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"An important biological species is at risk of disappearing due to the rapid and progressive elimination of its natural habitat:
MAN. consumer societies are fundamentally responsible for the atrocious destruction of the environment." Fidel Castro
The BATTLE of IDEAS:
"You must have action and a basis in reality".
"The guiding principles are that there are no problems without solutions, that we must act with speed and that the
priority is the interests of the population over the bureaucratic contradictions."
The campaign should be embodied as part of the community's identity. Success in the Battle of Ideas can be tallied by
the projects that have been accomplished to date but rooted in the ideological notion of what will be.
Focus on infrastructure required for a healthy community.
Pay attention to what is existing that can be refurbished and updated.
Identify what no longer represents sustainable re-use that must be replaced.
Implement new infrastructures in keeping with sustainable concepts of development.
Act with an eye towards the future - avoid the need to repeat.
Community identity - distinct to the neighborhoods and basis for standards.
Historical Preservation - and embodies more than architectural style.
Sustainable Economies - in community job creation.
Housing - new construction, sustainable re-use, deconstruction, re-hab and preservation of architectural integrity.
Environment - Ecologically sound development and Energy Efficiency - sustainability.
Health - education and health care systems (Clinics, classes, nutrition etc.)
Education and the Arts
Economic Development
Urban Garden System, Parks, "Greenways", Open Spaces and water management.
Self Determination, Pride and respect, Home ownership, empowerment and Self Reliance through Sweat Equity.
CUBA'S CORAL REEFS
Healthiest in the Caribbean due to sustainable agricultural practices. Despite their health relative to other reef systems
they still suffer from Global Warming and increased Hurricane Destruction resultant of global warming.
Jeff Ensminger
CANCER: ESCOZUL for Terminal Cancer patients - a miracle cure - indegenous to and available only in Cuba - we can help,
contact us!
Misael Bordier.
Buthus Martensii
Niurys Monzon is the daughter of Jose Monzon, the girl who has been labeled Escozul Patient #1. As the story goes she
was diagnosed with Pancreatic Cancer with metasticis to the liver and other organs at the age of 11 or 12, she is now over
30 yrs of age.
The Conventional Medical Community in Cuba performed surgery (she has the numerous scars on her abdomen to prove it) and
treated her with Radiation and chemotherapy before telling her that her case was terminal. She was given but a month or so
to live. Her father Jose refused to accept this verdict and had heard of Misael Bordier in Guantanamo offering this new all
Natural Alternative therapy called Escozul, this back in the early 90's. He made the arduous trip from Jaguey Grande to Guantanamo
and as the story goes
received the Escozul from the late Misael Bordier and the rest of the story is History!!!
Niurys, whom I have met, is a healthy active girl helping her father with their Scorpion farm and supplying Escozul to
whomever goes to visit them in Jaguey Grande. The Official line is that they offer it free of charge, however they do accept
"DONATIONS"
NEWS BLAST: NATURAL PRODUCT TO FIGHT DENGUE:
Product to Fight Dengue Mosquito in Use in Cuba
Cuba News - April 14
Havana, April 14 (acn) Researchers of the Cuban National Bio-preparation Center are involved in the making of a compound
to counteract proliferation of the Aedes Aegypti mosquito, transmitter of the dengue, reported Prensa Latina news agency.
The new product, patented by LABIOFAM Laboratories and made of natural substances, is called BACTIBE and biologically
eliminates this mosquito, which affects around 50 million people in tropical areas of the world, according to the United Nations
Organization.
The number of dengue cases in Central America and the Caribbean increases per day, and work has been done for several
years to produce biological controllers of mosquitoes.
In Cuba, an ongoing country wide campaign against the Aedes Aegypti includes home fumigation, cleaning drains and eliminating
water containers that favor the mosquito's reproduction, as well as educational TV programs to teach people how to identify
and fight the mosquito.
Organic Cuba
Cuba 1989
Cuba is where agriculture without fossil fuels has been put to its greatest test, and it has passed with flying colors.
The year 1989 ushered in the Special Period a scenario that will hit some countries in the not too distant future unless they
prepare for it right now.
Before 1989, Cuba was a model Green Revolution farm economy, based on huge production units of state-owned farms, and
dependent on vast quantities of imported oil, chemicals and machinery to produce export crops. Under agreements with the former
Soviet Union, Cuba had been an oil-driven country, and 98 percent of all its petroleum had come from the Soviet bloc. In 1988,
12-13 million tons of Soviet oil were imported and of this, Cubans re-exported two million tons. In 1989, Cuba was forced
to cut the re-export in half and in 1990, oil exports were cut entirely as only 10 of 13m tons promised by the Soviet had
been received. At the end of 1991, only 6 of the promised 13 m tons was received, and the short fall in oil began to severely
affect the nations economy.
