[imc-st.louis] Black & Green Wed: Cuba’s Env’l & Medical Revolution

[Don Fitz]

To get a really good graphic of the Cuba program, go to this link:

http://www.gateway-greens.org/2010/10-aug4.htm

Black & Green Wednesday

FORUM: Cuba’s Environmental and Medical Revolution

WHEN: 7 pm, Wednesday August 4, 2010

WHERE: Legacy Books and Café, 5249 Delmar (near Union)

A panel discussion will include:

*  *Bud DeRaps*, Global Exchange

*  *Daniel Hellinger*, Political Science Professor, Webster University

*  *Audrey Hollis*, Greater St. Mark Community Garden

*  *Rebecca Fitz*, Medical Student, /Escuela Latinoamericana de Medicina/

*  *Don Fitz*, Gateway Green Alliance [moderator]

Cuba is the only country in the world to have both a low environmental 
impact and a good standard of living.  And it is doing so despite a 
devastating economic blockade by the US.  The island country is rapidly 
becoming an example of how a society can reorganize itself during hardship.

Cuban agriculture shows how urban space can be used for gardens that 
result in a majority of vegetables being grown locally, even in a city 
of two million.  Rural Cubans receive much of their power “off the 
grid,” largely through solar technology.

Medicine is an area in which Cuba truly excels.  Spending vastly less 
money than the US, Cuba has a life expectancy that matches the US and a 
lower infant mortality rate.  This is due to a medical system based on 
community and preventive care.

The Cuban medical school currently trains over 20,000 students from 
Latin American and Africa.  They will return home to practice medicine 
in distressed communities.  Cuba provides their education free along 
with their books, dorm room, meals and health care.  They become doctors 
with no school loans to pay off.

Sponsored by Gateway Green Alliance and Universal African Peoples 
Organization.  For more information call 314-727-8554 or visit: