puerto rico

Puerto Rico’s New Marine Reserve Will Protect More Than 14 Endangered Species

Puerto Rico’s New Marine Reserve Will Protect More Than 14 Endangered Species

After 16 years of efforts by grassroots organizations, local Puerto Rico communities are celebrating the establishment of the country’s new marine protected area (MPA), Jardines Submarinos de Vega Baja y Manatí. The new marine reserve on Puerto Rico’s north coast will protect 77 square miles of marine biodiversity, a press release from the Wildlife Conservation […]

Join our newsletter

The best of EcoWatch, right in your inbox. Sign up for our email newsletter!

    Solar Company to Build Puerto Rico’s First Virtual Solar Power Plant

    Solar Company to Build Puerto Rico’s First Virtual Solar Power Plant

    Sunrun, a solar power and battery company based in San Francisco, will build the first virtual solar power plant in Puerto Rico. The virtual power plant (VPP) will be 17 megawatts and is designed to strengthen the power grid with solar energy aggregated from more than 7,000 customers’ residential solar and battery systems. During 2023, […]

    Hurricane Fiona Hammers Puerto Rico, Entire Grid Down

    Hurricane Fiona Hammers Puerto Rico, Entire Grid Down

    Hurricane Fiona dumped catastrophic flooding on Puerto Rico over the weekend, knocking out the entire island’s electrical grid and dropping as much as 30 inches of rain. Electricity was out across the island by 2pm ET Sunday, even before Fiona made official landfall at about 3:20 pm ET near Punta Tocon. Understanding the scope of […]

    Puerto Rico Suffers Massive Power Outage

    Puerto Rico Suffers Massive Power Outage

    Puerto Ricans remain without power (both electrical and in Congress) after an island-wide power outage plunged the disenfranchised colonial territory into darkness Wednesday evening. Every customer on the main island lost electricity when “all the generating units went offline,” Josue Colon, Puerto Rico’s lead telecommunications and infrastructure engineer, told reporters, and more than one-third of Puerto […]

    Marvel Superhero Takes on Climate Change, Environmental Justice

    Marvel Superhero Takes on Climate Change, Environmental Justice

    Superhero Marisol Rios de la Luz will take on climate change, political corruption, and the myriad social injustices stemming from the two in the upcoming installment of the La Borinqueña graphic novel series, Earther reports. The Nuyorican heroine and her team, the Nitainos, will tackle the rippling impacts of climate change on the islands, covering issues such as domestic […]

    Puerto Rico Drought Leaves 140,000 Without Running Water

    Puerto Rico Drought Leaves 140,000 Without Running Water

    Puerto Rico’s governor declared a state of emergency on Monday after a severe drought on the island left 140,000 people without access to running water, despite the necessary role that hand washing and hygiene plays in stopping the novel coronavirus, as The Independent reported. The island will start water rationing on July 2, as 26 […]

    When the Government Failed Puerto Rico, Local Communities Stepped Up

    When the Government Failed Puerto Rico, Local Communities Stepped Up

    By Coral Natalie Negrón Almodóvar The Earth began to shake as Tamar Hernández drove to visit her mother in Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Dec. 28, 2019. She did not feel that first tremor — she felt only the ensuing aftershocks — but she worried because her mother had an ankle injury and could not walk. […]

    Earthquake Forecast for Puerto Rico: Dozens of Large Aftershocks Likely

    Earthquake Forecast for Puerto Rico: Dozens of Large Aftershocks Likely

    By Richard Aster Multiple strong and damaging earthquakes in southern Puerto Rico starting around Dec. 28, 2019 have killed at least one person, caused many serious injuries and collapsed numerous buildings, including a multistory school in the town of Guánica that luckily was empty at the time. These quakes are the most damaging to strike […]