While oil was critical, other losses were also important, as 85 percent of all Cubas trade was with the Soviets. Cuba
exported 66 percent of all sugar and 98 percent of its citrus fruit to the Soviet bloc, and imported from them 66 percent
of its food, 86 percent of all raw materials, and 80 percent of machinery and spare parts. Consequently, when support from
the Soviet bloc was withdrawn, factories closed, food scarcity was widespread and an already inadequate technology base began
eroding.
The collapse of the Soviet bloc and the tightened US trade embargo exposed the vulnerability of Cubas Green Revolution
model, and it was plunged into the worst food crisis in its history.
In early 1990, a survival economy was put in place as 100 000 tons of wheat normally obtained through barter arrangements
failed to arrive and the government had to use scarce hard currency to import grain from Canada. The price of food went up
and bread had to be rationed. Overall, food consumption was said to decrease by 20 percent in calories and 27 percent in protein
between 1989 and 1992.
To make matters worse, Cubas efforts to reverse the trend of rural-urban migration over the past decades failed to stem
the increasing tides of rural migrants to the cities, especially to Havana. In 1994, 16 541 migrated to Havana from all over
Cuba, more than any year since 1963. By 1996, the figure had reached 28 193, at pre-revolution level. Shortages of food and
medicine and gasoline were driving people to the capital.
Policies to stop the inflow were put in place in 1997, but not before the population density in the capital reached 3
000 inhabitants per square kilometer.
Cuba was faced with a dual challenge of doubling food production with half the previous inputs, with some 74 percent of
its population living in cities. Yet by 1997, Cubans were eating almost as well as they did before 1989, with little food
and agrochemicals imported. Instead, Cuba concentrated on creating a more self-reliant agriculture: a combination of higher
crop prices paid to farmers, agro-ecological technology, smaller production units, and most importantly, urban agriculture.
Urbanization is a growing trend worldwide. More people now live in cities than in the countryside. By 2015 about 26 cities
in the world are expected to have populations of 10 million or more. To feed cities of this size require at least 6 000 tons
of food a day.
The Cuban response
The way Cuba responded was an inspiration to the rest of the world. It began with a nation-wide call to increase food
production by restructuring agriculture. It involved converting from conventional large-scale, high input mono-culture systems
to smaller scale, organic and semi-organic farming systems. The focus was on using low cost and environmentally safe inputs,
and relocating production closer to consumption in order to cut down on transportation costs, and urban agriculture was a
key part of this effort.
A spontaneous, decentralized movement had arisen in the cities. People responded enthusiastically to government initiative.
By 1994, more than 8000 city farms were created in Havana alone. Front lawns of municipal buildings were dug up to grow vegetables.
Offices and schools cultivated their own food. Many of the gardeners were retired men aged 50s and 60s, and urban women played
a much larger role in agriculture than their rural counterparts.
By 1998, an estimated 541000 tons of food were produced in Havana for local consumption. Food quality has also improved
as people had access to a greater variety of fresh fruits and vegetables. Urban gardens continued to grow and some neighborhoods
were producing as much as 30 percent of their own food.
The growth of urban agriculture was largely due to the States commitment to make unused urban and suburban land and resources
available to aspiring urban farmers. The issue of land grants in the city converted hundreds of vacant lots into food producing
plots, and new planning laws placed the highest land use priority on food production.
Another key to success was opening farmers markets and legalizing direct sales from farmers to consumers. Deregulation
of prices combined with high demand for fresh produce in the cities allowed urban farmers to make two to three times as much
as the rural professionals.
The government also encouraged gardeners through an extensive support system including extension agents and horticultural
groups that offered assistance and advice. Seed houses throughout the city sold seeds, gardening tools, compost and distribute
bio-fertilizers and other biological control agents at low costs. [NEEM]
New biological products and organic gardening techniques were developed and produced by Cuba's agricultural research sector,
which had already begun exploring organic alternatives to chemical controls, enabling Cubas urban farms to become completely
organic. In fact, a new law prohibited the use of any pesticides for agricultural purposes anywhere within city limits.
