Early morning wake up for me today. I woke up around 6:15am after a long night of packing for our departure at 7:10am to Ponce from San Juan. Today, we traveled 2 hours to Adjuntas in Ponce to learn about Casa Pueblo and Bosque Escuela: a community organization dedicated to environmental protection and resilience against lack of assistance from the government.
We learned about the impact the community of Casa Pueblo has made during times of hardship and challenge. I learned while walking through the streets, buildings, forest, and neighborhood that Casa Pueblo has been fighting an ongoing battle against gold and silver mining since 1980 that would’ve destroyed 36,000 acres of Puerto Rican land. With the help of the people in their community, they were able to come together and build an environment that protected their community without government assistance or interference.
They learned how to use the resources that surrounded them. They cultivated their knowledge of nature, and used it to establish a sense of security when it came to food, business, and health. One fun activity that the people of Casa Pueblo had us participate in, was a water filtering demonstration. One box with a picture of an urban city, one with the mines they were going to dig in Puerto Rico, and one with trees, plants, etc. The cleanest most filtered water was the one with the trees and plants, and it took the longest to come out of the box when we poured water into them. That is because plants and trees have their own way of filtering water. That is why In Casa Pueblo/Bosque Escuela they encourage each other to use the nature that surrounds them to thrive as a society. They also implemented solar powered energy in 2011 with Solar Panels that power mostly everything. But the government is trying put a “Sun Tax” on the Solar Panel system which is irritating and is an example of bad governance.
Afterwards, we just ate a lot of food. My favorite food was Tres Leches. It was a great experience learning about Casa Pueblo and Bosque Escuela. As a community at Deerfield, and all communities I am a part of in general, I am going to continue to put in effort to help improve the lifestyle. No matter if I am the only one, I will fight for what is right, just like the people of Casa Pueblo.
