The World Divide: Consumerism versus Rational Living.
Cuba's Life Task: Combatting Climate Change
This past Tuesday we attended a viewing of the film Cuba’s Life Task: Combatting Climate Change, a film documenting the visit of Dr. Helen Yaffe to Cuba and exploring “Tarea Vida” (Life Task). The film explains well how Cubans work at protecting their population and their environment based on environmental science and with a focus on natural available solutions and community participation. Cuba, an island country in the Caribbean, is particularly vulnerable to climate change.
The film is easy to see and shows the challenges Cubans face in implementing their plan, in particular because of the limited economic resources of the Cuban government. It also shows challenges individuals face, those currently living in endangered coastal areas will eventually have to leave. They hope to be able to remain in their homes despite increasing sea level rise and flooding. It is obvious to us, watching the film, that they will have no option but to move inland, but we can understand their pain and solidarize with them in their wish to remain close to the sea.
What emerged from the film...
At some point during the film I became emotional just thinking about the challenges Cubans face and have been facing for more than 60 years now because of the United States blockade. We are just humans and weary to focus on the terrible limitations the blockade imposes on daily life, we do not live in Cuba so we put this on a shelf, I guess.
But the film confronts us with the limitations Cubans suffer and it is obviously criminal. Cubans face this everyday and they suffer it with their children and families. In the face of the blockade their determination to remain sovereign and defend their project becomes heroic, immense -it has no equal in Latin America. It can make people in our continent proud of Cubans, just thinking how unique they are.
The blockade is cruel, criminal. It uses an almost "legalistic" action in violation of the soul of all Law. It shows perfectly well the cruelty and criminality of the US empire with Cuba, and it tells us also about the empire's capacity for causing pain to other peoples and other countries -think Venezuela if you want. The Empire in Cuba is setting an example to all of us. The crime of Cuba is defending its right to be, to choose how to live. Cuba has been repeatedly tested throughout the years, and despite the proven support of most nations of the world -who are naturally against the criminal blockade, not much has changed.
Empires -like billionaires, do not doubt about destroying those who stand in their way. The world, unfortunately, seems unable to stand to either, it fails to protect the brave peoples who confront them and choose to defend their right to be, their dignity to be. In this struggle, Cuban determination to live free from outside rule emerges together, at the same time, with the cruel and evil nature of the US Empire.
It cannot be surprising, given the Cuban experience, that Cubans solidarize with Palestinians. There is much about Cuba that reminds us of Palestine and vice-versa. My own experience in seeing Palestinians killed in Gaza tells me this, it was the first thought I have: this is like Cuba. Understanding Cuba and the challenges Cubans face made it impossible for me to ignore the plea of Palestinians assaulted in front of cameras, civilians all, women, men, children killed and tortured. The UN’s special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Francesca Albanese, became my hero: she told truth to power (in spite of many threats I imagine). Most people of the world understand what is taking place and want to stop the Gaza Strip crimes for good, not just for appearances sake. In the same manner many people of the world want to stop the US blockade against Cuba. I also believe that it is not by chance that Cubans and Gazans face such dehumanizing treatment at the hands of the Empire. These are racial crimes against Palestinians and Cubans as they are obviously peoples of color.
More to the point, if today the Caribbean is a central region of the world severely affected by extremely destructive storms made worse by climate change resulting from the unlimited consumption of the richer million, this is also not by chance. Historically the Caribbean was the center of the Atlantic Slave Trade enriching through sordid human traffic many European countries who are today among that richer million.
Together we need to fight all dehumanizing practices -ethnic cleansing, crimes against humanity, blockades extorting vulnerable countries in the world. We need to support those affected by climate change because they are not necessarily responsible for their situation as they are not the ones emitting greenhouse gases. In the case of Cuba we need to ensure the United States ends the Blockade. We need to isolate the US so it learns how it feels. The US has to remove its knee from the neck of Cuba.
Nora Fernandez, NSCUBA (Nova Scotia)
What Is Climate Change?
Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns that are no longer just natural (due to changes in the sun’s activity or large volcanic eruptions). Since the 1800s human activities that burn fossil fuels (coal, oil, gas) have become the main cause of climate change. Burning fossil fuels generates greenhouse gas emissions and these gasses (carbon dioxide and methane) act like a blanket wrapped around the Earth, trapping the sun’s heat and raising temperatures. (1)
These emissions are connected to the way we live: burning gasoline to drive a car or burning coal to heat a building. Clearing land and cutting down forests also release carbon dioxide. Agriculture and oil and gas operations are major sources of methane emissions. Energy, industry, transport, buildings, agriculture and land use are among the main sectors causing greenhouse gases. We humans are responsible for global warming. Climate scientists have shown that humans are responsible for virtually all global heating over the last 200 years. The average temperature of the Earth’s surface is now between 1.3 and 1.4 degrees Celsius warmer than prior to the late 1800s (before the industrial revolution) and warmer than any time in the last 100 000 years. The last decade (2015-2024) was the warmest on record. Many people believe climate change is mainly about warmer temperatures. Well, it is much more as temperature rises it affects the entire Earth system. Climate change means: intense droughts, water scarcity, severe fires, rising sea levels, flooding, melting polar ice, catastrophic storms and declining biodiversity. It can affect our health, ability to grow food, housing, safety and work. People living in small island nations, like Cuba (and other developing nations) are more vulnerable and have less means to deal with it. In the future the number of people displaced by weather-related events will rise. Famine is a risk.
The emissions that cause climate change come from every part of the world and affect everyone. However, some countries produce more emissions than others. Cuba implements its “Tarea Vida” but needs the world to radically reduce emissions. In 2023 China, the US, India, the EU, the Russian Federation and Brazil accounted together for more than half global greenhouse gas emissions. But the 45 least developed countries accounted for only 3 percent of them. Cuba is among these last countries but as an island nation it is very vulnerable to the effects of climate change. Everyone must take climate action, but people and countries creating more of the problem have a greater responsibility to act first. It will mean to switch energy systems (from fossil fuels to renewables) but it will also mean changing the way we live: consuming less.
NSCUBA
(1) https://www.un.org/en/
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