IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jscscx/v13y2024i5p260-d1392932.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Study of Environmental Organizations in Puerto Rico Advocating for Social and Environmental Justice

Author

Listed:
  • Clara E. Rodriguez

    (Department of Sociology & Anthropology, Fordham University, 113 West 60th Street, New York, NY 10023, USA)

  • Carmen Collins

    (Department of Mass Communication, College of Professional Studies, St. John’s University, 8000 Utopia Parkway, Queens, NY 11439, USA)

Abstract

After Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico, we wanted to determine how the islanders viewed environmental organizations as part of an effort to understand the relationships between attitudes, institutions, and environmental and social justice issues. As a category 5 hurricane, Hurricane Maria was one of the strongest to hit Puerto Rico. Yet, the US mainstream media coverage of this and other environmental issues was lacking. From a total of 90 environmental organizations in Puerto Rico, we surveyed 19 that were active in the southwest of the island. We asked: (1) How do local people view environmental and social justice issues and (2) given their organizations’ efforts to deal with these issues, what are their successes? To address these questions, we developed a survey in English and Spanish and conducted personal and online interviews with 30 relevant individuals. Their most successful outcomes included: (1) educating and creating greater awareness of environmental issues; (2) introducing environmental changes into their communities; and (3) becoming and surviving as economically sustainable organizations. The results inform our understanding between environmental organizations and social and environmental justice in Puerto Rico and more broadly, because the organizations surveyed are at the center of fighting climate change and achieving environmental justice.

Suggested Citation

  • Clara E. Rodriguez & Carmen Collins, 2024. "A Study of Environmental Organizations in Puerto Rico Advocating for Social and Environmental Justice," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 13(5), pages 1-11, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:5:p:260-:d:1392932
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/5/260/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0760/13/5/260/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Dadit Hidayat & Randy Stoecker, 2018. "Community-based organizations and environmentalism: how much impact can small, community-based organizations working on environmental issues have?," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 8(4), pages 395-406, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.

      Corrections

      All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jscscx:v:13:y:2024:i:5:p:260-:d:1392932. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

      If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

      If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

      If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

      For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

      Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

      IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.