Green Daily

I have a family member who inherited a unique perspective about global crisis, since her parents were Polish Jewish refugees who fled to Siberia during World War II. She told me once, "If things ever get really bad, we'll all live in one room together for however long it takes, and we'll be fine." I took great and unexpected comfort in this, because she seemed like one who knew.

Fast forward to the economic crisis of fall 2008. What if our financial system melts like the polar ice caps? How will we afford to eat? Isn't this a problem for which living in one room is not the solution?

Cuba has dealt with worse. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1989, "[Cuba] lost 85 percent of its foreign trade, including food, agricultural imports and petroleum. Already crippled by the U.S. embargo, the country was financially devastated with its food supply hit hardest." This, according to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle from the year 2000.

Fast forward to 2008. An Associated Press article printed in June talked about how, faced with food crisis, Cubans started farming in empty lots in urban centers (with support from the Cuban government). This agricultural shift prompted a cultural shift. Instead of eating rice and beans supplied by Eastern Europe, Cubans started eating tons of fresh greens. The farms also currently provide about 350,000 jobs nationwide.

To quote Carolyn Murphy, a California-based sociologist interviewed by the AP, "It's a really interesting model looking at what's possible in a nation that's 80 percent urban. It shows that cities can produce huge amounts of their own food, and you get all kinds of social and ecological benefits."

So if we all farm in one abandoned lot, we'll be alright.