The introduction of a diversified market-based system for food distribution has spurred increased agricultural productivity.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization estimated that between 1994 and 1998, Cuba tripled the production of
tubers and plantains, and doubled the production of vegetables, which doubled again in 1999. Potatoes increased from 188000
tonnes in 1994 to 330000 ton's in 1998, while beans increased by 60 percent and citrus by 110 percent from 1994 to 1999.
Anecdotal information suggests that thousands of families have left cities and large towns to make their livelihood from
the land. Other information suggests that thousands of unemployed; including rural migrants; have found employment in urban
agriculture.
Rural agro-ecology and land restructuring
Agro-ecological methods were introduced into Cuba's rural communities largely out of the necessity of coping without artificial
fertilizers and pesticides; but this was also amply supported with substantial government resources, state-funded research,
and fundamental policy shifts at the highest levels of government. Agro-ecological farming in the countryside and organic
urban agriculture were the key to stabilizing both urban and rural populations.
The agro-ecological methods introduced include locally produced bio-pesticides and bio-fertilizers [NEEM]substituting
for the artificial chemical inputs, complex agro-systems designed to take advantage of ecological interactions and synergisms
between biotic and abiotic factors that enhance soil fertility, biological pest control, and achieving higher productivity
through internal processes. Other practices involve increased recycling of nutrients and biomass within the system, addition
of organic matter to improve soil quality and activate soil biology, soil and water conservation, diversification of agro-systems
in time and space, integration of crops and livestock, and integration of farm components to increase biological efficiencies
and preserve productive capacity.
In 1993, the Cuban government unveiled a major reorganization of agriculture, restructuring state farms as private cooperatives.
The new farms, which now make up the largest sector in Cuba agriculture) were called UBPCs or Basic Units of Cooperative Production,
based on a growing perception that smaller farms would be more easily managed and better able to take on the sustainable agriculture
practices.
The state retains ownership of the land, leasing it on a long-term basis, but rent-free. The cooperative, not the state,
owns the production, and the members; earnings are based on their share of the cooperatives income. The UBPC also owns buildings
and farm equipment, purchased from the government at discount prices with long-term, low interest loans (4 percent). Most
UBPCs produce sugar at given quotas, limiting any other crops that they might produce, so they have little to sell in agricultural
markets, which restricts their options and income.
In addition to the UBPCs, the break up of large state farms has freed large plots of land for other use, and land has
been turned over to both private farmers and agricultural cooperatives.
Small farmers working on privately owned farms and in cooperatives have made major contributions to the successful implementation
of agro-ecology in the countryside.
Agricultural Production Cooperatives (CPAs) were first created 20 to 30 years ago by farmers who chose to pool their land
and resources to attain greater production and marketing and economic efficiency. Although the CPAs were of minimal importance
then, they began to rebound in the early 1990s. The UBPCs were modeled after them, except that farmers in the CPAs owned their
land.
The Credit and Service Cooperative (CCS) is an association of small landowners joining up with other small farmers to
receive credit and services from state agencies. They may also share machinery and equipment, and thus are able to take advantage
of economies of scale. CCS members purchase inputs and sell products at fixed prices through state agencies, based on production
plans and contracts established with the state distribution system. Any production above and beyond the contracted quantity
may be sold in farmers; markets at free market prices. These small farmers have been the most productive sector in Cuban agriculture,
outperforming both the CPAs and UBPCs. CCS farmers have higher incomes than members of other cooperatives.
While all farmers continue to sell a percentage of their produce to the state marketing board, farmers are now motivated
to produce in excess of their agreed quota, which they can sell to agricultural markets, often at twice the contracted government
price. They can triple or quadruple their income.
The urban agricultural miracle
Today, Vivero Alamar (Alamar Gardens) is an oasis amid the monotonous array of perfectly rectangular apartment blocks
of Soviet-style housing in the Alamar district of eastern Havana. It is a 27-acre organic farm set in the middle of a city
of two million people. Founded in 1994 on a small 9-acre parcel of land, it has become a 140-person business [6] producing
a steady harvest of a wide range of fruits and vegetables: lettuces, carrots, tomatoes, avocadoes, culinary and medicinal
herbs, chard and cucumbers. After harvest the crops are sold directly to neighbours at a colourful farm stand. Vivero Alamar
also sells a range of organic composts and mulches and a selection of patio plants. In 2005, this neighborhood-managed worker-owned
cooperative earned approximately $180000. After capital improvements and operating expenses, it pays each worker about $500
a year; compared to the Cuban minimum wage of $10 a month. Vivero Alamar is just one example of the revolution in food production
that has swept Cuba in the early 1990s and continues today. From Santiago de Cuba in the east to Pinar del Rio in the west,
thousands of urban gardens are blossoming. Some 300000 Cubans are busy growing their own fruits and vegetables and selling
the surplus to their neighbors.
