What we should do is recognize that Cuba confronted in 1991 precisely the kind of Apocalypse that looms before us today — the sudden loss of external inputs to the economy — things such as oil, heavy equipment, cars, and did we mention oil? — and handled it. We have more to learn from them than there is likely time to learn before we are in the soup, but we should do the best we can, because there is no better example in the world for meeting and besting such a crisis.
The World Wildlife Fund in its 2006 Sustainability Index Report cited Cuba as the only sustainable country in the world. To comprehend the magnitude of that achievement, and its significance for our world today, we need to go back to 1990. Cuba then was the very model of industrial agriculture, turning most of its land over to vast monocultures of sugar cane, applying oceans of imported oil to till it, spray it (Cuba at the time used more pesticides than the United States), harvest it and ship it to the Soviet Union in return for oil and food. Most of what was grown in Cuba was exported; most of what was eaten in Cuba was imported. When the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, Cuba, under embargo by the United States, had no market for its agricultural products and no way to pay for imported oil or food.
An industrial country wakes up one morning to no more oil. Just like that.
Motivated now by survival, not by profit, Cubans did what smart people have been telling us all to do for decades now. They stopped wresting cash from their punished land and started to heal it in order to have enough food to live. It was tough, starting from scratch, with the crisis already upon them. In the decade that followed the average Cuban adult lost 20 pounds.
They brought in experts in Permaculture from Australia and launched a national drive toward diversified, organic, polycultural, restorative agriculture. They did not do this because they wanted to save “the environment,” they did it because they wanted to save themselves. And that is why they succeeded. By the end of that first decade the average Cuban was getting 2600 calories and more than 68 grams of protein, an amount considered “sufficient” by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. By 2006 average caloric intake was up to 3356 calories.
A lot of this food was produced not in the countryside (requiring transport to the cities) but in urban gardens, where food was grown and consumed in the same neighborhood. By 2002, 35,000 acres of urban gardens produced 3.4 million tons of food. In Havana, 90% of the city’s fresh produce came from local urban farms and gardens, all organic. In 2003, more than 200,000 Cubans were employed in urban agriculture. In 2003, Cuba had reduced its use of Diesel fuel by more than 50%, synthetic fertilizers by 90%, and chemical insecticides by 83%
Cuba’s achievements, in the face of exactly the kind of test we will soon face, are nothing short of awe-inspiring. Our obvious course, now that we are resuming a normal relationship, would be to commend them on what they have done and to invite teachers and consultants to come here to America and show our farmers how to stop destroying the earth and start feeding our people sustainably.
Yesterday’s work outfit, it was too cold and windy to be very stylish: thrifted Korean pink fleece hoodie over longsleeve tee layers, thrifted Gap jeans over leggings & kneesox, thrifted Docs. #ootd #fafafafafashionbeepbeep #everydayfashion #cheapasschic #thriftscore #koreanfashion #pink #fleece #hoodie #gapjeans #layers #docmartens #itscoldoutside #ihatethecold #punkrockgirl #over45style #mystyle https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs3Kfcnjvcj/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=19wptcv8o36tp
The misfortune is that although everyone must come to death, each experiences the adventure in solitude.
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Simone de Beauvoir, A Very Easy Death (via philosophybits)
They forgot the part where the ambulance actually stopped to let the cat in
oh good I was worried
What a good cat. What a kind cat. How can anyone not love cats they are so good and loving.
they also forgot the part where they only found the baby because masha was screaming her head off bc she knew this baby was in danger. she went around outside the alley the next morning and yelled at passerby until she got one to follow her to the baby. she kept him warm all night and then made sure someone found him. she was adopted after this bc she was a stray and is in a loving home and is a hero
Hero cat
Thank you, Masha, you’re such a good girl.
See.
Kittens can’t regulate their own body temperature. That’s why they pile up.
Cats see us as colony members.
Masha saw a kitten that was on its own, no mommy, no other kittens to cuddle with. She instinctively knew that was a cold kitten. She knew that a kitten alone on a cold night was very likely to die. Because a kitten would have died too.
So, all she was doing was what any good colony member does - protecting the abandoned kitten. Then when the abandoned kitten’s mommy didn’t come back, she called the rest of the colony for help.
People have this bizarre idea that housecats don’t have a social sense. They do, and it saved this kid’s life. And possibly Masha’s too, as life on the streets is dangerous for a kitty.
We say “good dog” all the time, but Masha was being a very, very good cat…not just by human moral standards but by feline ones.
So my first thought upon seeing these is “Why, then, do they not eat cake?”
And then I learned the actual story behind these photos: Clemson University’s football team (the Tigers) held their national championship celebration (15-0 win this season) at the White House last night (2019/01/14), but because much of the residence staff at the White House is furloughed, Trump personally payed for the event to be catered with food from Burger King, McDonald’s, and Wendy’s. [source] [source]
McD’s sauces in gravy boat
Fries served in paper cups with the PotUS seal on them.
The combination of wealth and cheapness here is extraordinary.
POTUS has to cater a meal to honour guests, and offers to pay for it out of his own pocket (because of the shutdown he engineered) and then goes for the cheapest possible option.
Hell if he’d volunteered to organise a barbecue I’d have been ore impressed, but no… fast food?
My mind feels like it’s trying to change three different gears without a clutch.
Part of Trump’s obsession with fast food is apparently he’s a major germaphobe and considers prepackaged and fast foods to be more hygienic than anything else. That might also be why he eats his steaks so cooked to death.
apparently the players thought it was a joke and were… less that excited about eating junk food (they’re serious athletes)
Guys have a year round special athletics dining hall with their own nutritionist, and they go to the WHITE HOUSE and get served lukewarm congealed fast food
You know what McDonald’s fries are like when they’re left to sit out? Now picture a whole meal of that. From THE WHITE HOUSE.
It’s truly remarkable what a failure this man is on every level.
also, like: the juxtaposition of fast food on these silver platters surrounded by gold candelabras is just the clearest image of this administration we’ll likely ever get
Let’s also not forget that, in blatant violation of the emoluments clause, he has a restaurant branded with his name very, very close to the White House. He could very easily have arranged for that food- which, while reviews say is not good, at least isn’t fast food. And it would have cost him a fraction of what normal people are charged, because he wouldn’t have to pay the mark-up.
He likes the optics of this. He thought very seriously and decided that this was the best way to present things, either as a “fuck you” (to Dems “causing” the shutdown? To football players who remind him of the professionals who exercise their free speech rights with kneeling?) or because he genuinely think this makes him look good.
He’s a shitty person who’s also very bad at this.
Bold of you to assume Trump paid for any of it when his whole thing is getting other people to pay for it after promising to pay you back and then not doing that either.
Also Quavo’s throwing them a real party so let’s get ready for those pictures.
My mother and I were talking about this at lunch, and she said “Like, I LIKE fast food, and if I was served it at the White House? Which has a chef ON STAFF? I’d be going ‘haha funny but for real where the fuck is the real food, I came here to eat some lavish dishes with French names.”
This blog is mostly so I can vent my feelings and share my interests. Other than that, I am nothing special.
If you don't like Left Wing political thought and philosophy, all things related to horror, the supernatural, the grotesque, guns or the strange, then get the fuck out. I just warned you.
