America's "Island of Enchantment": Environmental Hazards and Hope in Puerto Rico [Slide Show]
Politicians, business leaders and environmentalists wrangle over the island's environmental future
America's "Island of Enchantment": Environmental Hazards and Hope in Puerto Rico [Slide Show]
- FIDEICOMISO AS FUTURE: Despite the threats to Puerto Rico's paradise, there are also many reasons to feel more hopeful than ever about the island's future. In addition to the growth of the Sierra Club and the short but impressive history of successful activism by groups like Casa Pueblo, the most comprehensive and effective advocate for Puerto Rico's environment is the Fideicomiso (or Conservation Trust) of Puerto Rico... Francisco Collazo
- INTERIOR INSECURITY: All but unknown by tourists and overlooked by developers, Puerto Rico's mountainous interior is a lush, largely undeveloped area. The region is crucial to environmental stability, one reason being that its rivers are the primary source of water for more than one-quarter of the island's residents... Francisco Collazo
- POPULAR PROTESTS: The environmental movement in Puerto Rico is relatively young. Although there are some notable exceptions—including self-described revolutionary environmentalist Tito Kayak, known for staging dramatic activist events, such as scaling a construction crane, living on it for one week, and then rappelling from the crane and into a kayak on the water below to avoid police capture—organized environmentalism is not even a decade old... Luis Villanueva Cubero
