tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/puerto-rico-hurricane-recovery-48101/articlesPuerto Rico hurricane recovery – The Conversation2022-09-21T12:34:00Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1909532022-09-21T12:34:00Z2022-09-21T12:34:00ZPuerto Rico’s vulnerability to hurricanes is magnified by weak government and bureaucratic roadblocks<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485696/original/file-20220920-11238-5tmdt3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5472%2C3637&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A worker cuts an electricity pole downed by Hurricane Fiona in Cayey, Puerto Rico, on Sept. 18, 2022.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/PuertoRicoTropicalWeather/c53b19c43d874156905a6556f4fd4a9c/photo"> AP Photo/Stephanie Roja</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Five years after <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL152017_Maria.pdf">Hurricane Maria</a> wreaked havoc on Puerto Rico, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/live/2022/09/19/us/hurricane-fiona-puerto-rico">Hurricane Fiona</a> has killed at least four people, caused widespread flooding and left hundreds of thousands of residents <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-ricans-assess-hurricane-fiona-devastation-5-years-maria-rcna48516">without water or power</a>. Maria caused extensive damage to Puerto Rico’s power grid in 2017 that left many residents without electricity for months. Rebuilding it has been hampered by technical, political and financial challenges.</em></p>
<p><em>Carlos A. Suárez and Fernando Tormos-Aponte are social scientists who study Latin American politics and environmental justice. They explain some of the factors that have hindered efforts to recover from Maria and prepare for subsequent storms on this island with a population of <a href="https://www.census.gov/quickfacts/PR">3.2 million people</a>.</em></p>
<h2>Failed promises from privatization</h2>
<p><strong>Carlos A. Suárez Carrasquillo, Associate Instructional Professor, Political Science, Center for Latin American Studies, University of Florida</strong></p>
<p>In less than a century, Puerto Rico’s electricity system has gone full circle from private provision of electric power to a state-led effort to democratize access to power, and then back to a public-private partnership with a strong <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-neoliberalism-a-political-scientist-explains-the-use-and-evolution-of-the-term-184711">neoliberal</a> ethos. Yet Puerto Ricans still face daily challenges in obtaining affordable and efficient electricity services. </p>
<p>When the island’s electric power system was created in the late 1800s, private companies initially produced and sold electricity. During the New Deal era in the 1930s, the government took over this role. People came to see electric power as a <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/videos/legisladores-defienden-la-aee-como-un-patrimonio-nacional-272466/">patrimonio, or birthright</a>, that the government would provide, at times by <a href="https://aeepr.com/es-pr/Site-Servicios/Manuales/PREPA%20New%20Rate%20Structure%20Presentation%20-%20Internet.pdf">subsidizing power for lower-income residents</a>. </p>
<p>In the 1940s, Puerto Rico launched <a href="https://cdn.theconversation.com/static_files/files/2318/Quin%CC%83ones_and_Seda_%282016%29_Wealth_Extraction__Governmental_Servitude.pdf">Operation Bootstrap</a>, a rapid industrialization program that sought to attract foreign investments in industries such as textiles and petrochemicals. One important element was reliable and cheap electricity, provided by the state through the Autoridad de Energía Eléctrica, a public corporation known in English as the <a href="https://www.aafaf.pr.gov/relations-articles/puerto-rico-electric-power-authority-prepa/">Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority, or PREPA</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Damage from Hurricane Fiona, which dropped over 30 inches of rain on Puerto Rico, has set back post-Hurricane Maria recovery efforts.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Many interests coalesced around PREPA, including elected officials, labor unions, the <a href="https://www.noticel.com/article/20190703/larga-la-cola-de-sospechas-del-cartel-del-petroleo/">domestic oil importers</a> and, most importantly, the Puerto Rican public. Patronage and party politics often influenced the company’s <a href="https://dialogo.upr.edu/aee-ha-sido-el-balon-politico-y-la-joya-de-la-corona-segun-agp/">hiring, contracting and financial decisions</a>. </p>
<p>PREPA took on significant debt, often at the request of elected officials. For example, in 2011, then-Speaker of the House Jennifer González legislated for the company to obtain a line of credit from the Banco Gubernamental de Fomento in order to <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/notas/jenniffer-gonzalez-defiende-linea-de-credito-para-la-aee/">reduce power bills ahead of the 2012 elections</a>. </p>
<p>Gov. Alejandro García Padilla and Puerto Rico’s Financial Oversight and Management Board <a href="https://dialogo.upr.edu/mas-medidas-de-austeridad-aprobadas-tras-reunion-de-la-jcf/">imposed austerity policies in 2012-2017</a> that subsequent governors have kept in place. This left PREPA with limited resources to prepare for Hurricane Maria or make repairs afterward. </p>
<p>In 2021, Puerto Rico’s government and the financial control board privatized power delivery on the island. PREPA continued to generate electricity, but <a href="https://apnews.com/article/caribbean-puerto-rico-business-135b9ec52e130f3716f8862021a524d4">LUMA Energy</a>, a U.S.-Canadian consortium, received a 15-year contract to <a href="https://www.theweeklyjournal.com/politics/prepa-governing-board-approved-luma-contract-after-43-minute-meeting/article_b4399670-7deb-11eb-a4ee-f37571d32c44.html">transmit and deliver power to customers</a>. </p>
<p>LUMA is at the center of many controversies. It has resisted recognizing the largest and most powerful union in Puerto Rico as its employees’ <a href="https://www.sanjuandailystar.com/post/utier-chief-not-surprised-luma-chose-another-union">exclusive representative</a>. Many consumers’ monthly electric bills have <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/notas/luma-energy-pide-un-aumento-de-171-en-la-factura-de-luz-de-julio-a-septiembre/">increased significantly</a>. LUMA was supposed to upgrade Puerto Rico’s grid, with billions of dollars in federal support, but <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/11/16/puerto-rico-luma-energy/">outages continued</a>. Critics have called the company <a href="https://www.elcalce.com/contexto/2022/04/08/vicepresidente-de-luma-dedica-poesia-a-pr-pa-que-la-gente-recuerde-que-no-son-tan-malos">secretive</a> and <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/english/news/story/luma-awards-contract-to-ray-chacon-a-friend-of-former-governor-luis-fortuno/">corrupt</a>.</p>
<p>Labor groups, environmentalists and academics have offered comprehensive alternatives, such as <a href="https://www.queremossolpr.com/">Queremos Sol</a>, a proposal to install distributed solar power across the island, to reduce Puerto Rico’s dependence on fossil fuels and what they see as incompetent private administration. </p>
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<p>But the changes needed to address Puerto Rico’s energy crisis are inherently political. Enacting them will require support from the federal fiscal oversight board and Puerto Rican <a href="https://www.primerahora.com/noticias/gobierno-politica/notas/junta-le-da-la-bienvenida-a-transformacion-en-la-aee/">politicians</a>. I believe the public will have to mobilize and rally to convince authorities that the PREPA of old and LUMA today are antiquated organizations that are unable to meet Puerto Ricans’ current needs. </p>
<h2>Who gets disaster aid?</h2>
<p><strong>Fernando Tormos-Aponte, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Pittsburgh</strong></p>
<p>Disaster aid has been slow to come to Puerto Rico. Five years after Hurricane Maria, the U.S. government is channeling funds to rebuild and harden the archipelago’s energy infrastructure. But only a few of the planned multimillion-dollar projects have been even <a href="https://www.fema.gov/press-release/20220606/fema-announces-progress-puerto-ricos-power-grid-work">partially approved</a>. </p>
<p>In addition to privatization of the power system, residents have also contended with bureaucratic obstacles and the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112550">use of disaster resources for political gain</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.governor.ny.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/PRERWG_Report_PR_Grid_Resiliency_Report.pdf">Damage assessments</a> after Maria were rough estimates because the storm was so destructive. The U.S. government ultimately calculated total damage to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin islands at <a href="https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/data/tcr/AL152017_Maria.pdf">US$90 billion</a>.</p>
<p>Now, Hurricane Fiona has caused further damage, which will require even more significant investments. No government authority has sufficient resources on the ground in Puerto Rico to conduct such an assessment, let alone react swiftly to the disaster. </p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Federal Emergency Management Agency Associate Director Anne Bink describes how experience from Hurricane Maria will shape the response to Hurricane Fiona.</span></figcaption>
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<p>Local elected officials are often eager to claim responsibility for securing funding. However, investments in disaster preparedness, such as improving the electric grid, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-polisci-032211-212920">have less impact on public perceptions of government performance</a> than recovery funds that are disbursed shortly after a disaster strikes. </p>
<p>I expect that the Biden administration will seek to respond faster and more substantively to Hurricane Fiona than the Trump administration did after Hurricane Maria – but not necessarily out of compassion. </p>
<p>Presidents tend to use disaster resources to <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1017/s0022381611000843">gain electoral advantage</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055409990104">reward supporters</a> and portray themselves as capable disaster managers. And they typically are more vulnerable <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/ajps.12053">in election years</a>. </p>
<p>Maria hit Puerto Rico during Donald Trump’s first year in office. Puerto Rican voters <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2020/09/09/puerto-rico-statehood-politics-democrats-republicans-senate-409191">lean Democratic when they move to the U.S. mainland</a> – as a <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Puerto-Rico/The-commonwealth">commonwealth</a>, the archipelago does not cast electoral votes – so Trump likely did not perceive Puerto Ricans as important to his election. The Trump administration engaged in deliberate efforts to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/apr/22/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-trump-delayed-aid">delay disbursing Hurricane María recovery aid</a> and <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/09/13/647377915/trump-denies-death-toll-in-puerto-rico-falsely-claims-done-by-the-democrats">denied the real toll of the disaster</a>. </p>
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<span class="caption">People wait in their vehicles to collect water in San Pedro, Puerto Rico, on Oct. 19, 2017, nearly one month after Hurricane Maria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-wait-in-their-cars-in-line-to-collect-water-nearly-news-photo/863242170">Mario Tama/Getty Images</a></span>
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<p>In contrast, Joe Biden <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2021-04-30/latino-vote-surge-helped-biden-in-key-states-new-data-suggest">relied more heavily on minority support</a> for his 2020 presidential victory, and Hurricane Fiona has struck just two months before the 2022 midterm elections. Responding offers Biden an opportunity to prove himself a capable disaster manager and attract votes. </p>
<p>Even if the Biden administration is better organized and more responsive, however, marginalized communities often are hampered by <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7758/9781610448789">administrative burdens</a> when they try to access government resources. </p>
<p>For example, I have interviewed mayors in Puerto Rico who issued contracts to local providers to address urgent needs after the Federal Emergency Management Agency promised reimbursement. To this day, FEMA has not paid some of these mayors back, and the mayors fear that local vendors will not want to do further business with their governments. </p>
<p>Identifying and applying for U.S. government grants is a complex and tedious process that requires training. Access to that training is uneven, and language barriers often keep communities from seeking grants. </p>
<p>After Hurricane Maria, few Puerto Rican communities had the resources and support needed to cope with these barriers. In my view, governments must prioritize marginalized communities in their response to Hurricane Fiona to avoid reproducing the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enpol.2021.112550">inequalities that marked the Hurricane María recovery</a>. Elected officials must demand transparency and accountability from those tasked with distributing aid, while holding themselves to the same standards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190953/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fernando Tormos-Aponte receives funding from the Early Career Faculty Innovator Program at the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. He is a fellow at the Union of Concerned Scientist’s Center for Science and Democracy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos A. Suárez Carrasquillo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Hurricane Fiona will set back efforts to restore Puerto Rico that date back five years to Hurricane Maria. Two scholars explain how the island’s weak institutions worsen the impacts of disasters.Carlos A. Suárez Carrasquillo, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Center for Latin American Studies, University of FloridaFernando Tormos-Aponte, Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of PittsburghLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761182022-02-11T13:29:58Z2022-02-11T13:29:58ZPuerto Rico has a plan to recover from bankruptcy — but the deal won’t ease people’s daily struggles<p>Puerto Rico’s bankruptcy problem is complicated — but the various ways the crisis hurts most Puerto Ricans is unmistakable. </p>
<p>Since Puerto Rico declared bankruptcy in 2017, it’s become harder for people to decide where they can afford to live and where their children can enroll in school.</p>
<p>The island declared a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/03/business/dealbook/puerto-rico-debt.html">form of bankruptcy in 2017</a>. At the time, the island faced historic levels of debt, topping $72 billion. But Puerto Rico’s debt crisis, far worse than Detroit’s $18 billion bankruptcy claims <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/18073574/detroit-bankruptcy-pensions-municipal">in 2014</a>, has now reached a potential turning point.</p>
<p>U.S. District Judge Laura Taylor Swain approved a large-scale debt restructuring plan on Jan. 18, 2022, that would cut <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/18/us/puerto-rico-bankruptcy.html">$33 billion</a> from Puerto Rico’s debt and work to pay back its creditors.</p>
<p>Because Puerto Rico has been a <a href="https://www.history.com/news/puerto-rico-statehood">territory of the United States</a> since 1898, the bankruptcy plan unfolded in a unique way that has limited residents’ say over financial cuts to public programs that directly affect them, <a href="https://theintercept.com/2019/07/24/puerto-rico-protests-ricardo-rossello-la-junta/">angering many Puerto Ricans</a>.</p>
<p>As a scholar of <a href="https://polisci.ufl.edu/carlos-a-suarez-carrasquillo/">Puerto Rican politics</a> and a native Puerto Rican, I believe that the island’s <a href="https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/puerto-rico-s-new-bankruptcy-plan-does-nothing-most-island-n1287883">recently announced debt agreement</a> will not make it easier for citizens to find homes, schools, and jobs. But it will fuel and test Puerto Ricans’ ability to mobilize politically.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A silhouette of two adults and two children shows the outline of buildings in the background." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=404&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445788/original/file-20220210-19-uv3w77.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=507&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A financial institution stands behind a family sculpture in San Juan in 2017, when Puerto Rico declared a form of bankruptcy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/financial-institution-stands-behind-a-family-sculpture-on-may-15-2017-picture-id685530632?s=2048x2048">Mark Ralston/AFP via Getty Images</a></span>
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<h2>Puerto Rico’s controversial bankruptcy crisis</h2>
<p>Puerto Rico’s money problems, which have grown over the past <a href="http://newserver.jjay.cuny.edu/sites/default/files/contentgroups/economics/02-Ian_1.pdf">two decades</a>, are the result of many factors: Years of borrowing to cover budget deficits, poor <a href="https://cepr.net/puerto-rico-s-colonial-legacy-and-its-continuing-economic-troubles/">economic growth</a>, <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/health/puerto-rico-governor-others-face-formal-corruption-probe">political corruption</a> and a <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-ricos-population-fell-118-33-million-census-shows-rcna767">population decline</a> all play a role.</p>
