We can have one without the other
The ghost of Puerto Rico’s industrial past has re-emerged, amid recent U.S. military actions against Iran that have sent shockwaves through global energy markets, driving oil and gas prices to new heights,. The current crisis recalls the 1973 Arab–Israeli War and OPEC’s oil embargo, highlighting… Read More »Oil Wars and Industrial Decay: The Urgent Case for Decontaminating Puerto Rico’s PR-127
After Hurricane María, Puerto Rico’s prolonged power outages revealed a stark reality: when electricity fails, people die. In this blog, David Southgate examines the public health consequences of the island’s fragile electric grid and the disproportionate burden it places on vulnerable communities like Playa de Ponce. He describes his work via the community organization Un Nuevo Amanecer and national energy researchers to developed a Strategic Energy Plan to strengthen local resilience through solar lighting, community microgrids, and energy education. The story highlights how a community facing chronic blackouts is turning toward locally driven solutions to improve safety, reliability, and energy justice.
Visitors to Puerto Rico’s south coast inevitably come across the PR-127 former petrochemical corridor, among the world’s largest petroleum complexes in the 1960s. Commonly referred to as La CORCO—a name derived from the anchor industry, the Commonwealth Oil Refining Company, the zone encompasses approximately 3,500… Read More »Progress, Poverty, and Petroleum: Reclaiming the Common Inheritance of the World’s Largest Petrochemical Zone
The following is Part 2 of a two-part discourse by David Southgate during the South Puerto Rico Community Summit. While Part 1 detailed the reality of “slow violence” and historical planning failures, this section outlines the transdisciplinary framework we used to empower the residents of… Read More »VIDA Costera: A Theory of Change for Community-Led Climate Justice
The following is part 1 of a two-part discourse by David Southgate during South Puerto Rico Community Summit (January 24, 2026) held at the Centros Sor Isolina Ferré, Santa Maria de la Luz Hall in Ponce, Puerto Rico, where 103 community members attended. Present also… Read More »VIDA Costera: Community Resilience and Justice-based Transdisciplinary Science
In the discourse surrounding economic justice and public policy, it is common to encounter skeptics of established narratives. Skepticism, when grounded in inquiry and evidence, is healthy. However, a recent exchange on a professional forum highlighted a troubling trend: the misappropriation of Henry George’s philosophy… Read More »Why Henry George is Not a Shield for Climate Change Denial
Opportunities for climate adaptation can emerge unexpectedly, prompting communities and their institutions to explore a maze of complicated decisions. As a board member for the CBO Un Nuevo Amanecer, Inc. (UNA), I’ve learned to embrace these moments through rigorous analysis. The challenge lies in balancing… Read More »Lessons from the Frontline of Climate Change Why Every Community Organization Needs a Decision Matrix
A fundamental paradigm of our political economy is that government has an ethical and moral obligation to intervene when markets fail. The paradigm is central to the Market Failure Doctrine. The doctrine recognizes that rational self-interest produces undesirable externalities. It advances welfare economics on the… Read More »Challenging Market Failure in a Climate-Vulnerable Community: How La Playa Produces Its Own Public Goods
Motivation In what ways are environmental stressors re-shaping relationships among urban actors, and what are the implications for disrupting conventional patterns of urban growth? Climatic extremes and associated disasters are increasingly shaping the future of urban development in the United States. In Central Arizona, now… Read More »Rethinking Growth in the Desert: How Water Scarcity Is Reshaping the Future of Phoenix
Two months after Russia invaded Ukraine, one of the world’s largest superyachts quietly moored at the Port of Ponce, Puerto Rico. EU economic sanctions froze the Russian owner’s assets, cutting off funds that could support Russia’s war effort and halting payments to Le Grand Bleu’s… Read More »What’s That Russian Oligarch’s Yacht Doing in the Port of Ponce? Hydrocolonial Currents, LNG, and the New Global Order
