed into any available land & new communities are springing up all over the UK. It is vital to embrace local food if we are to cope with the twin challenges of climate change and Peak Oil: if you have seen the excellent "Power of the Community" film based on Cuba"s attempts to feed itself after the Soviet Union collapsed and they lost 90% of their oil supply almost overnight, I am sure you will agree. 
This is impossible unless all planning applications give space for allotments as part of the green spaces allocation. As well as providing low income families with cheap, fresh, healthy food and helping to reduce food miles, gardening can reduce all the physiological symptoms of stress within five minutes! 

The URL below links to a petition to parliament for all new development to be obliged to include allotments (hopefully shopping centres too). Could you forward it to everyone, and ask them to sign and forward it on to friends and family.
http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/moreallotments/
Note that you must sign before 2nd August 2008.

_______________________________________________
Discussion mailing list
Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net
http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net
_______________________________________________
Discussion mailing list
Discussion at globaljusticemovement.net
http://globaljusticemovement.net/mailman/listinfo/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net

      Check out the all-new face of Yahoo! India. Go to http://in.yahoo.com/
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://globaljusticemovement.net/pipermail/discussion_globaljusticemovement.net/attachments/20080620/298237bd/attachment.html 