<p>Since Puerto Rico is a U.S. territory, and not a state or city, it does not have the right to officially file for bankruptcy.</p>
<p>In 2016, Congress passed the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act, a <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2328">law known as PROMESA</a>, that created a new government agency. This agency, the <a href="https://oversightboard.pr.gov">Financial Oversight and Management Board for Puerto Rico</a>, was responsible for laying out Puerto Rico’s debt repayment strategy.</p>
<p>But local people had no say in the creation or composition of this board, known simply as the Junta – meaning council in Spanish. None of its current <a href="https://oversightboard.pr.gov/about-us/">seven board members</a> are from the island. Puerto Ricans have also not been involved in the Junta’s financial decisions. </p>
<p>Puerto Rico’s debt was never publicly audited, which lent to <a href="http://www.auditoriaya.org/">public concerns</a> about lack of transparency in managing this crisis. </p>
<p>The Junta primarily made financial cuts, or austerity measures, to address the debt. They <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/will-puerto-ricos-debt-restructuring-deal-end-largest-bankruptcy-us-hi-rcna4051">achieved an agreement</a> with the Puerto Rican government to partially pay back its debt. </p>
<p>But, for everyday people, these cuts have worsened their quality of life. </p>
<p>One unpopular austerity measure the Junta took was freezing public school <a href="https://labornotes.org/blogs/2021/09/viewpoint-battle-continues-save-puerto-rican-teachers-pension">teachers’ pension plans</a>. Financial cuts also limited Puerto Rico’s <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2018/08/01/632804633/puerto-ricos-wounded-medicaid-program-faces-even-deeper-cuts">Medicaid spending</a> and have <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-governor-signs-law-debt-restructuring-bill-rcna3902">threatened funding for people’s pension</a> plans and public universities.</p>
<p>Thousands of teachers, earning a starting salary of $1,750 a month, have taken to the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-hundreds-teachers-leave-classrooms-protest-higher-wages-rcna14907">streets in protest</a>. Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi announced on Feb. 8, 2022, that teachers will receive a temporary monthly raise of <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/respect/equality/593393-teachers-in-puerto-rico-to-get-1k-monthly-pay-raise">$1,000 starting in July</a>.</p>
<p>The teachers’ demands echo the sentiment of many Puerto Ricans, who do not like these <a href="https://www.thenation.com/article/activism/university-puerto-rico-protests/">austerity measures</a>. </p>
<h2>Public schools take a hit</h2>
<p>Puerto Rico’s Department of Education has regularly closed public schools over the last few years because of financial cuts, at a pace that was previously unseen for <a href="https://centropr.hunter.cuny.edu/centrovoices/current-affairs/new-report-population-loss-and-school-closures-puerto-rico">decades</a>. </p>
<p>Since 2016, 523 schools <a href="https://www.telemundopr.com/programas/rayos-x/cierre-de-escuelas-no-reflejo-ahorros-significativos/2305001/">have closed</a> in Puerto Rico. The education department <a href="https://www.latinorebels.com/2022/01/24/prschoolclosings/">has plans</a> to close 83 schools by 2026, affecting 18,644 students. </p>
<p>Julia Keleher, the former secretary of education in Puerto Rico, <a href="https://www.wapa.tv/programas/losetodo/secretaria-de-educacion-reacciona-al-cierre-de-escuelas_20131122405968.html">is an advocate</a> of school closings.</p>
<p>Keleher was a polarizing public figure — she was also a mainland American official in Puerto Rico — a reminder of the island’s colonial history. Keleher pleaded guilty to <a href="https://www.edweek.org/policy-politics/puerto-ricos-former-education-secretary-pleads-guilty-to-fraud-conspiracy/2021/06">federal fraud conspiracy charges</a> over mismanagement of public funds in June 2021. </p>
<p>Puerto Rico’s Department of Education has new leadership. But some specialized arts schools, such as the Central High School in San Juan, have continued to shut down, prompting <a href="https://www.change.org/p/departamento-de-educaci%C3%B3n-de-puerto-rico-no-al-cierre-de-la-central-high-central-de-artes-visuales">online petitions for change</a>.</p>
<p>School closings more broadly sparked significant protests in San Juan by parents, students, teachers and <a href="https://apnews.com/article/ed003c843f094e56ab0229dc624ce4a8">politicians</a> over the last few years. Many working-class students needed to travel farther to reach open schools that were outside of their communities, disrupting their learning experience.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="People waving Puerto Rican flags march together in front of colorful buildings in San Juan" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/445786/original/file-20220210-47270-1ssc46c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Puerto Rico teachers protest for a better salary on Feb. 9, 2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://media.gettyimages.com/photos/puerto-rico-teachers-protest-for-a-better-salary-demanding-higher-picture-id1238330618?s=2048x2048">Alejandro Granadillo/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images</a></span>
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</figure>
<h2>Gentrification amps up in Puerto Rico</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesbusinesscouncil/2021/12/16/what-us-business-leaders-can-learn-from-puerto-ricos-booming-real-estate-market/?sh=70c645c02c5d">Rising housing costs</a> compose the latest chapter of Puerto Rico’s layered financial saga. </p>
<p>The housing problem coincides with Puerto Rico attracting foreign investors with new tax breaks. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/working-papers/tracking-neighborhood-change-in-geographies-opportunity-post-disaster">Economic development experts have argued</a> that the arrival of new investors, combined with the Puerto Rico government’s tax relief measures, create new <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/31/us/puerto-rico-gentrification.html">gentrification concerns</a> about affordable housing. This is particularly true along the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGXtWpCOiC8">coastal regions</a> — that may hurt Puerto Ricans. </p>
<p>American financier John Paulson is one example of a growing wave of outsiders who have purchased property in Puerto Rico, seeking to receive <a href="https://money.cnn.com/2016/02/12/investing/puerto-rico-john-paulson/index.html">tax breaks</a>. </p>
<p>This investment was made possible by a <a href="https://bvirtualogp.pr.gov/ogp/Bvirtual/leyesreferencia/PDF/Desarrollo%20Econ%C3%B3mico/22-2012/22-2012.pdf">new law</a>, which aims to attract wealthy foreigners to the island. It does this by providing new Puerto Rican residents with exemptions from <a href="https://www.natlawreview.com/article/irs-targeting-those-who-relocated-to-puerto-rico-wake-act-22">paying income tax</a> on all “passive” income, meaning money from investments, for example. </p>
<p>[<em>Over 140,000 readers rely on The Conversation’s newsletters to understand the world.</em> <a href="https://memberservices.theconversation.com/newsletters/?source=inline-140ksignup">Sign up today</a>.]</p>
<p>The net result is significant local <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crypto-bitcoin-puerto-rico-taxes-b1995734.html">resistance</a> to foreign investors. </p>
<p>Now that a judge has approved Puerto Rico’s debt restructuring, the austerity measures cannot be changed on paper. But Puerto Rico’s public still has the chance to push back and lobby for change, as they continue to <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/US/public-employees-puerto-rico-protest-wages-frustration-governor/story?id=82774827">do through protests</a> to advocate for their political demands.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176118/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Carlos A. Suárez Carrasquillo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Puerto Rico has reached an agreement to partially settle its historic bankruptcy crisis. But public cuts to education and health care are unlikely to ease, creating ongoing challenges for Puerto RicansCarlos A. Suárez Carrasquillo, Senior Lecturer in Political Science, Center for Latin American Studies, University of FloridaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1144982019-04-17T10:54:55Z2019-04-17T10:54:55ZA political stalemate over Puerto Rican aid is leaving all US disaster funding in limbo<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/268889/original/file-20190411-44810-lbiyka.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Three-year-old Ailianie Hernandez waits with her mother, Julianna Ageljo, to apply for Puerto Rico's nutritional assistance program.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/APTOPIX-Puerto-Rico-Dwindling-Funds/0bf6aae598eb49bcbed70aebf897d00c/1/0">(AP Photo/Carlos Giusti</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Senate Democrats recently blocked <a href="https://www.politico.com/story/2019/04/09/disaster-relief-legislation-congress-1335771">US$13.5 billion</a> in relief for Americans whose lives were disrupted by hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, flooding and other natural disasters. The objections had to do with Puerto Rico.</p>
<p>In addition to aid for Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Nebraska, this bill included $600 million to cover six months’ worth of nutritional assistance requested by Puerto Rican Gov. Ricardo Rosselló. But Democrats refused to back the bill because it lacked funds that would <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-01/democrats-block-disaster-relief-bill-over-funds-for-puerto-rico">protect the island from floods</a> and <a href="https://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/warren-colleagues-seek-update-from-fema-army-corps-on-power-restoration-efforts-in-puerto-rico">rebuild its electrical grid</a>.</p>
<p>The result is an impasse between a Congress that wants to assist a U.S. territory in distress and a hostile White House. As the daughter of Puerto Ricans who moved to the mainland and a <a href="https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/iupra/research/index.php">policy analyst of racial inequities</a>, I’m concerned that the Trump administration’s neglect of Puerto Rico is <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-racial-bias-driving-trumps-neglect-of-puerto-rico-85662">based in racial bias</a>.</p>
<h2>Complaints</h2>
<p>President Donald Trump has <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-racial-bias-driving-trumps-neglect-of-puerto-rico-85662">vocally opposed</a> disaster relief for Puerto Ricans almost since Hurricane Maria made landfall in September 2017. Within two weeks of that storm, which <a href="https://theconversation.com/death-count-debates-overshadow-the-real-story-hurricane-maria-was-partly-a-human-made-disaster-102465">killed an estimated 3,000 people</a>, Trump accused Puerto Ricans in a series of tweets of wanting “<a href="https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/353216-trump-criticizes-san-juan-mayors-poor-leadership-during-puerto-rico">everything to be done for them</a>.”</p>
<p>Not much has changed. Since January 2019, Trump has reportedly dismissed the need for emergency food aid on the island as “<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/trump-food-stamps-puerto-rico-shutdown">excessive and unnecessary</a>.”</p>
<p>Rosselló responded by urging Trump to stop treating Puerto Ricans as “<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2019/03/28/politics/ricardo-rossell-donald-trump-puerto-rico-funding/index.html">second-class</a>” U.S. citizens. He seems to have reached a breaking point after avoiding being critical of the president. When CNN asked if he felt working with Trump was like “dealing with a bully,” Rosselló replied, “If the bully gets close, I’ll punch the bully in the mouth.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1111293619313541120"}"></div></p>
<h2>Part of the US</h2>
<p>Puerto Rico has been <a href="https://www.history.com/news/puerto-ricos-complicated-history-with-the-united-states">part of the United States since 1898</a>. The island’s residents are <a href="https://theconversation.com/are-puerto-ricans-really-american-citizens-73723">U.S. citizens</a>.</p>
<p>Yet Trump has repeatedly ignored these basic facts by asserting that money to aid Puerto Rico takes money away from priorities on the U.S. mainland. “<a href="https://twitter.com/GlennThrush/status/1110997946609426433">We could buy Puerto Rico four times over</a>” with this aid money, he reportedly said in late March.</p>
<p>Some things operate differently in Puerto Rico, though, including the safety net. Puerto Ricans, for example, lack access to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, the nutritional benefit system formerly known as food stamps and today better known as SNAP. Instead, Puerto Rico operates its own <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/research/food-assistance/how-is-food-assistance-different-in-puerto-rico-than-in-the-rest-of-the">Nutrition Assistance Program</a>, or NAP. </p>
<p>Hurricane Maria did so much damage to Puerto Rico’s economy that nearly <a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/nidhiprakash/puerto-rico-food-stamp-cuts-disaster-relief">300,000 more</a> Puerto Ricans became poor enough to be eligible for its nutrition assistance – a roughly 30% increase in beneficiaries. Without the additional $1.27 billion in funding that Congress approved in September 2017, the greater need would have meant that everyone getting this help would have had to make do with less, as the cost of this program is generally <a href="https://www.fns.usda.gov/disaster/commonwealth-puerto-rico-disaster-nutrition-assistance">capped at around $2 billion</a> per year. </p>
<p>Puerto Rico’s nutrition assistance program differs from SNAP in another critical way: The threshold is much lower. Americans in families of three on the mainland can be eligible for food stamps if their income totals <a href="https://fns-prod.azureedge.net/sites/default/files/snap/COLAMemoFY19.pdf">$1,732 per month</a>. Puerto Rican families of the same size may not earn more than $4,901 per year – <a href="https://www.benefits.gov/benefit/363">$408 per month</a> – and get their own version of SNAP benefits. Because of this distinction, fewer Puerto Rican families get nutritional assistance benefits than would be the case if they earned the same incomes on the mainland.</p>
<p>The poverty rate in Puerto Rico is <a href="https://datausa.io/profile/geo/puerto-rico/?compare=united-states">nearly 44%</a>, triple the national average poverty rate. That’s especially problematic given that <a href="https://estadisticas.pr/files/inventario/indice_de_costo_de_vida/2018-11-20/One_pager_COLI_2017Q3_2018Q3.pdf">Puerto Rico ranks among the most expensive</a> places in the U.S. to buy groceries.</p>
<h2>Slashed benefits</h2>
<p>Even before Hurricane Maria struck, the territory’s nutritional benefits program was already failing to meet the nutritional needs of low-income Puerto Ricans amid a <a href="https://qz.com/1091341/puerto-ricos-eye-popping-economic-situation-in-charts/">prolonged recession</a>.</p>
<p>And once the disaster relief funds Congress appropriated for this purpose <a href="https://www.cbpp.org/blog/without-immediate-federal-action-14-million-puerto-rico-residents-face-food-aid-cuts">ran out in March 2019</a>, Puerto Rico was forced to slash benefits for the 1.35 million people getting nutrition aid. </p>
<p>While nutritional assistance funds should certainly be a high legislative priority, so should protecting Puerto Rico from future floods and fixing the island’s power grid. Puerto Rico experienced an <a href="https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/8/15/17692414/puerto-rico-power-electricity-restored-hurricane-maria">11-month power outage</a>, the longest blackout in American history and the second-longest in world history after Hurricane Maria.</p>
<p>The House, unlike the Senate, passed a <a href="https://appropriations.house.gov/news/press-releases/house-passes-emergency-disaster-appropriations-bill">$14.2 billion disaster relief bill</a> in January. </p>
<p>A new House version, about 25% bigger, would cover <a href="https://www.3newsnow.com/news/2019-flood/rep-axne-successfully-includes-ia-in-house-emergency-disaster-bill-funding">$17.2 billion in expenditures</a>. As lawmakers entered their two-week spring recess in mid-April without sending legislation to Trump to at least consider signing, Puerto Rico, Iowa and other disaster-struck regions remained in limbo.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/114498/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Lluveras does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Trump has repeatedly misconstrued the territory as not being part of the United States. But it is.Lauren Lluveras, PhD candidate in African & African Diaspora Studies, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1097732019-02-03T17:55:52Z2019-02-03T17:55:52ZDisasters and disagreements: Climate change collides with Trump’s border wall<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256644/original/file-20190131-75085-1nmc3jn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">U.S. President Donald Trump is seen visiting the California town of Paradise that was devastated by forest fires. Trump has threatened to use funds allocated for disaster relief to pay for his border wall.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Evan Vucci)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recent news surrounding climate change and its consequences has been grim lately.</p>