Although urban agriculture is totally organic, the country as a whole is not. But the amount of chemical inputs has been
drastically reduced. Before the crisis hit in 1989, Cuba used more than 1 million tons of synthetic fertilizers a year. Today,
it uses about 90000 tons. During the Soviet period, Cuba applied up to 35000 tons of herbicides and pesticide's a year, today,
it is about 1000 tons
Like many small poor countries, Cuba remains reliant on export agriculture to earn hard currency. It is a robust exporter
of tobacco, sugar, coffee, and citrus, and is selling a significant amount of the last three as certified organic. Foreign
investment in such ventures is on the rise. But when it comes to sustainable agriculture, Cuba's most impressive innovation
is its network of urban farms and gardens.
According to Cuba's Ministry of Agriculture, some 150000 acres of land is being cultivated in urban and suburban settings,
in thousands of community farms, ranging from modest courtyards to production sites that fill entire city blocks. Organoponicos,
as they are called, show how a combination of grassroots effort and official support can result in sweeping change, and how
neighbors can come together and feed themselves. When the food crisis hit, the organoponicos were an ad hoc response by local
communities to increase the amount of available food. But as the power of the community farming movement became obvious, the
Cuban government stepped in to provide key infrastructure support and to assist with information dissemination and skills
sharing.
Most organoponicos are built on land unsuitable for cultivation; they rely on raised planter beds. Once the organoponicos
are laid out, the work remains labor-intensive. All planting and weeding is done by hand, as is harvesting. Soil fertility
is maintained by worm composting. Farms feed their excess biomass, along with manure from nearby rural farms to worms that
produce a nutrient-rich fertilizer. Crews spread about two pound of compost per square yard on the bed tops before each new
planting.
Jason Marks writes:Despite the tropical heat, it doesn't look like drudgery. Among organoponico employees, there is a
palpable pride in their creation. The atmosphere is cooperative and congenial There is no boss in sight, and each person seems
to understand well their role and what's expected of them. The work occurs fluidly, with a quiet grace.
Gardeners come from all walks of life: artists, doctors, teachers. Fernando Morel, president of the Cuban Association
of Agronomists said: It's amazing. When we had more resources in the 80s, oil and everything, the system was less efficient
than it is today.
The hybrid public-private partnership appears to work well. In return for providing the land, the government receives
a portion of the produce, usually about one-fifth of the harvest, to use at state-run daycare center's, schools and hospitals.
The workers get to keep the rest to sell at produce stands located right at the farm. It is more than fair trade.
The City of Havana now produces enough food for each resident to receive a daily serving of 280 g of fruits and vegetables
a day. The UN food program recommends 305 g.
Joe Kovach, an entomologist from Ohio State University who visited Cuba on a 2006 research delegation sums up the situation:
In 25 years of working with farmers, these are the happiest, most optimistic, and best-paid farmers I have ever met.
Long queues of shoppers form at the farm stalls, people are shopping for quality and freshness, the produce is harvested
as they buy, reducing waste to a minimum.
Urban agriculture nationwide reduces the dependence of urban populations on rural produce. Apart from organoponicos, there
are over 104000 small plots, patios and popular gardens, very small parcels of land covering an area of over 3600 ha, producing
more than the organoponicos and intensive gardens combined. There are also self-provisioning farms around factories, offices
and business, more than 300 in Havana alone. Large quantities of vegetables, root crops, grains, and fruits are produced,
as well as milk, meat, fish eggs and herbs. In addition, suburban farms are intensively cultivated with emphasis on efficient
water use and maximum reduction of agro-toxins; these are very important in Havana, Santa Clara, Sancti Spiritus, Camaguey,
and Santiago de Cuba. Shaded cultivation and Apartment-style production allow year-round cultivation when the sun is at its
most intense. Cultivation is also done with diverse soil substrate and nutrient solutions, mini-planting beds, small containers,
balconies, roofs, etc. with minimal use of soil. Production levels of vegetables have double or tripled every year since
1994, and urban gardens now produce about 60 percent of all vegetables consumed in Cuba, but only 50 percent of all vegetables
consumed in Havana.
The success of urban agriculture is put down to the average Cuban citizen's commitment to the ideal of local food production.
There is so much for the world to learn from the Cuban experience, not least of which, agriculture without fossil fuels is
not only possible but also highly productive and health promoting in more ways than one.
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