Cuba

After watching the video on Cuba today I was thinking about the question raised about whether the United States could implement some of the same policies that Cuba was forced to implement. I think it would be possible to implement some of these policies especially those in regards to agriculture. Although Cuba has a much smaller population than the United States they have more people per square mile than we do in the United States. Cuba has a population of about 11 million and the total area of Cuba is 42803 square miles. The population of the United States is 304 million people and we have 3718711 square miles of land. Cuba has approximately .003 square miles of land per person while here in the United States we have approximately .012 square miles per person. The people of Cuba were able to overcome huge food shortages by coming up with innovative ideas like rooftop gardens and urban agriculture. Here in the United States we have much more land available per person than is available in Cuba, and we also have a wide range of climates which supports different varieties of crops and agriculture. Cuba was a country that was forced to implement policies that changed the way people lived. Because of trade embargos that caused oil shortages people were forced to make changes in their lifestyles. These changes are helping Cubans live a more sustainable lifestyle. Here in the United States we are not facing the same drastic measures that Cuba was facing but if we were to start making changes before oil shortages become too severe I believe the transition would be easier.