<p>The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body tasked with providing governments with the most accurate and up-to-date scientific information upon which they can frame their policy-making, released a special report in October 2018. It called for a rapid net reduction in carbon dioxide emissions <a href="https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/">by 2030</a>. </p>
<p>This means there are fewer than 12 years remaining for these changes to be accomplished globally. </p>
<p>Compounding these dire warnings are the potential consequences for severe catastrophic events as they unfold in a turbulent global environment, both <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-06783-6">physically and politically</a>.</p>
<p>The Trump administration’s recent release of the Fourth National Climate Assessment demonstrates just how costly climate change and catastrophic events will be for the United States <a href="https://nca2018.globalchange.gov/">in the future</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the administration and even President Donald Trump himself deny the existence and effects of climate change, including during increasingly severe events. </p>
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<p>But others are taking the consequences of climate change seriously, including the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), which has been actively increasing <a href="https://dod.defense.gov/News/News-Releases/News-Release-View/Article/605221/">its resilience</a>. The DoD views climate change as a “threat multiplier” and has been working to integrate adaptation measures into its plans, operations and training both internally and in conjunction with external partners.</p>
<p>Within this context, Trump’s recent government shutdown and the intractable disagreement over the border wall is misguided in the most charitable of terms. </p>
<h2>Funding the wall with disaster relief money</h2>
<p>While the crisis over the shutdown appears to be over, at least <a href="https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1088958154791100417">for now</a>, Trump has threatened to fund his border wall by taking <a href="https://www.propertycasualty360.com/2019/01/11/puerto-ricans-seethe-as-trump-considers-raiding-disaster-aid-for-wall/?kw=Puerto%20Ricans%20seethe%20as%20Trump%20considers%20raiding%20disaster%20aid%20for%20wall&utm_source=email&utm_medium=enl&utm_campaign=newsflash&utm_content=20190111&utm_term=pc360">money allocated for disaster relief</a> and reconstruction. This includes $2.4 billion for California in the aftermath of its devastating wildfires and $2.5 billion to assist Puerto Rico’s recovery from Hurricane Maria.</p>
<p>Trump’s rhetoric around the allocation of disaster relief funds, along with other disaster-related subjects, including death tolls, reveals just how easily disasters are politicized. They’re used for political gain almost always at the expense of those most vulnerable.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/politics-and-paper-towels-disputing-disaster-death-tolls-103218">Politics and paper towels: Disputing disaster death tolls</a>
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<p>That’s because politicians make politically expedient choices — in this case over funding a border wall — ahead of those that actually protect the security and safety of citizens in ongoing and future disasters.</p>
<p>Most importantly, Trump’s threats illustrate why our discourse surrounding climate change and catastrophic events matters, and why it needs to change in order to reduce the impact of future disasters.</p>
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<p>Mainstream narratives of disasters present them as isolated events in both space and time, distinct from our everyday relationship with nature, and possessing a definite beginning, middle and end. These narratives generally focus on the physical hazard itself as opposed to the preconditions that actually result in disaster. </p>
<h2>‘Just a temporary crisis’</h2>
<p>When the flood or hurricane or forest fire is over, the thinking goes, our normal relationship with nature resumes until the next crisis occurs.</p>
<p>This framing of disasters, and the policy prescriptions that follow from it, was first identified by Kenneth Hewitt in his <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=DF0VAAAAIAAJ&dq=kenneth+hewitt+1983&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjStKC7oILgAhVs4YMKHZv1AIcQ6AEIKjAA">1983 work</a> <em>Interpretations of Calamity from the Viewpoint of Human Ecology.</em></p>
<p>Hewitt’s observations about this mainstream framing — he called it the “dominant view” of disasters — was pivotal in the field of disaster studies. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/At-Risk-Natural-Hazards-Peoples-Vulnerability-and-Disasters-2nd-Edition/Blaikie-Cannon-Davis-Wisner/p/book/9780415252157">Scholars in the field</a>, including Hewitt himself, started to argue for an expansive understanding of disasters that recognized the underlying aspects that determine the vulnerability of a community to specific hazards and risks, whether they’re natural or technological.</p>
<p>Disasters are deeply connected to the economic, political and social factors that make people particularly vulnerable to them. While it’s convenient, for the purposes of media coverage or politicians, to understand them as having definitive beginnings, middles,, and ends, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.3763/ehaz.1999.0105">scholars have</a> pointed out that viewing them this way is extremely problematic.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/256646/original/file-20190131-42594-8kogod.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this August 2017 photo, Demetres Fair holds a towel over his daughter, Damouri Fair, as they are rescued following Hurricane Harvey. The impact of disasters are economic, political and social.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Trump’s threat to raid funds allocated in the aftermath of <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/world/us/2019/01/10/trump-administration-eyes-disaster-money-to-fund-border-wall.html">2018’s devastating disasters</a> is part of these narratives. It must be understood as an explicitly political choice that negatively impedes the recovery of those communities for whom the funds were originally allocated. Making this choice would ultimately increase the vulnerability of those communities to future disasters. </p>
<p>Understanding the consequences of Trump’s threats to reallocate funding to his border wall makes the political aspects of disasters more visible, especially when framed by the effects of climate change and its consequences.</p>
<p>Disasters are not isolated and distinct events but rather ongoing processes. A better understanding of the relationship between disasters and their underlying causes <a href="https://www.unisdr.org/who-we-are/what-is-drr">encourages politicians to take steps to reduce vulnerability</a>, both through the better allocation of funds for disaster mitigation, as well as by supporting social and economic development programs for vulnerable populations.</p>
<p>In my own work, I have called for an explicit understanding of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.5325/naturesopolirese.8.1-2.0131?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">disasters as a form of violence</a>, and recent events have helped exemplify the necessity to reframe our understanding of disasters in an intentionally political way.</p>
<p>Trump’s threats to the citizens of California and Puerto Rico over his wall make the plight of the vulnerable visible and the political nature of disasters explicit. By challenging how we perceive and understand disasters, we can change the discussions surrounding them and pressure politicians to move away from making politically expedient choices at the expense of the vulnerable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/109773/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Korey Pasch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Donald Trump has threatened to use funds allocated for disaster relief to fund his border wall. It’s time to rethink how we frame disasters to stop politicians from using them for political gain.Korey Pasch, PhD Candidate in Political Science and International Relations, Queen's University, OntarioLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1032882018-09-18T20:28:51Z2018-09-18T20:28:51ZPuerto Rico has not recovered from Hurricane Maria<p>Puerto Rico was in crisis long before Hurricane Maria hit on Sept. 20, 2017. </p>
<p>For years, this U.S. territory had been struggling with debt, <a href="https://theconversation.com/puerto-ricos-bankruptcy-will-make-hurricane-recovery-brutal-heres-why-84559">economic crisis</a> and <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/how-puerto-rico-is-coping-with-the-worst-drought-in-decades">drought</a>. In May 2017, the government <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-05-11/puerto-rico-debt-donnybrook-kicks-off-with-squabble-over-default">defaulted on US$73 billion in loans</a> and declared bankruptcy.</p>
<p>Then Hurricane Maria slammed the island with 155-mph winds and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/puerto-rico-toa-baja-hurricane-.html">coastal flooding</a> that rose to 6 feet within 30 minutes of landfall. The storm caused the longest power blackout in U.S. history.</p>
<p>Sixty-four Puerto Ricans died during Maria and an estimated <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/hurricane-maria-death-toll-puerto-rico-may-be-closer-2-n904426">2,975 Puerto Ricans</a> perished from hurricane-related problems in the five months afterwards – many from treatable chronic illnesses because the power outage prevented them from getting <a href="https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/nation-and-world/hurricane-aftermath-brought-health-issues-death-to-puerto-rico/">antibiotics, insulin and other medical care</a>.</p>
<p>To say that the island of 3.3 million has not yet recovered – <a href="https://www.npr.org/2018/08/09/637230089/puerto-rico-estimates-it-will-cost-139-billion-to-fully-recover-from-hurricane-m">from the damage or the trauma</a> – is an understatement. One year after Maria, nearly every pillar of Puerto Rican society remains devastated. </p>
<p>Here’s a snapshot of Puerto Rico today, based on my academic research and visits to family who stayed on the island both during and after the hurricane.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200751/original/file-20180103-26148-24sd75.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In this photo from October 2017, Roberto Figueroa Caballero sits in the ruins of his home after Hurricane Maria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa, File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>1. The economy</h2>
<p>A few months after Hurricane Maria, Puerto Rico’s government proposed <a href="https://cb.pr/lo-mas-importante-del-nuevo-plan-fiscal-del-gobierno-de-puerto-rico/">significant changes</a> to the fiscal plan put in place in 2017 by the federally appointed financial management board that has run Puerto Rico’s economy since its bankruptcy.</p>
<p>In light of Puerto Rico’s post-disaster needs, Gov. Ricardo Rosselló sought to ease some cuts to education and public services while still paying down Puerto Rico’s $73 billion debt. </p>
<p>But the oversight board objected, calling certain proposals “<a href="https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/oversight-board-wants-changes-to-puerto-rico-fiscal-plan">inconsistent</a>” with the fiscal board’s <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/puertorico-debt-budget/board-rejects-puerto-ricos-proposed-budget-asks-governor-for-new-one-idUSL1N1SH2O7">mandate to restructure the Puerto Rican economy</a>. </p>
<p>The ongoing austerity measures have complicated Puerto Rico attempts to recover economically from Maria. </p>
<p>Small businesses, the island’s <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-09-11/puerto-rico-s-small-businesses-are-still-hurting-from-hurricane-maria">main job creators</a>, are struggling. Roughly 8,000 of Puerto Rico’s 45,000 small employers have closed up shop over the last year. </p>
<p><a href="https://apps.washingtonpost.com/g/page/national/washington-post-kaiser-family-foundation-puerto-rico-survey-july-3-aug-29-2018/2327/">Four in 10 Puerto Ricans</a> reported losing a job in the storm’s aftermath.</p>
<p>Maria also destroyed nearly all agricultural production in Puerto Rico. </p>
<p>Overnight, farmers who were already struggling with <a href="https://www.usda.gov/media/blog/2016/05/06/climate-change-and-agriculture-americas">climate change</a> and <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/push-we-needed-puerto-rico-s-local-farmers-step-efforts-n875491">lack of agricultural workers</a> <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/24/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-agriculture-.html?mcubz=1">saw nearly 80 percent</a> of their crops destroyed – a US$780 million loss. </p>
<p>There is one bright spot: For the first time since 2013, unemployment on the island is <a href="https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/puerto-rico-unemployment-rate-slips-below-10">below 10 percent</a> because rebuilding has created so many construction jobs. Those positions, however, are temporary.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico’s economy isn’t expected to stabilize for <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/a-year-after-maria-puerto-ricos-economy-remains-feeble/2018/09/12/a947ce78-b136-11e8-aed9-001309990777_story.html?utm_term=.896fc5de7b02">another five years</a>.</p>
<h2>2. Health care</h2>
<p>All of Puerto Rico’s 93 clinics and hospitals have <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/fact-sheet/health-centers-in-puerto-rico-operational-status-after-hurricane-maria/">reopened since Maria</a>.</p>
<p>But its health care sector remains devastated by the storm.</p>
<p>An estimated <a href="http://www.colegiomedicopr.org/peligrosa-fuga-de-miles-de-medicos/">500 to 700 physicians and surgeons</a> out of roughly <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-s-exodus-doctors-adds-health-care-strain-dire-n783776">10,000 on the island</a> have left since Hurricane Maria. </p>
<p>According to Dr. Wendy Matos, executive director of the University of Puerto Rico’s faculty practice plan, most health service providers in Puerto Rico are <a href="https://www.nrdc.org/experts/mekela-panditharatne/six-months-after-maria-puerto-ricos-growing-health-crisis">privately owned</a>. That means the bad news about shuttered small businesses and mass unemployment applies to the island’s health care sector.</p>
<p>Just before Maria hit, the Urban Institute think tank found that 72 of Puerto Rico’s 78 municipalities <a href="https://www.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/87011/2001050-puerto-rico-health-care-infratructure-assessment-site-visit-report_1.pdf">lacked</a> adequate primary care services in relation to their population and health risk. </p>
<p>The storm did not improve coverage. Today, <a href="https://www.kff.org/medicaid/fact-sheet/health-centers-in-puerto-rico-operational-status-after-hurricane-maria/">just 20 health centers in Puerto Rico</a> – roughly one-fifth of all medical facilities – provide primary and preventative care services. </p>
<h2>3. Electricity</h2>
<p>Eleven months after Hurricane Maria knocked out Puerto Rico’s power, the island’s department of energy announced on <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2018/8/16/headlines/puerto_rican_officials_say_electricity_fully_restored_after_11_months">Aug. 15, 2018</a> that electricity was fully restored. </p>
<p>Early on in the blackout, many Puerto Ricans hoped the power crisis would lead Puerto Rico to build a <a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-may-scuttle-caribbeans-post-hurricane-plans-for-a-renewable-energy-boom-94235">cleaner, more sustainable power grid</a>. The island <a href="https://qz.com/1388117/puerto-rico-eyes-building-the-energy-grid-of-the-future/">generates almost half</a> of its electricity by burning oil or diesel.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236914/original/file-20180918-158228-1w5p9tw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">After Hurricane Maria, the company Tesla installed solar panels across Puerto Rico to restore electricity to communities without power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/ Dennis M. Rivera Pichardo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead, the island’s power authority struggled just to function, churning through three directors and five chief executives in <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/is-political-interference-damaging-puerto-ricos-utility#gs.VbbRgsA">the past year</a>.</p>
<p>Some residents grew so tired of waiting for their lights to come on that they <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-recovery/">repaired power lines themselves</a>. </p>
<p>On June 20, 2018, Gov. Rosselló signed a controversial bill putting the island power authority up for sale, saying it would allow the island to “<a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/puerto-rico-officially-moves-privatize-power-grid-9-months-after-n885111">jump into new energy models</a>.” </p>
<p>Many islanders <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/debtwire/2018/04/03/puerto-ricos-prepa-privatization-a-sale-too-private/#4c4737df7490">feared</a> that privatizing the public utility would worsen its existing problems with <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/puerto-rico-energy-authority-investigates-dozens-of-post-maria-bribery-cases">mismanagement and corruption</a>. Environmentalists counter the move actually <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-privatizing-puerto-ricos-power-grid-wont-solve-its-energy-problems-91179">stunts any hope of a green energy shift</a>.</p>
<p>Half of the authority’s board members <a href="https://www.bondbuyer.com/news/majority-of-prepas-board-resigns-criticizing-the-authoritys-politicization">resigned in protest</a>.</p>
<h2>4. Education</h2>
<p>Education is another of Hurricane Maria’s casualties. </p>
