I too have great respect for Megan and Community Solutions.  This was only enhanced by here introspective piece circulated a few weeks ago.  However we must try and draw the relevant lessons from Cuba and not succumb to either a rosy, direct application of their actions to the USA and Canada nor the negative propaganda of the MSM.  I have seen the Power of community video many times, having presented it to groups of friends and family.  I do not see any skinny pigs, cows, horses or people in that video.  Nor did I see any in the two hour treatment done here in Canada by the CBC.  What  did see was a people struggling to cope with a difficult situation and solving many problems at a community level.  It is also obvious that they benefit from a central government that seems to care about the condition of the population as a whole.  Because of climate factors, many specific actions taken there will not be applicable in my country.  But whatever the technical solutions may be to a contracting economy the road to these solutions will likely be through community cooperative action in large and small groups.  Because of the different nature of our governments from Cuba, our "special period" will probably be a lot rougher with more conflict and extra, even constructed, problems to overcome.  At this point I don't think anyone can predict what will happen, when it will happen, nor what the initial period will look like.  However I do believe that strengthening community now in any form is the only way to prepare.  A spider web is resiliant because it is constructed of interconnecting strands that work together o resist unexpected stresses.  We need to build this structure in our community, not knowing how or when it will be tested.  Of course the wwWEB and TOD are already part of this structure.  And, by the way, the discussions and technical analysis here on TOD are similar to, and provide excellent support to the discussions in my living room after viewing The Power of Community".  Many thanks to all of you who provide so much insight, expertise and critical thinking on here.  Quoting you and using your analysis makes us regular folks sound smart.

I think we tend to see Cuba from the perspective of "Castro-ism". That is to say, we ascribe the state of social welfare to his dictatorship.

But... I think it is fair to ask: how would we in the U.S. have done with no oil for the last 30 years? Would we have fat pigs? An open society? Wall Street? Would we have the level of education and literacy they have maintained?

I am neither for, or against, Castro... but to call Cuba unsuccessful is to forget we've never played the no-oil game.
Let us name the American president with the skills to take us through that ugly nightmare.