By Autumn Coleman
Medill Reports

San Juan, Puerto Rico — Walking into one of the many forests, beaches or towns of Puerto Rico, it’s impossible to tell how much work is put into preserving its natural beauty. 

With Puerto Rico’s national debt being more than tens of billions of dollars, very little government money goes to causes – like the environment – important to Puerto Ricans. All over the archipelago, Puerto Ricans fight to maintain what is theirs in several ways. Using culture to preserve natural resources is a common tool in the face of lack of investment.  

In a mountainside town, one group has taken on the task of protecting their ecosystem perpetually. Since 1980, Casa Pueblo has been fighting to preserve “la naturaleza”  of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico and beyond. After an anti-mining rally in its early stages where only one person came, Casa Pueblo began implementing culture to engage the community on their projects protecting the environment. 

“We use culture as a form of resistance,” says Claudia Irizarry, an interpretive guide for Casa Pueblo. The group hosts events with traditional Puerto Rican dance and music to entice locals into caring about issues closest to them. 

Amid economic and personal problems, some Puerto Ricans said they feel they don’t have time for environmental problems. Casa Pueblo’s community programming suggests otherwise. 

Casa Pueblo uses outdoor spaces to educate. The forest surrounding a nearby river has its Bosque Escuela, or forest school. The river itself provides water to more than 1 million people on the island. Irizarry says if they hadn’t stopped the mining, the area would have turned into a crater.

Casa Pueblo functions without any funding from the government, opting instead to generate revenue through its artisanal store, cafe and donations. Many of the biggest donations come from international celebrities, but the group is adamant about rejecting photo opportunities with donors. 

The group’s latest project is the Energy Independence Square, which is within walking distance of Casa Pueblo. It will provide “electricity with a new microgrid, drinking water and food from a garden, while its public art invites recreation and contemplation,” according to Casa Pueblo’s newsletter.

The solar panels attached to the top of the square will generate electricity while the ground below is available for community use. The art incorporated in the square is the work of Antonio Martorelli, a famous Puerto Rican painter. 

Casa Pueblo’s work is a trend among Puerto Ricans on the island who want to enact change. 

In a township between the historic cities of San Juan and Loiza lies Piñones, a neighborhood known for beautiful beaches and flavorful foods. In 1999, the Afro-Latino community started Corporacion Piñones Se Integra (COPI). In addition to protecting the mangrove forests on the nearby estuary, the group also educates the local community on their Black heritage. 

“If we don’t have identity, we don’t have anything,” COPI founder Maricruz Rivera Clemente said. 

To engage the community, COPI started teaching local girls the art of Bomba, a Puerto Rican style of music and dance created by enslaved Africans. Through dance, the children have traveled internationally to perform and gained pride in themselves as Afro-Boricuas. 

“This has helped the children to dream again,” Clemente said. “They dream about education and wanting more for their life. It has slowed down the violence and helped their behavior in the schools. It’s had a big impact.

“We don’t want to teach resistance all the time, but we have to, so we make it fun,” she said. 

Despite Clemente’s efforts, her students experienced a hit to their community through the closure of their schools. In 2016, then-President Barack Obama signed into law the Puerto Rico Oversight and Management Economic Stability Act, or PROMESA, to bring down Puerto Rico’s then-$72 billion national debt. The law mandated drastic spending cuts, driving Puerto Rico to close down more than 400 schools in order to shrink a debt that was declared unpayable in 2015 by then-Gov. Alejandro Garcia Padilla.

Many Puerto Ricans said they feel their existence on the island is interconnected with the environment. COPI maintains a partnership with the Department of Natural Resources and has organized local cleanups of the mangroves that protect residents against natural disasters.

When hurricanes arrive on Puerto Rico’s shores, natural foliage like the mangroves provides an important buffer against brutal waves that can erode the land and destroy homes. COPI cultivates mangroves in a nursery and replants them in the estuary.  “We do it because it’s part of our culture. We do it because we love our community,” Clemente said. 

Despite the Department of Natural Resources partnership, the government has little to do with what COPI accomplishes. The first of their mangrove clean-ups came from after federal resources never arrived. The group took matters into its own hands. 

Puerto Ricans have been dealing with natural disasters for decades, but Hurricane Maria in 2017, which killed about 3,000 people, left many in distress and without electricity for weeks or months. During their time of need, many wanted to help but had no idea where to begin. 

Y No Habia Luz, an acting company in downtown San Juan, set out to help the broader island community recover after the hurricane. While the members weren’t rebuilding homes or generating electricity, they aimed to offer hope to many who felt hopeless. 

“We didn’t know if what we were doing was really needed, but it was all we knew how to do,” said Yari Helfeld, a founding member of the company. The group performed their acting routine with puppets and wore costumes. They allowed those in attendance to forget their troubles, even if only for a moment. 

Due to all the challenges on the island, many Puerto Ricans have opted for the mainland. Today, Puerto Ricans are 41.6% living below the poverty line, while the national average is 12.4%. Data USA translates this to 1.34 million people out of 3.23 million impoverished people. 

This makes organizing increasingly important as it caters to the ever-growing needs of the Puerto Rican population still on the island. For these people, keeping the land alive is done through keeping themselves and their culture alive.

Autumn Coleman is a magazine graduate student at Medill.