Identity and globalization: The world at a crossroad

Abstract

The author, a Cuban Physicist, is currently involved in environmental physics in buildings, sustainable development and the promotion of renewable sources of energy and bioclimatic architecture. He is a member of the board of directors of Cubasolar, Vice President of the Cuban Society of Physics and Director of Energia y tu, the magazine of Cubasolar. He is an adviser to Cubaenergia, the center for the management of information and development on energy, and has a radio and television program. He has published numerous books of which Energy in Buildings Handbook is forthcoming and the result of his last project "Index of Energy Efficiency in Buildings." He is a member of the World Society for Ekistics. The text that follows is a slightly revised and edited version of a paper presented by the author at the internationalsymposion on "Globalization and Local Identity, " organized jointly by the World Society for Ekistics and the University of Shiga Prefecture in Hikone, Japan, 19-24 September, 2005.