Power of Persistence
The island of Vieques is picturesque — it features white sand beaches, snorkel-friendly waters, and the world’s brightest bioluminescent bay. But its beauty belies a toxic reality. On top of the injustices of colonialism and marginalization faced by all of Puerto Rico, the people of Vieques have shouldered a unique burden: In the 1940s, the US Navy seized control of much of the island for military training exercises. The war games they conducted there, which continued until 2003, displaced communities and left Vieques’s soil and waters dangerously contaminated with toxic chemicals, heavy metals, and unexploded munitions. As local activist Katherine Martínez Medina, 21, puts it, “Being from such an idyllic paradise island comes with a high price.” One of six young people who received Earth Island’s annual Brower Youth Award for environmental leadership at a ceremony in Berkeley earlier this week, Medina isn’t shirking from Vieques’s challenges. Rather, she’s investing her energy and passion in building a brighter future through her work with La Colmena Cimarrona, an agricultural collective working towards food sovereignty on the island. “No one will displace us from Vieques,” she said during a rousing speech made in Spanish at the awards ceremony. “We are creating economic opportunities for those who plant sustainably in Vieques, offering spaces for care and healing that ensure our permanence.” Her work is a reminder that environmental issues never occur in a vacuum; that they are intimately connected to racial, economic, and social ones. And along with her fellow awardees — who, among other things, are pushing to increase diversity in outdoor spaces, restore much-needed coastal mangroves, and transition schools to green energy — Medina is creating real change. As the cycle of war and suffering ramps up in the Middle East and slogs on in Ukraine, as storms and wildfires and heatwaves wreak havoc on communities around the world, it was inspiring to be in the presence of these young leaders, feel their energy, and hear about their dedication and drive to solve problems that were seeded far before they were born. For me, at least, these young people offered hope that a more just, peaceful, and regenerative future is possible.
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