31January 2020 — Climate & Capitalism
Cutting Pollution
Joint Cuba-U.S. study finds sustainable agriculture in Cuba keeps river pollution far below levels in U.S. waterways
At a bridge in central Cuba, near the city of Cienfuegos, a team of Cuban and U.S. scientists collect water. They explored twenty-five Cuban rivers and found little damage after centuries of sugarcane production.
by Joshua A Brown
University of Vermont
When the Soviet Union disintegrated in the early 1990s, food production on the island of Cuba was reduced—as the supply of Russian fertilizers, pesticides, tractors, and oil dried up. Under the stress of an imminent food crisis, the island quickly rebuilt a new form of diversified farming—including many urban organic gardens—that depended less on imported synthetic chemicals. Over the last two decades, Cuba blossomed into a worldwide model for conservation agriculture, with improved soils and cleaner water.
Whew. Finally, at last, the United Kingdom is formally leaving the European Union on Jan. 31. Here in Paris, the champions of French withdrawal from the EU are celebrating. They see Brexit as the harbinger of a future “Frexit,” a French departure from undemocratic governance, and the beginning of the end of a failed project to unify Europe around the demands of neoliberal capitalism.