<p>This past summer, Puerto Rico <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/puerto-rico-crisis/puerto-rico-school-closings-hit-families-communities-hard-n863461">closed 283 schools</a> – about a quarter of all public primary educational facilities – due to dropping enrollment. </p>
<p>Almost <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/01/us/puerto-rico-school-closings.html?login=email&auth=login-email">39,000 fewer students registered</a> for the 2018 school year, according to Puerto Rico’s Department of Education, presumably because their families emigrated.</p>
<p>The Department of Education says that its <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/puerto-rico-opens-first-ever-charter-school-amid-controversies-n902056">$300 million deficit</a>, which <a href="http://www.latimes.com/nation/nationnow/la-na-puerto-rico-bankruptcy-20170505-story.html">existed prior to the hurricane</a>, did not drive the school closures.</p>
<h2>5. Democracy</h2>
<p>Hurricane Maria has brought new urgency to an old debate about Puerto Rico’s <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/15/politics/puerto-rico-hurricane-governor-cnntv/index.html">status as a United States territory</a>. </p>
<p>The island is home to an <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/visualizations/2016/comm/citizen_voting_age_population/cb16-tps18_pr.html">estimated 2.5 million</a> voting-age American citizens who cannot vote for any representatives in Congress. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=373&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/236913/original/file-20180918-158213-q1lqcc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Puerto Ricans who fled the island for the U.S. mainland after Maria are eligible for the first time to vote in congressional elections.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Julio Cortez</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Though lawmakers in <a href="http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/politics/403520-as-the-federal-government-fails-the-people-of-puerto-rico-local">Florida, New Jersey and New York</a> have tried to advocate for Puerto Ricans’ needs since Maria, island residents are effectively “<a href="https://www.abc17news.com/news/politics/puerto-rico-gov-problem-of-colonialism-needs-solution/795620984">disenfranchised</a>,” says Gov. Rosselló. </p>
<p>Many commentators have observed that Puerto Ricans’ lack of political representation <a href="https://newrepublic.com/minutes/145030/trump-looking-excuse-not-fund-puerto-ricos-recovery">may explain</a> why the island’s recovery has lagged, equating its territorial status with second-class citizenship.</p>
<p>But the number of Puerto Ricans who can vote in federal elections is growing. An estimated 135,000 Puerto Ricans have moved to <a href="https://www.citylab.com/environment/2018/05/watch-puerto-ricos-hurricane-migration-via-mobile-phone-data/559889/">Florida, New York, Texas and Pennsylvania</a> since Maria. </p>
<p><a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ahead-midterm-florida-hopes-bridge-gap-potential-puerto/story?id=57438796">Voter advocacy groups</a> are connecting with these new Latino voters ahead of the upcoming midterm congressional elections. </p>
<p>On Sept. 7, a federal judge ordered <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-election/u-s-judge-orders-32-florida-counties-to-help-puerto-ricans-vote-idUSKCN1LN2MM">32 Florida counties</a> to ensure Puerto Ricans can cast ballots in Spanish. </p>
<p>Before Maria, politicians may have found it easy enough to <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/the-political-travesty-of-puerto-rico-196852/">disregard Puerto Ricans</a>. Now, they represent an angry and energized electorate in some of the country’s most important swing states. </p>
<hr>
<p><em>More evidence-based articles about <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/puerto-rico-27390?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUSengagement&utm_content=HurricaneMaria">Puerto Rico</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/topics/hurricane-maria-43477?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUSengagement&utm_content=HurricaneMaria">Hurricane Maria</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/hurricane-kids-what-katrina-taught-us-about-saving-puerto-ricos-youngest-storm-victims-101509?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUSengagement&utm_content=HurricaneMaria">Hurricane kids: What Katrina taught us about saving Puerto Rico’s youngest storm victims</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/death-count-debates-overshadow-the-real-story-hurricane-maria-was-partly-a-human-made-disaster-102465?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUSengagement&utm_content=HurricaneMaria">Death count debates overshadow the real story: Hurricane Maria was partly a human-made disaster</a></em></p></li>
</ul><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/103288/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lauren Lluveras does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s been one year since a Category 4 storm turned Puerto Rico into a disaster zone. Today, nearly every pillar of society — including the economy, health care and schools — remains hobbled.Lauren Lluveras, PhD candidate in African & African Diaspora Studies, The University of Texas at AustinLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/979522018-06-11T15:03:29Z2018-06-11T15:03:29ZPuerto Rico hurricane death toll: how the official and unofficial figures got it so wrong<p>A Puerto Rican judge <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/06/05/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-death-records/index.html">has ordered</a> the government to release detailed information on deaths during and after <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria">Hurricane Maria</a>, which ravaged the US territory in September 2017. The judge’s decision follows a saga that began when <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-puerto-ricos-death-toll-from-hurricane-maria-is-so-much-higher-than-officials-thought-97488">several sources challenged</a> the official <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2017/12/09/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-deaths-and-assistance/index.html">death toll of 64</a>, estimating there had actually been more than 1,000 hurricane-related deaths.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico’s governor, Ricardo Rosselló, then attempted to kneecap further independent research by <a href="http://latinousa.org/2018/02/28/data-puerto-rico-institute-statistics-confirms-excess-deaths-hurricane-maria/">suspending further data releases</a>. This led to <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/6/5/17429708/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-death-toll-records-cnn-cip">a lawsuit</a> by CNN and the <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/category/english/">Center for Investigative Journalism</a> demanding access to detailed data.</p>
<p>The media coverage of the unofficial studies has, unfortunately, fuelled the confusion over how many people actually died. A typical headline about one widely covered Harvard survey misleadingly blared: “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/reuters/2018/05/29/us/29reuters-puertorico-casualties.html">Study Hikes Hurricane Maria Death Toll to 4,645</a>.”</p>
<p><iframe id="T0ZRy" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/T0ZRy/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>But the pressure this publicity generated led to a more accurate estimate of around <a href="https://www.princetonpolicy.com/ppa-blog/2018/6/3/pr-releases-new-data-deaths-1400-not-4600">1,400 more deaths</a> than would normally be expected for the time period of September to December. This solid number is less than one-third of the much-hyped 4,645 estimate from the Harvard study, an unsurprising update of the independent studies <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/325539271?channel=doi&linkId=5b13c1cda6fdcc4611dfebc4&showFulltext=true">including mine</a> and more than 20 times the official figure of 64. US lawmakers have <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/6/10/17442578/puerto-rico-hurricane-death-toll-bill-congress">now proposed a bill</a> to standardise the way natural disaster death tolls are counted to prevent such disparities in the future.</p>
<p>But why was there so much confusion? Drawing on material from my <a href="https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/accounting-death-war/1/steps/347574">new online course</a> about accounting for war deaths, it’s possible to sort through the discrepancies and learn some vital lessons for how we should think about death tolls and the problems that arise with them more generally.</p>
<h2>Survey estimates are inherently uncertain</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://github.com/c2-d2/pr_mort_official/blob/master/misc/faq.md">Harvard researchers</a> interviewed 3,299 households and found roughly 15 deaths beyond predictions based on death rates in pre-hurricane years. They then scaled up this number to estimate that among the entire population between 793 and 8,498 people had died either directly or indirectly because of the hurricane, with the midpoint of this range being the 4,645 estimate.</p>
<p>The 793 to 8,498 range is known as a 95% uncertainty interval. Broadly, this means that there is a 95% chance that a random sample will represent the population well enough so that the actual figure is within this stated range. To put it mildly, this is a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/fact-checker/wp/2018/06/02/did-4645-people-die-in-hurricane-maria-nope/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.67826a1c45e7">lot of uncertainty</a>. It’s as if a public opinion poll came out estimating that Donald Trump’s approval rating stood at 40%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 33 percentage points. There would be laughter. </p>
<p>But while the media tends to be savvy about error margins in opinion polls, it lowered its standards for the Harvard study. Even high-quality outlets <a href="https://www.vox.com/science-and-health/2018/5/29/17405046/hurricane-maria-puerto-rico-deaths-harvard-study">treated uncertainty as an afterthought</a> or <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2018/05/harvard-study-finds-high-hurricane-maria-death-toll.html">characterized the 4,645 midpoint as a minimum</a> without even mentioning uncertainty. These reports look especially silly compared to the 1,400 figure we now have. </p>
<h2>Don’t expect a definitive list of victims</h2>
<p>Above, I was a little unkind to Governor Rosselló, because he partially offset his decision to shut down the data flow by hiring <a href="https://gwtoday.gwu.edu/sph-research-project-study-hurricane-mortality-puerto-rico">researchers from George Washington University</a> to investigate all post-hurricane deaths. But we shouldn’t expect this team to divide these deaths neatly into two groups of those that were caused by the hurricane and those that weren’t. If they try to do this then the work will not be compelling. </p>
<p>I have no idea what the GWU team is actually doing but I think they should find some direct deaths, some fairly clear indirect deaths and some murkier candidates for indirect deaths. The direct category should include, for example, people killed instantly by flying debris.</p>
<p>The clear indirect category might cover heart attack victims who died at home because the phone network was down and they couldn’t get to hospital. Even this type of classification must involve judgements that can be challenged. For example, some heart attack victims may have died anyway, even under optimal conditions.</p>
<p>There will be still murkier cases where something related to the hurricane might be just one among several potential causes of death. For example, our heart attack victim could die after his ambulance was a little late and the available nurse was a little inexperienced but makes no major error. Both these factors could be related to the hurricane but it would be difficult to prove they were the ultimate cause of the death.</p>
<h2>Transparency is key</h2>
<p>The official death count <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-puerto-ricos-death-toll-from-hurricane-maria-is-so-much-higher-than-officials-thought-97488">comes from</a> hurricane-related causes of deaths listed on death certificates. But “hurricane” is not a standard cause-of-death classfication and hurricane-related factors may not even be visible to a person filling out a death certificate.</p>
<p>For example, a doctor may just see a heart attack and correctly note this on a death certificate. Adding that the hurricane was a factor might require an investigation that would have to be conducted under adverse circumstances.</p>
<p>So it is not surprising that hurricane-related factors would not appear in many death certificates even when they might have really been present. The main mistake here is not that the tally of 64 exists in the first place but, rather, the idea that it might cover all the hurricane-related deaths</p>
<p>It was a bad idea for the the Puerto Rican government to stand behind the official death count, a worse idea for Governor Rosselló to <a href="http://latinousa.org/2018/02/28/data-puerto-rico-institute-statistics-confirms-excess-deaths-hurricane-maria/">suspend data releases</a> and an atrocious idea to <a href="https://docs.wixstatic.com/ugd/da1946_aab61ab3b7ea44c3bed97b5edafb8160.pdf">remove the independence</a> of the Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics. This authoritarian secrecy temporarily deprived us of data and bred suspicion and a truth-seeking impulse.</p>
<p>The Harvard study and the CNN-CIJ law suit both attempted to fill the data void. We now have the monthly data and soon should have all the death certificates and perhaps, other detailed information that was made available to the GWU team. Such forced openness will improve our understanding of Maria and future disasters, but these benefits come late and the damage to public trust will endure. I suspect that we will never quite shake a suspicion that there are 3,000 missing bodies that have not been found, but whose existence was proved by a crack Harvard team.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97952/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael Spagat does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The government said 64, journalists said 4,645. What went wrong?Michael Spagat, Professor of Economics, Royal Holloway University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/968322018-06-05T10:47:13Z2018-06-05T10:47:13ZHow corruption slows disaster recovery<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221602/original/file-20180604-175407-1ndultk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hurricane Irma demolished Sint Maarten in the Dutch Antilles, in September 2017. The island has yet to recover.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Carlos Giusti</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 2018 hurricane season <a href="https://theconversation.com/new-hurricane-season-jeopardizes-caribbean-recovery-5-essential-reads-97588">has now begun</a>. It’s a good time to think about lessons learned from last year’s historic storms.</p>
<p>Hurricane Irma, which raged across the Caribbean from late August to early September 2017, was the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/st-maarten-is-still-striving-to-recover-from-its-worst-hurricane-in-a-century">strongest</a> Atlantic hurricane since record keeping began in 1851. </p>
<p>In total last year, six major storms were Category 3 or greater, making 2017 the <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/media-release/extremely-active-2017-atlantic-hurricane-season-finally-ends">seventh</a> most-active year in history and the <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-11-26/the-most-expensive-u-s-hurricane-season-ever-by-the-numbers">costliest</a> ever.</p>
<p>The Center for Disaster Management and Risk Reduction Technology, a German research institute, <a href="http://www.cedim.de/download/FDA_Irma_2017_Report1.pdf">estimates</a> that reconstruction on the islands hit by Irma alone will cost at least US$10 billion. </p>
<p>But having recently completed a monthslong <a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__ssrn.com_abstract-3D3179203&d=DwICaQ&c=yHlS04HhBraes5BQ9ueu5zKhE7rtNXt_d012z2PA6ws&r=JL_hOjIncQlUVNajGAoHFV3kgPvCLpsM-bmoVVK9u2I&m=tp4XNNzkLGC2Y98QQIysiMzzMro4yr2Cacp2arCMjRg&s=LaE7wOprzArY1OxuvsEBB1AOlsZfgGwj-CmEtbVrnJo&e=">human rights analysis</a> on the aftermath of last year’s deadly hurricane season, we believe that’s a low estimate. Our research identified another cost contributing to the challenges of rebuilding: corruption.</p>
<h2>Devastation in Sint Maarten</h2>
<p>We visited the Caribbean island of Sint Maarten, which is part of the Netherlands, in February. Hurricane Irma’s destruction was still apparent. </p>
<p>Massive trees had been ripped out of the ground and toppled, their roots exposed. Vehicles and debris were scattered across the landscape. Marinas, a key infrastructure for this 14-square-mile island, were left in ruins, littered with the stranded remnants of boats that had smashed onto shore. </p>
<p>Amid such chaos, cleanup and rebuilding after an extreme weather event becomes urgent. And urgency, we found, breeds opportunities for corruption. </p>
<p>Government malfeasance is already <a href="https://www.worldcasinodirectory.com/sint-maarten">prevalent</a> in Sint Maarten, which has relatively lax regulation and a cash-fueled economy driven by tourism and <a href="https://www.worldcasinodirectory.com/sint-maarten">casinos</a>. The <a href="https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3179203">influx of reconstruction funds</a> after Hurricane Irma created new opportunities for graft. </p>
<p>Local authorities told us, for example, that the initial days of debris clean-up in Sint Maarten involved over 1,000 workers, paid hourly, but only eight supervisors. Our interviews indicate that the scant oversight enabled fraudulent inflation of reported hours, wasting vital government funds on work left undone. </p>
