Description
Book SynopsisToward a Culture of Nature is a comprehensive study of Cuba''s environmental policy, specifically the response of the Cuban government to the collapse of the Soviet Union and subsequent shortage of petroleum products. Pamela Stricker analyzes Cuba''s transition to sustainable models of agriculture, efforts toward energy independence using renewable resources, the adoption of green medicine, a framework law on environmental protection, the impact of tourism and foreign investment on the island, incorporation of environmental education, and the crafting of a culture of nature, that is, a Cuban environmental ethics of sustainable development. Going beyond the standard accounts of formal legislation and executive institutions, Professor Stricker pays special attention to the scientists and activists who worked in all capacities (governmental and non-governmental) to bring about change to the environmental policies. Spanning the second half of the twentieth-century, Toward a Culture of Nature is an important case study of environmental policy, ethics, and sustainable development.
Trade ReviewStricker's treatise on the 'greening' of Cuba is a must read for anyone interested in ecologically sustainable development, both organic and urban agriculture, 'green medicine,' environmental education, social and environmental justice, the challenges faced by contemporary Cuban society and the lessons to be learned from the implementation of sustainable development policies and alternative technologies on a national scale. Her book reveals how Cuba not only survived the economic and social effects of the collapse of the socialist bloc in the early 1990s but has prospered in recent years through the successful implementation of environmentally sustainable and organic forms of agriculture, innovative approaches to local food production, energy conservation, reliance on alternative sources of energy, the use of 'green' and other alternative forms of medicine, environmental education programs and a comprehensive legal framework for the protection of the environment and the monitoring of the ecological effects of foreign investment and tourism. -- Richard Harris, California State University
Stricker's book is an excellent starting point for discussion, as well as an in-depth case study that makes an important contribution to a growing literature on sustainable development and enviornmental ethics. * Journal of Agricultural and Environmental Ethics, October 2008 *
In this useful study, Pamela Stricker delves into a little known aspect of the Cuban Revolution and looks at environmental policy as it impacts on evolving sustainable development. -- Ronald H. Chilcote, University of California, Riverside
Table of ContentsChapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Sustainable Development Chapter 3 Politics, Economics, and the Shift to Sustainable Agriculture Chapter 4 From Red to Green: Scientists, Politics, and Agriculture Chapter 5 Pursuing Energy and Medical Self-Sufficiency Chapter 6 Pearl of the Sea Chapter 7 Codifying Environmental Protection Chapter 8 Opening Pandora's Box Chapter 9 Greening the Curriculum Chapter 10 People, Nature, and Development from the Cuban Point of View Chapter 11 Lessons
