Nation in Danger of Extinction: Climate Change and Colonialism in Puerto Rico

Guest lecture by Paul Figueroa.

Puerto Rico is a nation in danger of extinction because of the climate crisis and twenty-first-century settler colonialism. The Fiscal Control Board of Puerto Rico, imposed by the United States’ PROMESA (Puerto Rico Oversight, Management and Economic Stability) Act have privatized electric energy authority, putting 100% of our electric power and 50% of our freshwater resources in the hands of one American corporation. This same corporation refuses to pursue green energy alternatives and is non-compliant with pre-existing climate standards. The United States’ inaction in the CO26 Conference in Glasgow particularly in their refusal to eliminate the use of coal energy poses a unique risk for Puerto Rico as toxic coal ash produced by American electric companies is deposited in Puerto Rico’s southern valleys, creating a public health crisis in many of our most vulnerable communities. These climate challenges posed by the United States run parallel with a pattern of settler colonialism where Americans who treat Puerto Rico as a tax haven buy land in and around our vulnerable coastal habitats and lobby against coastal and environmental protection proposals. This behaviour ignores the fact that for every centimetre water levels rise, Puerto Rico loses a meter of the coast. The climate crisis in Puerto Rico is linked to a struggle for self-determination which proves as an extreme case that the United States is not a reliable partner in the struggle against climate change.

All are welcome!

About

Paul Figueroa is an educator and academic representing the Puerto Rican Independence Party (PIP) as a party leader in San Juan’s First Legislative District and was a candidate for San Juan City Council in the 2020 elections. Areas of interest include gentrification, climate change, LGBTQI rights, and agricultural/food sovereignty.

Publications

The Island and the River, Bella Caledonia, Scotland, December 2021, Interview

COP26: Libertad para enfrentar el cambio climático, El Nuevo Dia, Puerto Rico, November 2021, Opinion Column

Hurricane Maria: Four Years Later, The Tempest, United States, October 2021, Opinion Column