Celebrate Real Independence, Cuban-Style: Grow Your Own Food

Here in the American technotopia, "Green Revolution" usually refers to the great advances in irrigation, chemical fertilizers, herbicides, pesticides, and genetic engineering that have increased crop yields and provided enough food to sustain populations Malthus and other pessimists would have thought impossible.

But what if we didn't have all the oil and other high-energy inputs of modern industrial agriculture? We'd be Cuba, where "Green Revolution" means local self-sufficiency, growing food in urban organic community gardens:



Cuba had to adopt this agriculture model out of necessity: the Soviet Union collapsed, oil and foreign cash dried up, and Cubans needed to eat. Now small-scale ag is producing 60% of Cuba's food and 70% of the island's vegetables and herbs. Let's hope we Americanos don't have to wait for the oil to run out to realize the value of local ag and the 100-mile diet.

Happy Fourth of July! Now pass the salad....