“{Irma} …a hurricane that looks like a symmetrical rock… a powerful hurricane.” (Armando Caymares, meteorologist) 

“[After Irma] many things happened quickly, at least the collection of rubbish, or rubble. The electric supply was restored in 16 days…. As for housing and state buildings, work places, these still show the effects.” (Alejandro Morffi, speleologist)

“… all these small coastal settlements could have an economic reactivation if the connection between public policy and tourism development could be a bit more dynamic.” (Armando Fernández, environmental historian)

“…there was a false concept that [nature] was there for us to make use of. That it is a commodity that I am going to use for whatever I need…. We are modifying so much the environment we live in, that it reaches a point in which it becomes hostile for us. And it’s our fault.” (Manuel Iturralde, geologist)

“… one has to live searching for solutions based on nature, and not confronting nature.” (Liliana Nuñez Velis, environmental historian, President FANJ)

“After the [sugar] industry disappeared, some started out on their own… growing root crops, vegetables, fruit… and they are returning to the land, to the opening of options for renting state lands that were previously given over to cane, and are now supposedly being turned over to the production of food for local needs…” (Ana Vera Estrada, cultural researcher)

“… the world is today living through a special period. There are many motives for sustaining a change in the world agricultural system, and it is necessary, not only in Cuba but in every country of the world, to rethink agriculture in another way. To rethink the way that not only food is produced, rethink the way in which agriculture is connected to the rest of society. And there are many people working in this, there are many people around the world, from their own communities, their own difficulties, and their own problems, which have not only been related to the technology, to how food is produced, but have been changes at the economic and social levels, and also the impact that this has had on the climate. The impact resulting from the imbalances and variabilities in the climate, not only in Cuba, but everywhere in the world. Access to water, prolonged droughts, the passage of hurricanes, tornados, different climatic events that affect agriculture and which are no more than a response from nature to the bad management of these same natural resources. If we succeed in establishing agricultural systems that are more respectful of the environment, but also that are socially more viable, fair and just, then we can think of a sustainable future for the world.” (Fernando Funes, farmer)