<p>The Dutch government, which offered Sint Maarten $641 million in relief after Hurricane Irma, was concerned enough about misappropriation that it <a href="https://www.government.nl/documents/letters/2017/10/13/letter-from-minister-ronald-plasterk-to-the-government-of-st-maarten-concerning-the-conditions-relating-to-the-netherlands%E2%80%99-contribution-to-st-maarten%E2%80%99s-reconstruction">insisted on certain anti-corruption safeguards</a>. They included establishing an “integrity chamber” to receive and investigate complaints about corruption on the island. </p>
<p>Sint Maarten’s prime minister refused to accept the funds under such conditions and, in November, <a href="http://www.dw.com/en/dutch-saint-martins-leader-quits-over-hurricane-irma-aid-controversy/a-41525021">resigned in the ensuing scandal</a>. </p>
<p>Eventually, Sint Maarten’s government bowed to Dutch demands. The first installment of relief funding, <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/press-release/2018/04/16/the-netherlands-and-world-bank-sign-us580-million-agreement-for-sint-maartens-recovery-and-resilience-post-irma">managed by the World Bank</a>, was released to the island in April, seven months after the hurricane devastated the island. </p>
<h2>Corruption kills</h2>
<p>Corruption in Puerto Rico may have actually contributed Hurricane Maria’s high death toll. While the government’s official tally is 64 storm-related deaths, a recent <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1803972">study</a> puts the figure closer to 4,600 – in part because a prolonged blackout <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMsa1803972">prevented</a> many Puerto Ricans with chronic illness from getting necessary medical care.</p>
<p>After Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s electric grid, the island’s power authority awarded a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/small-montana-firm-lands-puerto-ricos-biggest-contract-to-get-the-power-back-on/2017/10/23/31cccc3e-b4d6-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.6216df135649">$300 million contract</a> to the Montana-based company Whitefish Energy to repair it. The <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/in-puerto-rico-no-room-for-corruption-in-an-era-of_us_59fb443ae4b09afdf01c40ed">bidding process soon came under suspicion</a> because it was clear that the company, which had just two employees, could never complete the task. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=417&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/221607/original/file-20180604-175438-xw1u0k.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=525&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Puerto Rico resident tries to reconnect his own electricity after Hurricane Maria.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ramon Espinosa</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources <a href="https://naturalresources.house.gov/uploadedfiles/2017-10-26_bishop_westerman_to_ramos_prepa_re_emsa.pdf">opened</a> an investigation and the Whitefish contract was <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/40489546/puerto-rico-canceled-the-whitefish-contract-but-it-still-needs-help-with-its-electrical-grid">canceled</a>.</p>
<p>After $3.8 billion in federal aid for the power grid, some 11,000 Puerto Ricans are <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/puerto-rico-hurricane-season-maria-without-power-electricity-us-weather-a8379646.html">still without electricity</a>. Officials <a href="http://time.com/5296589/puerto-rico-power-grid-fragile-storm/">say</a> even a mild hurricane could disable the grid again. </p>
<p>We believe progress would have been quicker if Puerto Rico’s first big energy contract had been correctly executed. After a disaster, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/469153a">corruption can literally kill</a>.</p>
<h2>Unaccountable donors</h2>
<p>In the Caribbean, a developing region where some governments may be too <a href="http://www.imf.org/en/News/Articles/2015/09/28/04/53/sp091913a">small and cash-strapped</a> to lead a wholesale recovery effort, corruption after natural disasters may be compounded by a lack of transparency among the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-20949624">international donors and humanitarian organizations</a> that rush in to help.</p>
<p>After Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, for example, an <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2015/01/12/376138864/5-years-after-haiti-s-earthquake-why-aren-t-things-better">unprecedented</a> $13.5 billion in aid money flowed onto the island – more than <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dpr.12321">double</a> its gross domestic product. </p>
<p>Much of this money never made it to those who needed it. A 2011 study by U.S. researchers <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/dpr.12321">found</a> that only 44 percent of Haitians affected by the quake received any aid at all. </p>
<p>According to a comprehensive <a href="https://www.cgdev.org/publication/haiti-where-has-all-money-gone">analysis</a> by the Center for Global Development, Haiti’s government received just 1 percent of humanitarian aid and perhaps 15 to 20 percent of longer-term relief aid. The rest was channeled to charities and nongovernmental organizations, whose resulting projects were in many cases impossible to identify.</p>
<h2>Time to get ready</h2>
<p>The United Nations, which also offers valuable guidance on fighting corruption in its 2005 <a href="https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/corruption/tools_and_publications/UN-convention-against-corruption.html">Convention Against Corruption</a>, will soon launch an <a href="http://sdg.iisd.org/events/launch-of-un-global-compact-action-platform-for-sustainable-ocean-business/">anti-corruption initiative</a> offering tools catered toward small island developing states like those in the Caribbean. </p>
<p>Our work also identified several ways that Caribbean countries could limit how corruption harms future hurricane recoveries.</p>
<p>Better disaster preparedness – including building code compliance, zoning enforcement in exposed locations like beaches and hillsides and transparent, well-resourced disaster-response teams – would <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Caribbean-Regional-Disaster-Response.pdf">reduce</a> turmoil after extreme weather. That, in turn, would minimize opportunities for the kinds of chaos-related corruption we documented across the Caribbean. </p>
<p>Island nations might also consider banding together for the purpose of <a href="https://www.transparency.org/news/feature/in_the_wake_of_disaster_preventing_corruption_in_tsunami_relief_and_reconst">receiving, dispersing and tracking relief funds</a>, as Indian Ocean nations did after the region’s 2004 tsunami. </p>
<p>The European Commission created a similar task force in 2013. Today, European countries aren’t left scrambling to respond when disaster strikes. Instead, the <a href="https://ec.europa.eu/echo/what/civil-protection/emergency-response-coordination-centre-ercc_en">Emergency Response Coordination Center</a> monitors the disaster, continually poised to offer expertise, relief funding and first responders as needed across the continent.</p>
<p>Scientists <a href="http://www.noaa.gov/media-release/forecasters-predict-near-or-above-normal-2018-atlantic-hurricane-season">predict</a> that hurricane activity this year will likely be above average <a href="https://nca2014.globalchange.gov/report/our-changing-climate/extreme-weather">due to climate change</a>. For the Caribbean, preparing for extreme weather means being ready for the human-made disasters that can follow it, too.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/96832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Corruption has made hurricane Caribbean countries’ recovery less efficient and more expensive, new research shows. Misuse of funds may also trigger more disaster-related deaths.Juliet S. Sorensen, Harry R. Horrow Professor in International Law, Northwestern UniversityElise Meyer, Schuette Clinical Fellow in Health and Human Rights, Northwestern UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/975882018-06-01T15:27:28Z2018-06-01T15:27:28ZNew hurricane season jeopardizes Caribbean recovery: 5 essential reads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/221362/original/file-20180601-142102-s6r3hk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">RTX O L</span> </figcaption></figure><p>June 1 marks the beginning of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season – an ominous date for the Caribbean region, where many countries have not yet recovered from last year’s catastrophes. </p>
<p>In 2017, six storms of Category 3 or higher – with winds exceeding 111 mph – produced devastating human, environmental and financial damage across the southern United States and the Caribbean. Puerto Rico, Dominica, Barbuda and some U.S. Virgin Islands were all but destroyed. </p>
<p>The hurricanes are estimated to have <a href="https://www.upi.com/Hurricane-Maria-caused-90B-of-damage-in-Puerto-Rico/6421523309427/">cost the region up to US$95.5 billion</a> – $90 billion in Puerto Rico and <a href="https://repositorio.cepal.org/bitstream/handle/11362/43446/1/FOCUSIssue1Jan-Mar2018.pdf">$5.4 billion in other Caribbean nations</a>. </p>
<p>We’ve compiled the expert analysis you need to follow this important story. </p>
<h2>1. Tragedy in Puerto Rico</h2>
<p>Puerto Rico remains crippled by last year’s hurricane season. Hurricane Maria knocked out the island’s power grid in September, leaving 3.3 million people scrambling to find food, clean water and medical care. </p>
<p>“The federal recovery effort in this American territory has been under fire nearly every day since then,” write Birthe Anders and Vincenzo Bollettino, who study <a href="https://theconversation.com/military-mission-in-puerto-rico-after-hurricane-was-better-than-critics-say-but-suffered-flaws-91558">the role of the armed forces in disaster relief at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative</a>. “Critics note that hurricane relief in Texas and Florida last year was quicker, more robust and more effective.”</p>
<p>The U.S. military’s deployment to the Caribbean last fall – which included 17,000 troops, 82 aircraft and three combat support hospitals – was “better than critics say but suffered flaws,” they say. </p>
<p>A slow start left some Puerto Ricans stranded without aid for weeks, and the military’s coordination with FEMA was imperfect. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/212526/original/file-20180328-109175-989ilz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The military provided life-saving medical attention in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria left many hospitals without power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/YhMk5H">Department of Defense</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But interviews with Department of Defense responders suggest that the military’s biggest challenge was the “sheer scale of the damage.” </p>
<p>“Puerto Rico’s government was completely overwhelmed,” the researchers found, “making it very difficult for FEMA and the U.S. military to get a clear picture of what was most urgently required – and where.”</p>
<p>And since international humanitarian aid organizations do not work in the U.S., Anders and Bollettino say, “there simply was not enough manpower to get the job done.”</p>
<h2>2. Thousands left dead</h2>
<p>As a result, Puerto Ricans have continued to die from storm-related causes since Hurricane Maria. </p>
<p>As of Dec. 29, Puerto Rico’s Department of Public Safety had certified 64 deaths due to Hurricane Maria. But Penn State demographer Alexis R. Santos-Lozada was part of a research team that <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-puerto-ricos-death-toll-from-hurricane-maria-is-so-much-higher-than-officials-thought-97488">contradicted the government’s official tally</a> in November, saying it was a dramatic undercount.</p>
<p>“We compared the number of deaths in September and October last year with data from the same period of time in 2010 to 2016 and concluded that deaths exceeded historical ranges by at least 1,000,” he explains. </p>
<p>A new study has now placed Hurricane Maria’s total death toll at 4,645. Thousands of “indirect” storm deaths occurred from the interruption of medical care for chronic conditions such as kidney disease and diabetes. </p>
<p><iframe id="T0ZRy" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/T0ZRy/2/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<h2>3. Disaster as opportunity</h2>
<p>While governments struggle to pay recovery’s price tag, some foreign corporations <a href="https://theconversation.com/rebuilding-the-caribbean-will-be-pricey-but-some-are-vying-to-finance-its-recovery-87482">see helping as a business opportunity</a>. </p>
<p>After Hurricane Maria, the electric-car company Tesla sent hundreds of its Powerwall battery systems to Puerto Rico. These “could be paired with solar panels to get the electric grid up and running again,” says energy researcher Masao Ashtine of the University of the West Indies. </p>
<p>By October, Tesla technology was powering the San Juan Children’s Hospital.</p>
<p>The company hopes its work in Puerto Rico will open doors for new investment in the region, Ashtine says.</p>
<p>“Puerto Rico isn’t the only Caribbean country with an inadequate energy grid,” he says. “Across the region, outmoded system designs that rely on a few plants for power production make complete blackouts much higher than grid systems that have an even distribution of power generation.” </p>
<p>That makes them prone to crippling power outages in severe weather. </p>
<h2>4. Rebuilding better</h2>
<p>Puerto Rico lost all electricity again on April 18, seven months after Hurricane Maria first knocked out its power grid. Officials say even a minor storm with 74 mph wind speeds could disable the grid again this year.</p>
<p>Caribbean policymakers are looking for “<a href="https://theconversation.com/climate-change-may-scuttle-caribbeans-post-hurricane-plans-for-a-renewable-energy-boom-94235">fast ways to strengthen their power grids</a>” with more durable energy sources, says Ashtine. But, in a Caribbean of increasing weather extremes, green energy systems are themselves vulnerable.</p>
<p>“Modern wind turbines, for example, were first engineered in Europe – a region that rarely experiences Category 5 hurricanes,” he writes. “Wind speeds above 165 mph would tear the turbines apart.”</p>
<p>Changing precipitation and temperature patterns in the Caribbean also affect hydro and solar power. More rain in the region’s north means fewer sunny days than anticipated. Higher temperatures in other countries suggests increased likelihood of drought, Ashtine says, leading rivers to run dry.</p>
<p>Climate change is also “profoundly unpredictable,” making it very hard for weather models to correctly identify which renewable energy infrastructure should be built where.</p>
<h2>5. Widespread concern</h2>
<p>This year’s hurricane season may well be severe. Scientists say storm intensity has been intensifying in recent years due to rising global temperatures.</p>
<p>Though people in the U.S. and the Caribbean share this increasing vulnerability to hurricanes, <a href="https://theconversation.com/caribbean-residents-see-climate-change-as-a-severe-threat-but-most-in-us-dont-heres-why-91049">they hold different opinions about the severity of climate change</a>, Vanderbilt University researchers Elizabeth Zechmeister and Claire Evans have found. </p>
<p>According to Vanderbilt’s latest AmericasBarometer survey, a biennial survey conducted in 29 Latin American and Caribbean countries, a strong majority of Caribbean residents perceive climate change as a “very serious” problem. In contrast, just 44 percent of U.S. residents do.</p>
<p><iframe id="nz8QR" class="tc-infographic-datawrapper" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/nz8QR/3/" height="400px" width="100%" style="border: none" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
<p>Blame politics, say Zechmeister and Evans. In the United States, climate change is a partisan issue. In the Caribbean, it is not similarly politicized.</p>
<p>“The AmericasBarometer survey asked respondents in the Dominican Republic, Haiti and Jamaica to place themselves on a scale that runs from the political left to the right,” they write. “We found no significant differences in opinions about climate change from people with different political views.”</p>
<p>People in the Caribbean are much more likely than those in the U.S. to perceive climate change-related disasters as a threat. Right now, that threat surely feels imminent.</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: This story is a roundup of articles from The Conversation’s archives.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/97588/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The Caribbean braces for another hurricane season even as many nations remain crippled by the catastrophic damage of 2017. Here, experts assess the region’s difficult and costly storm recovery.Catesby Holmes, International Editor | Politics Editor, The Conversation USLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/942352018-04-20T10:38:07Z2018-04-20T10:38:07ZClimate change may scuttle Caribbean’s post-hurricane plans for a renewable energy boom<p>Puerto Rico <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2018/04/18/us/puerto-rico-mass-power-outage/index.html">lost electricity again</a> on April 18, seven months after Hurricane Maria first knocked out the island’s power grid. For people in some remote rural areas, the blackout was <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/04/16/us/puerto-rico-blackout-second-largest-globally-trnd/index.html">more of the same</a>. Their power had yet to be restored.</p>
<p>The dangerous fragility of Puerto Rico’s energy systems has put other Caribbean <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/oct/06/climate-change-in-the-caribbean-learning-lessons-from-irma-and-maria">countries on high alert</a>. Across the region, electric grids <a href="http://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/lead-stories/20160208/energy-expert-urges-region-revamp-infrastructure-better-future">are dated, ailing</a> and overburdened – making it easy work for a powerful passing storm. </p>
