Greg presented a paper titled “Will the Caracol Industrial Park bring progress or environmental disaster?” during the 21st IICE in Puerto Rico June 10-13. The talk included the research that he conducted with Jean Wiener in 2013, the challenges faced by the growing population of Caracol, and encouraging possibilities that economic development and environmental protection can occur simultaneously. Education and wise planning will be crucial to avert grave environmental damage.
During the conference, participants visited Casa Pueblo, a 35-year old organization that uses science, community, and culture to protect Puerto Rico’s environment while improving the livelihood of people. We were greeted with a live performance by students of the Casa Pueblo music school. Alexis Massol-González, founding Director of Casa Pueblo and recipient of the 2002 Goldman Environmental Prize, began his talk by playing “Imagine” by John Lennon. In his talk, Alexis Massol emphasized that they experienced limited success with science alone, attracting 1 participant to their first activity. By adding culture and community to the equation, they had 35,000 people participate in efforts to stop a gas pipeline through sensitive habitats. He proudly shared a photograph of himself being handcuffed at a White House protest, which reminded participants of their colleague Adam Briggle’s arrest in Denton, TX two weeks ago. The parallels between Casa Pueblo and Yon Sel Lanmou are many, and gives us encouragement for what we can accomplish over the decades for Haiti and the world, using science to generate knowledge and culture to activate the community.

See what decades of dedication has accomplished for Jean Wiener here: http://www.goldmanprize.org/recipient/jean-wiener/

The Prezi for the talk can be viewed here: https://prezi.com/f60sfjxfdwlh/will-the-caracol-industrial-park-bring-progress-or-environme/

Yon Sel Lanmou