Dr. Arturo Massol-Deyá – Political and Natural Disasters in Puerto Rico

To start off the New Year, the Puerto Rico Research Hub was proud to host the executive director of Casa Pueblo de Adjunta and faculty member at the Department of Biology of the University of Puerto Rico Mayagsuez Campus, Dr. Arturo Massol-Deyá.

Dr. Massol-Deyá held a presentation at UCF Global discussing the community action to tackle political and natural disasters in Puerto Rico. Disasters such as Hurricane Maria and the recent earthquakes have deeply affected Puerto Rico. The island faces persistent vulnerability to these climate emergencies. Without any systematic change to address them, one solution is community action. Dr. Massol-Deyá’s discussion included how the Casa Pueblo initiative has worked towards the protection and conservation of natural resources while promoting fair and sustainable development.

Later that evening, Dr. Massol-Deyá held a screening of his documentary at the UCF Downtown Campus. The documentary tells the story of the ongoing energy transformation occurring in the town of Adjuntas, Puerto Rico, and how the Casa Pueblo Initiative is paving the way for sustainable solar energy production away from dependence on fossil fuels. After the screening of the documentary there was an open discussion with Dr. Arturo Massol-Deyá