<p>Caribbean nations also rely heavily on <a href="https://www.caribbean-council.org/new-opportunities-address-energy-security-caribbean/">oil and diesel imports</a> to fuel their power plants – a dirty and <a href="http://wp.caribbeannewsnow.com/2017/10/02/rising-oil-prices-wider-current-account-fiscal-deficits-predicted-eccu-economies/">expensive</a> way to produce energy. So even before the 2017 hurricane season, Caribbean governments were trying to integrate renewable energy sources like <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2015/01/27/renewables-caribbean">wind and solar into their existing grids</a>.</p>
<p>Now that task seems far more urgent. To <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/aug/06/caribbean-paradise-for-renewable-energy">move beyond fossil fuels</a>, Caribbean countries must transform their energy systems by building in new, greener sources of power. That will also make electric grids <a href="http://www.powermag.com/reliability-resiliency-key-to-caribbean-rebuild/">more resilient to weather extremes</a> because they will be decentralized – pulling from a diverse array of power sources.</p>
<h2>Climate change in the Caribbean</h2>
<p>As <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/masa%C5%8D-ashtine-phd-cantab-22489550/">an environmental scientist working in Jamaica</a>, I recognize many reasons why the Caribbean region must upgrade its outmoded energy systems. Mitigating global climate change, of course, is a big one. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, I believe that climate change will also complicate the region’s transition toward renewable energy. The Caribbean is comprised of island nations, which are the world’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-we-save-low-lying-island-nations-from-rising-seas-80232">most vulnerable places</a> when it comes to rising seas, changing weather patterns and other effects of global warming. </p>
<p>The Caribbean is already seeing more weather extremes. <a href="https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/joc.3889">Research</a> suggests, for example, that northern Caribbean countries like Cuba, Jamaica and the Bahamas have gotten rainier over the past three decades, though historical data is limited.</p>
<p>Meteorologists also believe that <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/was-the-extreme-2017-hurricane-season-driven-by-climate-change/">climate change is making hurricanes</a> more <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-weather-hurricanes-forecasts/hurricane-forecasters-see-above-average-2018-u-s-storm-season-idUSKCN1HC2CB">frequent and powerful over the Atlantic Ocean</a>. </p>
<p>The uptick in severe weather is costly. According to the United Nations, the 2017 hurricane season cost Caribbean countries and the United States <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/hurricane-harvey-irma-maria-insurance-cost-natural-catastrophes-record-high-2017-a8297696.html">US$92 billion</a>.</p>
<h2>Why traditional energy sources need to adapt</h2>
<p>As the eastern United States and Caribbean brace for a <a href="https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/news/2018-04-04-hurricane-season-forecast-atlantic-colorado-state">potentially brutal 2018 hurricane season</a>, policymakers are looking for fast ways to strengthen their power grids. </p>
<p>Installing more wind, solar and hydropower – the world’s <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324485004578424624254723536">most reliable and common renewable energy options</a> – would seem to be a more obvious step in the right direction. Between 2015 and 2016, the global capacity of these green power sources rose <a href="http://www.ren21.net/status-of-renewables/global-status-report/">9 percent</a> – nearly half of which comes from the widespread adoption of solar panels. </p>
<p>After Maria, <a href="https://theconversation.com/rebuilding-the-caribbean-will-be-pricey-but-some-are-vying-to-finance-its-recovery-87482">technology companies like Tesla saw an opportunity</a> to spotlight their products in wind, solar and geothermal power in the Caribbean. </p>
<p>Tesla installed Powerwall solar-powered batteries across Puerto Rico. This technology <a href="https://electrek.co/2018/04/18/tesla-powerwall-powerpack-puerto-rico-blackout-elon-musk/">has kept the lights on during blackouts at over 660 locations</a>, though <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-solar-microgrids-are-not-a-cure-all-for-puerto-ricos-power-woes-86437">experts caution</a> that such solar “microgrids” cannot serve the energy needs of an entire country. </p>
<h2>The problem with climate change</h2>
<p>But, in a Caribbean of increasing weather extremes, these green energy systems are themselves vulnerable. </p>
<p>Modern wind turbines, for example, were first engineered in Europe – a region that rarely <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/offshore-wind-turbines-cant-handle-toughest-hurricanes">experiences Category 5 hurricanes</a>. Wind speeds above 165 mph <a href="https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/2017GL073537">would tear the turbines apart</a>. </p>
<p>Changing precipitation and temperature patterns in the Caribbean <a href="https://rmets.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/joc.2200">also affect</a> hydro and solar power. More rain in the region’s north means fewer sunny days than anticipated. Higher temperatures in other countries suggests increased likelihood of drought, leading rivers to run dry. </p>
<p>Climate change is a <a href="http://environnement.ens.fr/IMG/file/DavidPDF/Roe-Baker2007.pdf">profoundly unpredictable process</a>, though. That makes it harder for weather models to correctly identify which renewable energy infrastructure should be built where. </p>
<p>Computer models are inherently imperfect planners. As <a href="https://www.technologyreview.com/s/543546/why-climate-models-arent-better/">researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology recently affirmed</a>, plugging in short-term weather data to make long-term atmospheric projections adds “irreducible elements of chaos.” </p>
<p>Climate change, which affects <a href="https://19january2017snapshot.epa.gov/climate-impacts/international-climate-impacts_.html">various parts of the world differently</a>, makes it even harder to accurately predict future weather scenarios. Comprehensive modeling systems that use <a href="http://renews.biz/109212/met-mast-days-are-numbered/">LIDAR and other remote-sensing technologies</a> do better, but they are <a href="http://www.worldbank.org/en/country/caribbean/overview">too expensive for widespread adoption in the Caribbean</a>. </p>
<h2>The future is now</h2>
<p>The Caribbean is making progress in planning for a future of more renewable energy, though. </p>
<p>Jamaica <a href="http://jis.gov.jm/installation-real-time-automatic-weather-stations-begins-across-island/">aims to install new automated weather stations</a> that will collect real-time weather data nationwide. This initiative will help meteorologists across the entire Caribbean better predict future weather, which in turn supports the development of renewable energy systems.</p>
<p>So will a new climate model developed by my colleagues at the University of the West Indies. The system, called <a href="http://www.gcca.eu/sites/default/files/7_smash_gcca_5cs_conference_presentation_ab.pdf">SMASH</a>, can aid planners in siting wind farms and predicting the path and severity of the hurricanes that could mangle turbines.</p>
<p>A new <a href="https://phys.org/news/2017-07-climate-scientists-caribbean-drought-atlas.html">Caribbean drought atlas</a> from Cornell University has compiled climate data going back to 1950. The tool won’t just help sustain food production during dry times; I believe it will also provide engineers precipitation data that’s critical to planning hydropower enterprises.</p>
<p>Cutting-edge hydropower plants that run on <a href="http://www.turbulent.be/">urban wastewater</a> may one day <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148117303889">also address the current limitations of hydropower</a> in the Caribbean. Many small islands lack the big rushing rivers that allow water to be a meaningful power generator.</p>
<p>Wind farms, too, are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/gallery/2017/may/08/renewables-wind-energy-turbines-tech-kites-drones-in-pictures">adapting</a> to the instability of this changing climate. Once firmly pegged to the ground, turbines can now <a href="https://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/a-beginners-guide-to-the-airborne-wind-turbine-market#gs.FWL2tKM">float thousands of feet above the land</a>, spooled out <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/environment/kite-power-station-scotland-wind-turbine-plant-electricity-a7348576.html">like kites</a> to capture winds where they blow hardest. Floating turbines will also fare better during hurricanes.</p>
<p>All of these technologies may eventually help Caribbean countries navigate their way through climate change toward a real renewable energy boom. But the climate change conundrum won’t be solved before the 2018 hurricane season hits.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/94235/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Masaō Ashtine does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 2017 hurricane season showed that Caribbean nations urgently need more resilient power grids. But the effects of climate change – including more severe storms – complicate the shift to renewables.Masaō Ashtine, Lecturer in Alternative Energy, University of the West Indies, Mona CampusLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/896572018-03-04T21:50:32Z2018-03-04T21:50:32ZHow to reduce poverty and re-connect people to nature<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208724/original/file-20180302-65541-lltibu.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Farmer-led development projects in places like Tanzania, shown here, can increase access to food and water, and reconnect people to nature.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ciliaschubert/15137829173/">(Cecilia Schubert/flickr)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Access to food and water — once considered common goods and a basic human right — are increasingly treated as commodities, like precious metals or lumber. Instead of being necessities for life that are available to all, they are being kept from people who cannot afford them. </p>
<p>The perils of this commodification are rife — and sometimes tragically untold — yet several stories have survived. </p>
<p>Water and food issues in <a href="https://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/special-features/2014/08/140822-detroit-michigan-water-shutoffs-great-lakes/">Detroit</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/12/27/573774328/california-says-nestle-lacks-permits-to-extract-millions-of-gallons-of-water">the San Bernardino National Forest in California</a>, <a href="http://politybooks.com/bookdetail/?isbn=9781509500796">the Global South</a> and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/report/2016/06/07/make-it-safe/canadas-obligation-end-first-nations-water-crisis#page">First Nations communities in northern Ontario</a> speak to the negative effects of treating food and water as mere commodities. </p>
<p>In each of these crises, people were separated from the basic necessities of food and water, leading to instability, strife and suffering. What’s more, people have been separated — alienated — from each other. </p>
<p>The current free market economic system has promoted and perpetuated such inequality, and it would be illogical to say that it can lead us to a solution. But development, when done well and from the ground up, can improve people’s lives by connecting them to their environment, food production processes and other people in their communities.</p>
<h2>How did we get here?</h2>
<p>The commodification of food and water began to take shape more than three decades ago, when Western governments, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank embraced largely unfettered free market policies. </p>
<p>As governments deregulated their food and water industries, these goods moved <a href="https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Food,+2nd+Edition-p-9781509500802">out of public control and into the hands of the few</a>. </p>
<p>These actions spurred entrepreneurship in water and food, in selling necessities for life for a profit. Of course, they are able to do so precisely because water and food are essential to life. </p>
<p>This change in direction further separated people in developing countries from the environment, from their production of food and from each other. It changed the way people saw nature and each other. </p>
<p>When peering through the current free market lens, nature, food, water, land or people themselves are viewed as merely something to extract monetary value from. Food and water have been commodities for a while, but an appeal to history is not a legitimate reason to maintain a harmful system. </p>
<h2>Pressing impacts, making change</h2>
<p>The impacts of commodifying food and water are occurring today and are pressing. <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/after-mixed-messaging-fema-clarifies-it-will-not-end-aid-to-puerto-rico">Puerto Rico</a> is in the midst of a food and water crisis. In Canada, Nestlé has been <a href="https://news.vice.com/en_ca/article/595wy5/nestle-is-extracting-water-from-canadian-towns-on-expired-permits">bottling water on expired permits in Ontario</a>, leading to public pressure to not privatize water. These cases are similar because, while both areas are facing food and water commodification and development issues, people are protesting to enact positive change in their communities.</p>
<p>If we are to see change, it must begin at the community level, later unite with others and <em>then</em> lead to pressing one’s government to act for the good of all people. In <a href="https://www.democracynow.org/2017/10/3/puerto_ricans_protest_trumps_visit_denounce">Puerto Rico</a> and <a href="http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2017/11/27/protests-continue-over-nestle-pumping-and-sale-of-ground-water/">Ontario</a>, community-led protests have tried to effect positive change — people are fighting back. </p>
<p>Development work should aim to improve life by connecting people to their environment, food production processes and other people in their communities. Doing so could promote the importance of the environment, including food and water, and foster a protective relationship that prevents a resource’s exploitation, whether through destruction or privatization. <a href="https://viacampesina.org/en/struggles-la-via-campesina-agrarian-reform-defense-life-land-territories/">La Via Campesina</a>, the world’s largest mass movement of peasants, advocates for a similar strategy.</p>
<h2>Getting involved</h2>
<p>One approach that works well is participatory development, where communities and development professionals work together to reach their goals and find solutions to their problems.</p>
<p>Farmer-led research is but one example of participatory, bottom-up, community-based development. Groups like the <a href="http://www.practicalfarmers.org">Practical Farmers of Iowa</a> and the <a href="https://efao.ca">Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario (EFAO)</a> do work that tries to reconnect people with the environment, production processes and each other through their research programs. </p>
<p>In some areas, the practice of development has moved away from the top-down approach. <a href="https://agricultureandfoodsecurity.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s40066-015-0023-7">An analysis of farmer-led research</a>, conducted in Africa, Central America and Southeast Asia, has found that farmer-led development work promotes interconnectivity between people and a strong exchange of ideas. The study found that participatory development, such as farmer-led research, grew community, a connection with the natural world, and harnessed people’s creativity and ingenuity.</p>
<p>Critics of the participatory development family of approaches might say it lacks rigour and the necessary expertise to enact meaningful change. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/208525/original/file-20180301-152559-16hulil.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A peasant farmer grows vegetables at a small farm near São Paulo, Brazil.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horta_150706_REFON.jpg">(José Reynaldo da Fonseca/Wikimedia)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But I have found in my experience with the EFAO, as well as research in participatory development, that continued bottom-up collaboration between locals and professionals as mutually beneficial. Locals benefit from the expertise and support of professionals, and professionals benefit from the perspective and knowledge that locals offer. The participatory approach grounds academics and scientists who often approach these issues with an abstracted, solely technocratic distance.</p>
<p>The increased collaboration between locals and development professionals makes more explicit the public’s disdain for the privatization and commodification of food and water. A participatory approach also engages with, and uses, local knowledge and practices.</p>
