Eco Cuba Exchange /Global Exchange

invite you to participate in a week-long series of presentations by CUBAN permaculturist

Roberto Perez Rivero

of the

ANTONIO NUNEZ JIMENEZ FOUNDATION FOR NATURE AND HUMANITY

and featured in the film:

“The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil”

Thursday, March 31 – Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Roberto Perez Rivero is the Environmental Education and Biodiversity Conservation Program Director of the Cuban NGO, the Antonio Nunez Jimenez Foundation for Nature and Humanity, the oldest environmental organization in Cuba.  Mr. Perez has also served as their Project Officer on Urban Agriculture and Environmental Programs, Publishing Editor, and Teacher of Environmental Education, Sustainable Agriculture and Permaculture.  He has a Graduate Degree in Biology from the University of Havana and also studied Community-based Resource Management at the University of St. Francis Xavier, Nova Scotia, Canada.  Since 1999, Mr. Perez has traveled extensively in Latin America and the Caribbean, Europe, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Southeast Asia, and the United States, presenting Cuba’s approach to sustainable living in the face of declining petroleum and other nonrenewable resources.

In 2006, the World Wildlife Foundation, using a combination of the UNDP Human Development Index (health, education, food and shelter indices) and the Carbon Footprint (carbon use per capita), determined that Cuba was the only nation in the world living sustainably.  How did this small, poor island nation achieve this distinction?

Mr. Perez will talk about Cuba’s progress and struggles in sustainable agriculture and sustainable development, especially in the last twenty years since the dissolution of the Soviet bloc. If you have not yet seen the film, The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil, we highly recommend that  you view it, prior to attending a presentation.  The film is less than an hour in length and is available, in its entirety, at the website below.  The first ten minutes focuses on the issue of peak oil in general, followed by 50 minutes of interviews with the Cuban environmental policy makers and practitioners, including Roberto Perez, who have brought about this dramatic evolution toward sustainability in Cuba.

The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil

http://www.vimeo.com/8653921

http://www.vimeo.com/8653921

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For more information about the Bay Area tour of Roberto Perez Rivero,

please contact: Pam Montanaro, Eco Cuba Exchange,

pam@globalexchange.org or 510-318-4910

http://www.ecocubaexchange.org

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Upcoming Eco Cuba Exchange Cuba research tours:

Environmental Protection and Sustainable Development/

Research Tour and Conference

July 2 – 15, 2011

Cuban Women and Sustainable Development

October 15 – 23, 2011

AgroEcology Conference/

Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens

November  19 – 27, 2011

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Eco Cuba Exchange is a project of Global Exchange

http://www.globalexchange.org

organizing Cuba research tours with Global Exchange Reality Tours

http://www.realitytours.org

Roberto Perez Rivero Itinerary

Thursday, March 31

Global Exchange staff and presentation

Merritt College with to see “model permaculture project”

6:30 pm  Roberto co-teaches a permaculture class with Christopher Shein at Merritt College

Friday, April 1

1:00 pm Roberto co-teaches a class on sustainable eco systems with Booka Alon at Hayes Valley Farm

Saturday, April 2

tba

Sunday, April 3

11:00 am: Presentation for the Center for Political Education, PODER, and other       organizations at Centro del Pueblo

6:00 pm:   Berkeley Ecology Center presentation

Monday, April 4

12 noon: UC Berkeley, Cuba Working Group Presentation at Center for Latin American Studies

Tuesday, April 5

Occidental Ecology and Arts visit and presentation in evening

Wednesday, April 6

6 pm:   Point Reyes, Regenerative Design Institute

6 pm:   Transition SF, Permaculture Guild, SF Urban Ag Alliance (SFUAA)

co-host a presentation and Q&A session