Epilogue: Cuba's Latest Revolution

Summary

People should not have to depend on the vagaries of prices in the world economy, long distance transportation, and superpower “goodwill” for their next meal.

I have become increasingly aware of how much my day-to-day environment, even as I sit here and write, is already synthetic. The Iberian colonists, who we noted wore shoes and slept in elevated beds to separate themselves from earth's nature, would have approved of there being very little in the way of dirty soil, raw wood, or living vegetation within my immediate reach. Most of what surrounds me is manmade and petrochemical – from the plastic desk, chair, and computer on which I work, the nylon carpet on which I walk, and the latex paint on which I gaze, to the lenses on my nose, aspirin in my drawer, and the residual scent of the shampoo in my hair. Oil makes up the bulk of my material culture, the better part of my consumer choices, and it has improved my standard of living in countless ways.

Petrochemicals are also what keep me well fed. While what I eat is often highly processed, increasingly synthetic, and unnaturally flavored by petrochemical magic, oil plays its most significant role further up the line of production. Oil empowers today's farmer, astride a platoon of machines, to do the work of hundreds of his occupational ancestors.