<p>Development professionals must shirk the current economic model that has led us to our current predicament of rampant inequality and environmental degradation. Embracing the <em>status quo</em> framework cannot guide us away from this problem that it has initiated.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89657/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Cameron Fioret is a Graduate Research Assistant in the Arrell Food Institute's "Food From Thought" Program. His research group is partnered with the Ecological Farmers Association of Ontario. Cameron receives funding from an Ontario Graduate Scholarship.</span></em></p>Farmer-led development work can improve people’s lives, provide access to food and water - and re-connect them to nature.Cameron Fioret, PhD Student in Philosophy, University of GuelphLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/911792018-02-07T17:23:53Z2018-02-07T17:23:53ZWhy privatizing Puerto Rico’s power grid won’t solve its energy problems<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204880/original/file-20180205-19921-dz70nw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Puerto Rico's power utility, PREPA, has been decimated by years of scarcity and bad management. But will privatizing it really turn the lights back on for Puerto Ricans?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Carlos Giusti</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Leer en <a href="https://theconversation.com/la-privatizacion-de-prepa-compromete-el-desarrollo-energetico-de-puerto-rico-90973">español</a>.</em></p>
<p>Perhaps nothing is clearer to Puerto Ricans right now than the importance of having a good power grid. Hurricane Maria battered the island months ago, yet for many people the <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/01/after-four-months-much-of-puerto-rico-still-dark-and-damaged/551756/">blackout continues</a>. </p>
<p>Not even the alleged <a href="http://www.aafaf.pr.gov/assets/prepa-revisedfiscalplan-01-24-18.pdf">70 percent of Puerto Ricans with restored electricity</a> nor the few solar-panel users who <a href="https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/business/Hurricane-Maria-Exposes-Problems-Within-Puerto-Ricos-Solar-Panel-Industry-471758064.html">never lost power</a> have escaped the consequences of this prolonged outage, which include <a href="http://time.com/5099781/puerto-rico-murder-rate-hurricane-maria/">increased crime</a>, business closures and <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/sams-club-closures-leave-hundreds-without-jobs-in-puerto-rico-2018-1">unemployment</a>, a <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/10/puerto-ricos-health-care-crisis-is-just-beginning/544210/">health care crisis</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-puerto-ricans-return-home-after-hurricane-maria-87160">exodus to the U.S</a>. </p>
<p>A major barrier to restoring power is Puerto Rico’s <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/business/metropolis/2017/09/hurricane_maria_could_lead_puerto_rico_s_electric_utility_prepa_to_privatize.html">public power utility</a>, known as PREPA. <a href="http://fortune.com/2017/07/02/puerto-rico-prepa-energy-bankruptcy/">Bankrupt</a>, its infrastructure dilapidated, PREPA has been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2017/10/20/558743790/why-its-so-hard-to-turn-the-lights-back-on-in-puerto">unable to repair the island’s devastated grid</a>. It is also seen as corrupt. In January, some customers left in the dark for months received bills for “services rendered.” Thousands more <a href="http://www.noticel.com/el-tiempo/huracanes/aee-reconoce-sobrefacturacin/693845038">were slapped with overcharges</a>.</p>
<p>So, when Gov. Ricardo Roselló recently <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-puertorico-power-prepa/puerto-rico-to-sell-off-crippled-power-utility-prepa-idUSKBN1FB31M">announced that he would privatize Puerto Rico’s power grid</a>, many here welcomed the move. People are suffering – something must be done.</p>
<p>But as <a href="http://biology.uprm.edu/facultad/?prof=74">an ecology professor</a> and the director of the community group <a href="http://www.casapueblo.org">Casa Pueblo</a>, I believe selling off PREPA will bring Puerto Rico more headaches than relief. Here’s why.</p>
<h2>Privatization is an old idea</h2>
<p>Privatization is not a new idea in Puerto Rico, and the outcome wasn’t great the first time we tried it. </p>
<p>In the mid-1990s, the administration of Gov. <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-04-19/his-father-ran-up-puerto-rico-s-debt-he-now-has-to-fix-the-mess">Pedro Rosselló</a> – father of the current governor – began <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/19/us/plan-to-sell-puerto-rico-phone-company-leads-to-strike.html">privatizing Puerto Rican services</a> like telecomms, water, education and electricity. Thirty percent of the island’s power generation was sold to private coal and gas interests, among them the now defunct <a href="https://www.blackstone.com/media/press-releases/article/gas-natural-sdg-wins-final-auction-of-enron%27s-assets-in-ecoelectrica-de-puerto-rico">energy company Enron</a>.</p>
<p>PREPA – which during its <a href="https://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21730432-even-hurricane-maria-hit-it-was-mess-story-puerto-ricos-power-grid">mid-century glory days was a source of Puerto Rican national pride</a> – began a downward spiral. Its debt tripled from around <a href="http://www.presupuesto.gobierno.pr/PresupuestosAnteriores/AF99/SERDEUDA/Capdeud.htm">US$3 billion</a> in the 1990s to <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-03/bondholders-disclose-3-billion-of-puerto-rico-electricity-debt">roughly $10 billion today</a>. In recent years, <a href="https://www.marketplace.org/2017/03/14/economy/puerto-rico-debt-plan-now-goes-creditors">austerity measures</a> resulting from <a href="http://time.com/20416/the-next-financial-catastrophe-you-havent-heard-about-yet-puerto-rico/">Puerto Rico’s financial crisis</a> have further decimated PREPA. </p>
<p>By the time Hurricane Maria hit, as Puerto Ricans soon learned, it was unable to fulfill its public mission.</p>
<p>Welcoming private energy companies to the island didn’t just weaken PREPA – it also damaged the environment. As revealed in a 2017 investigative reporting series by Puerto Rico’s Centro de Periodismo Investigativo, the multinational AES <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/series/bomba-de-tiempo-las-cenizas-de-carbon/">badly mismanaged the ash byproduct from a coal plant in Guayama, Puerto Rico</a>, to brutal results.</p>
<p>Mountains of this toxic waste was <a href="https://theconversation.com/in-puerto-rico-environmental-injustice-and-racism-inflame-protests-over-coal-ash-69763">haphazardly discarded in Arroyo Barril</a>, Dominican Republic, where it <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2016/04/aes-transa-multimillonaria-demanda-por-danos/">leeched into the ground and water supply</a>. <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2016/03/something-happened-in-arroyo-barril/">Miscarriages and birth deformations spiked</a>, among other illnesses. A lawsuit was <a href="http://periodismoinvestigativo.com/2016/04/aes-transa-multimillonaria-demanda-por-danos/">settled</a> in 2016.</p>
<p>Coal ash has also been used as landfill when building affordable housing and highways across Puerto Rico. Giant heaps of it are part of <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/opinion/columnas/lascenizastoxicasdepenuelas-columna-2284426/">Guayama’s industrial landscape</a>. Still, no controls are in place to protect local water supplies from contamination.</p>
<h2>Private doesn’t mean better</h2>
<p>Puerto Rico’s post-Maria blackout also indicates that private companies aren’t always more effective than public utilities. </p>
<p>Currently, some <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/laaeeimpulsaagendadetransformacion-2387489/">6,000 workers from U.S. energy companies are on the ground to help PREPA restore the island’s grid</a>. The first to come was Whitefish, a Montana business based in the hometown of Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke. It won <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/small-montana-firm-lands-puerto-ricos-biggest-contract-to-get-the-power-back-on/2017/10/23/31cccc3e-b4d6-11e7-9e58-e6288544af98_story.html?utm_term=.e96f2961bd88">a $300 million bid</a> to rebuild Puerto Rico’s power distribution and transmission network. </p>
<p>It soon became clear this tiny company <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/10/27/560422492/heres-what-s-in-that-300-million-whitefish-contract">could never get the job done</a>, triggering <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/29/us/whitefish-cancel-puerto-rico.html">investigations into the deal</a>. </p>
<p>Similar contracts have followed, many also bearing the whiff of corruption. Data shows these foreign crews cost Puerto Rico <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/losacuerdosotorgadosporlaaeesuman500millonesypodrianaumentar-2368728/">10 times more than domestic line workers</a>. And still hundreds of thousands of people live in darkness.</p>
<h2>The shift to renewables</h2>
<p>The challenge now is not just to power up Puerto Rico, but to do so in a way that safeguards the island’s energy future. </p>
<p>In the race to restore the nation’s electricity post-Maria, the renewables sector <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-solar-microgrids-are-not-a-cure-all-for-puerto-ricos-power-woes-86437">saw solid gains</a>. Demand surged for <a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/353144-puerto-rico-needs-a-new-energy-grid-not-just-repairs-to-the-old">for more resilient power systems</a>. </p>
<p>Photovoltaic roof panels went up on government buildings, shops and homes across the island. Numerous startups have emerged, generating <a href="http://cb.pr/resurge-la-industria-de-energia-renovable-en-puerto-rico/">hundreds of jobs</a> in wind and solar production. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204867/original/file-20180205-19956-2g8i3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Renewable energy sources like wind and solar have been gaining traction in Puerto Rico. PREPA’s privatization could stem that.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The privatization of PREPA could stunt this green energy shift. We don’t yet know which companies have <a href="http://www.noticel.com/ahora/cuatro-empresas-han-propuesto-comprar-la-aee/686786121">expressed interest in running Puerto Rico’s power grid</a>, but both current political tides and Puerto Rican history suggest they’ll be fossil fuel-focused. </p>
<p>After all, the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/11/30/a-controversial-oversight-board-could-take-over-puerto-ricos-hurricane-rebuilding-effort/?utm_term=.5b9f9e5d5ad4">Fiscal Oversight Board that has governed Puerto Rico’s policy and budget</a> since <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/jul/01/puerto-rico-default-debt-economic-crisis">the island’s 2016 debt default</a> has a demonstrated preference for old-school power generation. This unelected group of <a href="https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/senate-bill/2328/text">seven U.S. presidential appointees</a> has backed <a href="https://ejatlas.org/conflict/energy-anwser-incinerator-poisoning-puerto-ricos-main-agricultural-region">a questionable incinerator project from the company Energy Answer</a> and a <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/atodavelocidadlaconversionagas-1266908/">natural gas terminal at Guayama</a>. </p>
<p>The board also has a <a href="http://www.kutakrock.com/PROMESA-Puerto-Rico-Oversight-Economic-Stability-Act/">fiduciary duty</a> to prioritize Puerto Rico’s creditors, not its people. So whoever buys PREPA may publicly extol clean, renewable energy but in practice I wager that its development will see stumbling blocks.</p>
<h2>Fossil fuels are deadly</h2>
<p>I’d contend that it is risky for Puerto Rico – an island still recovering from a <a href="https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2017/10/25/16504488/hurricane-season-2017-what-the-hell">brutal hurricane season worsened by climate change</a> – to further its dependence on coal and gas. These fossil fossil fuels <a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/air-pollution/">cause water and air pollution</a>, contributing to <a href="https://climate.nasa.gov/causes/">global warming</a>. </p>
<p>Dirty energy is also costly. Puerto Rico’s dependence on <a href="http://energia.pr.gov/datos/">imported fuels</a> drained $22 billion from its economy during the first decade of this millennium. Meanwhile, renewable energy prices were dropping. Wind and solar are now more <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/renewable-energy-costs-2525682123.html">competitive with fossil fuels</a>. </p>
<p>That’s why places like <a href="http://www.elmundo.es/ciencia/2016/09/18/57dc2d9f46163f19138b458a.html">Costa Rica</a>, <a href="http://www.sustentator.com/blog-es/2017/10/alemania-referente-mundial-de-las-energias-renovables/">Germany</a> and <a href="https://www.diariorenovables.com/2017/02/la-apuesta-de-hawai-potenciar-las-renovables-prohibir-coches-de-combustion.html">Hawaii</a> have either achieved or are building renewable grids that makes good use of sunshine, water, wind and biomasses like wood.</p>
<p>Puerto Rico has plenty of those resources. But embracing renewable power requires government commitment. Instead, Gov. Rosselló seems to be backing out of the Puerto Rican energy game, leaving the island’s energy future at the mercy of private capital.</p>
<p>In its desire to privatize and deregulate, Rosselló’s administration looks to be in lock step with Donald Trump, the U.S. president who <a href="https://www.cfr.org/interactives/campaign2016/donald-trump/on-energy-and-climate">doubts climate change</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/24/business/energy-environment/coal-miners.html">loves coal mining</a>. </p>
<p>There are other hurdles to renewable energy in Puerto Rico, too, including <a href="http://time.com/5113472/donald-trump-solar-panel-tariff/">Trump’s recent 30 percent tax on imported solar panels</a> and unspeakably high fees <a href="https://www.elnuevodia.com/noticias/locales/nota/caminoalaprivatizacionlaaee-2393258/">imposed on locals who go off the grid</a>. It won’t be easy to make Puerto Rico energy self-sufficient.</p>
<p>But the reasons to do so are clear. Gov. Rosselló has laid out one vision for the island’s electric future. Now the Puerto Rican people must pursue theirs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Arturo Massol-Deyá is the associate director of Casa Pueblo, a non-profit environmental organization in Adjuntas, Puerto Rico. The foundation is self-sustaining but has received one-off funding from OXFAM, the Miranda Foundation and JPB for its Hurricane Maria recovery efforts.</span></em></p>Many Puerto Ricans are happy to see their broke power utility sold off to whoever can get the lights turned back on. But privatizing the island’s energy grid may bring more problems than relief.Arturo Massol-Deyá, Professor of MIcrobial Ecology, University of Puerto Rico - MayagüezLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/899092018-01-31T23:29:48Z2018-01-31T23:29:48ZWhat Colin Kaepernick can teach us about citizenship<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204311/original/file-20180131-157470-1y4896n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Colin Kaepernick, centre, and his San Francisco teammates kneel during the national anthem before an NFL football game in 2016. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Marcio Jose Sanchez, File)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colin Kaepernick played in only one NFL game in 2017, yet he made Time magazine’s short list for “<a href="http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-colin-kaepernick-runner-up/">Person of the Year</a>” and GQ named him “<a href="https://www.gq.com/story/colin-kaepernick-will-not-be-silenced">Citizen of the Year</a>.” </p>
<p>Kaepernick started a movement of players <a href="https://www.gq.com/story/colin-kaepernick-will-not-be-silenced">kneeling during the U.S. national anthem</a> to call attention to systemic racism and the de-humanization of Black lives. His protest reflects a broader statement that many Americans, in particular Black Americans and people of colour, do not have equal protections or safe access to even basic services. In short, they are not treated as citizens.</p>
<p>But, along the way, some football fans argued the protest he inspired did not belong within <a href="https://theconversation.com/protests-not-welcome-in-the-spectacle-of-sports-84817">the NFL</a>. Others corrupted his message as <a href="http://time.com/4477383/colin-kaepernick-says-he-is-not-ant-american-and-respects-the-military/">anti-American</a>. Some restricted Kaepernick’s argument to one that spoke out solely against <a href="http://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/chicago-bears/49ers-qb-colin-kaepernick-anthem-protest-about-change-not-just-police-violence">police brutality</a> in the African-American community.</p>
<p>We believe the fundamental tenet of Kaepernick’s message — racial injustice and social exclusion — is also critical when it comes to understanding and addressing recent environmental hazards and disasters in the United States.</p>
<p>The unequal outcomes of environmental harm - for example, why some areas seem so hard hit by storms or droughts, while others bounce back quickly - can be better understood when framed within a broader conception of “citizenship.” The many meanings of “citizen” have been a key focus for social scientists throughout history, including Aristotle, Cicero, Rousseau and Arendt; it has also been a primary focus of our research group at the University of British Columbia where we work on water governance and access.</p>
<h2>Many ways to think about citizenship</h2>
<p>According to <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/learners/citizenship-rights-and-responsibilities">U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services</a>, citizenship is not bound by race, religion or status — but by the shared values of freedom, liberty and equality. </p>
<p>In this sense, being an equal “citizen” means you feel welcomed and safe, that you have a voice in changing the status quo and that you’re governed by the same set of laws and principles as all other citizens. Any person, from a <a href="https://www.dar.org/">Daughter of the American Revolution</a> to a newly arrived <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/08/30/us/syrian-refugees-in-the-united-states.html">Syrian refugee</a>, is part of this notion of citizenship. </p>
