Critical Environments: Nature, Science, and Politics

Energy Transition, Geopolitics, and the Infrastructural State in Cuba

Gustav Cederlof

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• ISBN:
  9780520393141
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Biological Sciences
• Subtopic: Environmental Conservation & Protection
• Index: Biological Sciences

In the pursuit of socialism, Cuba became Latin America's most oil-dependent economy. When the Soviet Union collapsed, the country lost 86 percent of its crude oil supplies, resulting in a severe energy crisis. In the face of this shock, Cuba started to develop a low-carbon economy based on economic and social reform rather than high-tech innovation. The Low-Carbon Contradiction examines this period of rapid low-carbon energy transition, which many have described as a "Cuban miracle" or even a real-life case of successful "degrowth." Working with original research from inside households, workplaces, universities, and government offices, Gustav Cederlöf retells the history of the Cuban Revolution as one of profound environmental and infrastructural change. In doing so, he opens up new questions about energy transitions, their politics, and the conditions of a socially just low-carbon future. The Cuban experience shows how a society can transform itself while rapidly cutting carbon emissions in the search for sustainability.

Table of contents

• Series Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• List of Illustrations and Table
• Preface
• Acronyms
• Introduction
• 1. Against the Energy Empire
• 2. Electrification or Death
• 3. Blackout
• 4. Socialist Redistribution and Autonomous Infrastructure
• 5. The Energy Revolution
• Conclusion: Energy Transitions and Infrastructural Form
• Notes
• Bibliography
• Index