The documentary, "The Power of Community – How Cuba Survived Peak Oil," was inspired when Faith Morgan and Pat Murphy took a trip to Cuba through Global Exchange in August, 2003. That year Pat had begun studying and speaking about worldwide peak oil production. In May Pat and Faith attended the second meeting of The Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas, a European group of oil geologists and scientists, which predicted that mankind was perilously close to having used up half of the world's oil resources. When they learned that Cuba underwent the loss of over half of its oil imports and survived, after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1990, the couple wanted to see for themselves how Cuba had done this.

During their first trip to Cuba, in the summer of 2003, they traveled from Havana to Trinidad and through several other towns on their way back to Havana. They found what Cubans call "The Special Period" astounding and Cuban's responses very moving. Faith found herself wanting to document on film Cuba's successes so that what they had done wouldn't be lost. Both of them wanted to learn more about Cuba's transition from large farms or plantations and reliance on fossil-fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers, to small organic farms and urban gardens. Cuba was undergoing a transition from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one.

Cuba became, for them, a living example of how a country can successfully traverse what we all will have to deal with sooner or later, the reduction and loss of finite fossil fuel resources. In the fall of 2003 Pat and Faith had the opportunity to return to Cuba to study its agriculture. It was a wonderful trip. They saw much of the island, met many farmers and urban gardeners, scientists and engineers – traveling more than 1700 miles, from one end of Cuba to the other. It was all they had hoped for and more.

In 2004 Community Service, Inc. (CSI) began raising money and organizing a third trip (October), to film in Cuba. Greg Green, cinematographer, director and editor of The End of Suburbia documentary, was the chief videographer. Faith Morgan shot the second camera, John Morgan did still photography and Megan Quinn, Outreach Director of CSI, was sound director. After their return from Cuba, they secured assistance and direction from Tom Blessing IV, producer, and Eric Johnson, post-production supervisor and editor. Together, they bring over 40 years combined experience in film and television production.

The goals of this film are to give hope to the developed world as it wakes up to the consequences of being hooked on oil, and to lift American's prejudice of Cuba by showing the Cuban people as they are. The filmmakers do this by having the people tell their story on film. It's a story of their dedication to independence and triumph over adversity, and a story of cooperation and hope. Several Cubans expressed the belief that living on an island, with its natural boundaries, breeds awareness that there are limits to natural resources.

Everyone who has worked on the documentary hopes that, seeing this film, people will also see the world on which we live, as another, much larger, island. Read more here.

After the movie, Jenny Leis will share similarly inspiring stories from around the world.  Jenny is a community facilitator, enthusiastic speaker and spark for creative action, and just returned from a year of traveling through the U.S. and Africa among grassroots social change efforts.

 

The documentary Power of Community inspires us to recognize the skills and resources imbedded in our local communities, and invites us to consider how we will face the current challenges of resource use.  In her travels, Jenny met countless innovators who are discovering creative solutions to vital human challenges, blending age-old wisdom with contemporary circumstances. Of course, appropriate technologies are only as useful as the community’s embrace of them, so each story will be intertwined with the cultural practicalities of encouraging changes in behavior.

**Similarly to Cuba, Zimbabwe is cut off from much of the world’s economic and social resources, and is also experiencing Peak Oil type circumstances with scarce access to resources and the need for self-sufficiency. Kufunda Village is a learning center in Zimbabwe serving as a living demonstration of permaculture gardening, energy saving technologies, holistic health, community education and more.  About 30 people live in the demonstration center, and work directly with five rural villages.

**Malawi is also coping with years of agricultural and social devastation.  This story is about two former Peace Corps volunteers who stayed in Malawi after their terms and sparked a permaculture revolution.  Through a program in the Ministry of Education, a small group of people is now bringing permaculture to elementary schools and their surrounding neighborhoods.

**In South African high-density informal settlements (tin shacks), community groups are finding creative ways to grow organic food, build ecological housing and foster community empowerment.  Jenny spent time with three different emerging eco-villages in Johannesburg and Cape Town, and is filled with plenty of revealing insights. 

After sharing these stories, Jenny will apply the lessons learned to Portland’s community of changemakers, and encourage each of us to take the exciting steps towards integrating our own social capital so that we can manifest our community power.

Jenny has returned to the Portland community to spark conversations and action about local “cross-pollination,” and dive deeper into her work with The City Repair Project and Tryon Life Community Farm.  She can be contacted at jennyleis@riseup.net  or 503-548-8459.  Also, check out: http://journeydejenny.blogspot.com