<p>But this is an idealized vision of citizenship — it is not reality.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203609/original/file-20180126-100929-1098b4m.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Colin Kaepernick was named GQ magazine’s <em>Citizen of the Year</em> in 2017 for his activism.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Rick Scuteri)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kaepernick’s protest is about what and who makes a team and a nation. The debate over Kaepernick’s action can be extended to look at the important ways environmental justice is connected to notions of citizenship. </p>
<p>Preliminary results from our recent fieldwork in South Africa and Ghana — places where the relatively well off have no trouble accessing a full range of services while the poor have limited access to drinking water and sanitation — suggest that one’s sense of belonging and inclusion are strongly tied to the ability to access basic environmental services. </p>
<p>Kaepernick’s message can (and should) be extended to recent environmental crises, including in Flint, Mich., and Puerto Rico. This is a broader interpretation of Kaepernick’s message that demands our attention.</p>
<h2>Differentiated citizenship in Flint</h2>
<p>In making dinner, filling a glass with water or taking a shower, we rarely consider how a faucet is connected to being a citizen. But many people do not enjoy easy access to drinking water — as the case of Flint has so powerfully shown. </p>
<p>In 2014, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/01/20/health/flint-water-crisis-timeline/index.html">the town’s water source</a> was changed to the Flint River from the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department. This cost-saving mechanism, combined with <a href="https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/study-confirms-lead-got-flints-water">inadequate water treatment</a> procedures, exposed Flint’s mostly Black residents to lead contamination from their aging pipes.</p>
<p>Residents noticed the difference. Yet their repeated requests to local and state officials were rebuffed until evidence showed the water was dangerous and imperilled the health of thousands, particularly children. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203606/original/file-20180126-100919-nl57xf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Signs warned students at the Flint Northwestern High School in Flint, Mich. about dangerous drinking water in May 2016.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster File)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It costs <a href="http://nbc25news.com/news/local/51-days-left-of-funding-for-bottled-water-in-flint">$117,400 a day</a> to provide bottled water and filters to Flint’s residents, yet they still live with serious lead contamination. As do <a href="https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-lead-testing/">many other U.S. communities</a>.</p>
<p>There is a jarring contrast between Flint and nearby towns that are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2016/02/08/heres-the-political-history-that-led-to-flints-shocking-water-crisis/">affluent with a majority white population</a>. While residents of Flint are citizens, they are being excluded from equal benefits and protections. </p>
<p>Our research highlights the often underlying issues of citizenship — protection and belonging — behind environmental problems. If we want to address these crises we must better understand the root causes.</p>
<h2>Citizenship divides our political opinions</h2>
<p>Just as mutual strength and support unite a team, “citizenship” is a common thread that unites Americans — as it does people in all countries. Unfortunately, in the U.S., notions of citizenship have resulted in polarized political debates. Too often, citizenship is treated as a clear-cut issue of who belongs and has the legal status to stay or travel. </p>
<p>President Donald Trump’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/trump-border-wall-gets-18-billion-price-tag-in-new-request-to-lawmakers/2018/01/05/34e3c47e-f264-11e7-b3bf-ab90a706e175_story.html">border wall</a> and <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/us/politics/visa-waiver-program-restrictions-homeland-security.html">unconstitutional visa bans</a> to keep Muslims out of the U.S. are two clear cases of citizenship as status. </p>
<p>But the in-custody deaths of <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-32400497">Freddie Gray</a> and many others, the <a href="http://www.detroitnews.com/story/news/michigan/flint-water-crisis/2017/03/07/flint-water-conference/98862674/">drinking water crisis in Flint</a> and, most recently, <a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/365901-puerto-rico-needs-congress-to-be-bolder-on-disaster-relief">Puerto Rico’s miserly</a> <a href="http://thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/365901-puerto-rico-needs-congress-to-be-bolder-on-disaster-relief">disaster aid</a> after <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/10/what-happened-in-puerto-rico-a-timeline-of-hurricane-maria/541956/">Hurricane Maria</a> serve as examples of a different type of citizenship, one where “citizens” do not have equal access to protection and justice in their daily lives.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203608/original/file-20180126-100915-3v5dly.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=513&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A boy stands in front of a police cordon following the funeral of Freddie Gray in Baltimore on Apr. 27, 2015.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Matt Rourke)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Kaepernick has challenged us to rethink whether these values and rights are held equally across our differences. He has highlighted another way of thinking about citizenship: One that moves away from a strictly legal definition to involve inclusion, belonging, equity and protection — facets of everyday life.</p>
<h2>Rethinking our public policy</h2>
<p>Over 3.4 million U.S. citizens live in Puerto Rico. While the damage from Hurricane Maria may exceed US$30 billion, Trump made sure to <a href="http://deadline.com/2017/09/donald-trump-tweet-puerto-rico-broken-infrastructure-massive-debt-1202176860/">blame</a> Puerto Rico’s “broken infrastructure” and “old electrical grid” for the scale of the island’s suffering and damage. </p>
<p>Trump’s <a href="http://www.newsweek.com/puerto-rico-recovery-100-days-hurricane-maria-760965">own reasoning</a> suggests that broader forces of social exclusion are at play. Kaepernick’s kneeling can serve to raise awareness for environmental discrimination in Puerto Rico. Even as officials admit that as much as one third of the island’s citizens do not have access to the power grid, FEMA has announced it is cutting off <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/01/29/581511023/fema-to-end-food-and-water-aid-for-puerto-rico">emergency electricity and water supplies</a>. </p>
<p>The island’s short- and long-term vulnerability highlight the need to ensure that our public policy strives to provide equal access to services and protections for everyone.</p>
<p>Kaepernick and those participating in <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23takeaknee&src=typd">#TakeaKnee</a> say they love America, but wholeheartedly believe the country can do better in upholding the principles of equality and justice ostensibly woven into the U.S. flag.</p>
<p>We hope that as Kaepernick’s message continues, it will extend into everyday facets of inclusion, equal protection and belonging — from getting a glass of clean water to receiving federal aid following a disaster.</p>
<p>Where Trump’s State of the Union speech touted “merit-based immigration,” the border wall and the visa lottery system as somehow unrelated to the fear-mongering over immigrants, Kaepernick is pushing us to interrogate what it means to be a citizen. </p>
<p>A team supports, welcomes and respects its members, and society must also strive for this. Something to think about during the Super Bowl, especially if during the national anthem, NFL players take a knee.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89909/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott McKenzie receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the University of British Columbia. He is affiliated with the EDGES research group at the University of British Columbia and the International Water Resources Association.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sameer H. Shah receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. He is affiliated with the EDGES research group at the University of British Columbia.
</span></em></p>Much of the discussion about “Take a Knee” has overlooked the issues of justice and social exclusion, and especially environmental matters. That’s something to think about during the Super Bowl.Scott McKenzie, PhD Candidate, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), University of British ColumbiaSameer H. Shah, Assistant Professor of Climate Adaptation, University of WashingtonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/894662017-12-20T23:34:55Z2017-12-20T23:34:55ZPuerto Ricans aren’t giving up on Christmas<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200287/original/file-20171220-4985-1okldjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Though much of Puerto Rico remains devastated by Hurricane Maria, people are preparing to celebrate the holidays.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://flic.kr/p/ZoVvMB">Lorie Shaull/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Leer <a href="https://theconversation.com/drafts/89430/edit">en español</a></em>.</p>
<p>Some say Puerto Rico has the <a href="http://www.noticel.com/%C2%BFen-serio-/brasil-reta-a-puerto-rico-por-el-ttulo-de-navidades-ms-largas-del-mundo/670719105">longest Christmas in the world</a>. </p>
<p>For Puerto Ricans, who are <a href="https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/rq.html">85 percent Catholic</a>, Christmas starts after Thanksgiving, continues through Christmas Day, and extends beyond Three Kings Day, on Jan. 6, with the “<a href="http://www.latinomusiccafe.com/2016/01/12/octavitas/">octavitas</a>” – an eight-day street party that concludes in the <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/san-sebasti-n-festival-ends-puerto-rico-s-long-fun-n710746">St. Sebastian Festival in Old San Juan</a> in mid-January. Christmas trees and decorations stay up for almost two months. The new year is greeted in noisy fashion, with street concerts and fireworks and guns fired celebratorily – albeit dangerously – into the air.</p>
<p>At least, that’s the tradition in my country. This year <a href="https://theconversation.com/im-a-librarian-in-puerto-rico-and-this-is-my-hurricane-maria-survival-story-86426">everything is different</a>. In September, hurricanes Irma and Maria both battered Puerto Rico, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/puerto-rico-governor-orders-recount-of-death-toll/2017/12/18/2aa0ad5e-e401-11e7-ab50-621fe0588340_story.html">killing perhaps as many as a thousand people</a> and destroying much of the island.</p>
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<p>Three months later, most Puerto Ricans still contend with some combination of unsafe water, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/national/puerto-rico-life-without-power/">no electricity</a>, blocked highways, broken bridges, lack of internet and food shortages. Some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/the_americas/report-slams-local-us-hurricane-response-in-puerto-rico/2017/12/17/7bba944c-e371-11e7-927a-e72eac1e73b6_story.html">600 people are still living in shelters</a>. </p>
<p>Can Christmas survive this catastrophe?</p>
<h2>Survival first</h2>
<p>I’m considering this question from my home in San Juan, the capital, where a Christmas miracle has occurred: Last week electricity was restored to parts of the neighborhood.</p>
<p>Currently, about <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/anger-grows-puerto-rico-misses-power-restoration-deadline-51814512">65 percent of the island has electrical power</a>, and everyone else is constantly hunting for it.</p>
<p>But we’re also seeking another kind of power, I think – the strength to get through this national disaster.</p>
<p>Rural governments are still trying to tend to <a href="http://www.sacbee.com/news/nation-world/article190249154.html">thousands of people left without water, electricity and medicine</a>. Meanwhile, Gov. Ricardo Roselló <a href="https://theconversation.com/puerto-ricos-bankruptcy-will-make-hurricane-recovery-brutal-heres-why-84559">is handling Puerto Rico’s hurricane aftermath while also reckoning with the island’s bankruptcy</a>. Everyone has been working so hard for so long.</p>
<p>There are signs of desperation. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/us/puerto-rico-hurricane-maria-mental-health.html?_r=0">Suicides and post-traumatic stress are a reality here now</a>. It will be a long time before anything here starts to look normal again, and we know some things may never be the same.</p>
<p>At my job, as a special collections librarian at the University of Puerto Rico’s Humacao campus, our team is working from a tent outside while the library gets a deep clean. The building that houses the library leaked during Maria, so it soon became mold-infested. We lost our reference collection completely, along with all the furniture and computer equipment.</p>
<p>For a while there, I thought maybe Christmas might be one more thing lost to Maria.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=409&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200243/original/file-20171220-4980-15p65zf.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=514&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The University of Puerto Rico in Humacao has reopened for classes since Hurricane Maria, though some buildings remain closed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Milagros Rodriguez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>After the celebrations</h2>
<p>Puerto Ricans, as it happens, are good at adversity. It’s a legacy of <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2017/09/27/puerto-rico-is-still-a-victim-of-colonial-neglect/">our colonial history</a>.</p>
<p>Either way, the country’s resilience is on full display this Christmas season. Despite the <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/flip-switch-puerto-rico-power-desperately-article-1.3702115">blackouts that still affect even places where power’s been restored</a> and the cold showers, we will have our holiday. </p>
<p>It may not be the longest Christmas in the world this year. And there may not be a lot of decorated trees, wreaths or parties. But in homes across the country people are roasting suckling pig right now, preparing blood sausages and stewing rice and peas. </p>
<p>We may have to cook over a charcoal fire, but to be sure: There will be bananas for our pasteles, meat-filled pastries served wrapped in a leaf. </p>
<p>Families hum along to holiday favorites – “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JX0gEOVR9E">Navidad</a>,” a salsa tune by José Nogueras, and “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=okZcVZiGKNk">Los reyes no llegaron</a>,” a Christmas bolero by Victoria Sanabria – accompanied by the roar of generators. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">José Nogueras’s ‘Navidad’ is a classic Puerto Rican holiday song.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since my house has electricity, we’re stringing the Christmas lights and planning to party. Even in homes without power, that’s sometimes the case. As I heard one caller say on the radio, “We’ll turn on the Christmas lights even if it means plugging them into a generator.” </p>
<p>At work, the library team hung a Three Wise Men-themed decoration on our temporary library tent.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/200235/original/file-20171220-4980-m6mcuq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=977&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christmas is on.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">M. Rodriguez</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Elsewhere, sadness is more tangible. By November, <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-puerto-ricans-return-home-after-hurricane-maria-87160">100,000 Puerto Ricans had fled Hurricane Maria’s aftermath</a>, a number that <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/puerto-rico-maria-hurricane-leave-island-flee-electricity-flooding-devastation-a8007751.html">grows daily</a>. Many families will be missing their loved ones this Christmas. </p>
<p>Tragedy unites us all right now. In some places – like <a href="http://www.elvocero.com/regionales/municipios/viva-la-magia-de-las-luces-en-santa-isabel/article_e3398792-2454-52df-880b-31d4b40db61d.html">Santa Isabel</a>, on Puerto Rico’s southern coast, and <a href="http://www.elvocero.com/actualidad/listos-para-celebrar-la-navidad/article_c521f386-d120-11e7-a3eb-7bf42b725568.html">Moca</a>, a town near Aguadilla – locals have decked out the main square, transforming storm debris into makeshift Christmas trees and wooden nativity scenes, all strung up with lights. </p>
<p>Such scenes reflect the national sentiment that not destruction, or terrible crisis management, or bankruptcy can take Christmas from Puerto Rico. Celebrating the holidays this year means feeling, if only for a moment, normal. It’s a sign of survival.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89466/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Evelyn Milagros Rodriguez does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s said Puerto Rico has the longest Christmas in the world, a noisy two-month celebration that goes through mid-January. Can the holidays still happen in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria?Evelyn Milagros Rodriguez, Research, Reference and Special Collections Librarian, University of Puerto Rico - HumacaoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.