Daffodil Lecture Explores Environmental Justice in Afro-Puerto Rico

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The Commonwealth Honors College community gathered in the UMass Campus Center Auditorium on Thursday, March 3, to hear Hilda Lloréns deliver the 2022 Daffodil Lecture on Sustainability and the Environment. Lloréns, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of Rhode Island, centered her discussion on environmental justice, following the case study of an ecological crisis in Puerto Rico.

“A lot of the time we don’t get a lot of varied perspectives [on environmentalism],” noted first-year biology major Marrella Proeschold before the lecture. “So I think it’s interesting to see that environmentalist idea from other places.”

Before introducing Lloréns, Dean Mari Castañeda explained the roots of the Daffodil Lecture, noting how the flowers’ yearly blossom represents rebirth and new beginnings.

“We also hold this lecture and plant the daffodils to honor the memory of former Honors Dean Priscilla Clarkson,” said Dean Castañeda. “[Clarkson] began the tradition of planting the daffodils because of the representation of rebirth [...] Also because she was a strong advocate of sustainability.”

“We were all together out there in the fall, planting, digging, laughing, enjoying, and building community,” remarked Dean Castañeda, inviting audience members to join in planting more daffodils next fall.

Castañeda welcomed Lloréns to the stage, whose “research has been centrally concerned with critiquing structural inequalities and dismantling the taken-for-granted notions of power.”

Navigating Multiple Environmental Crises

Lloréns presented research on how marginalized communities face the worst effects of climate change. By focusing on the rising Puerto Rican public health crisis, brought on by residents’ exposure to coal ash, she illustrated that many infrastructure systems are not only bad for the environment, but also worse for the people living there.

“About 97 percent of Puerto Rico’s energy right now is produced through fossil fuels,” explained Lloréns, displaying images of mountains of toxic ash. This ash is the byproduct of burning coal, and sits in piles across the island—contaminating local air and water. Puerto Ricans have reported increased rates of cancer and kidney failure in the years since these mountains of ash spread across their island."

“This is one of the biggest environmental threats in Puerto Rico at this moment,” said Lloréns. “It seeps into the aquifer, it seeps into the bay, it seeps into the air."

“Coal is a problem worldwide, not just in Puerto Rico... Maybe there’s a coal plant near you,” added Lloréns. Coal plants are often located in marginalized communities, where residents have limited means to protest a private company’s energy production.

“There’s a great economic disparity here, and people don’t have, as a result, economic power or political representation,” said Lloréns, explaining how the prevalence of coal plants in marginalized communities is an environmental justice issue. “Ninety-eight percent of Puerto Rico identifies as Hispanic, however, it is also an Afro-Hispanic community, so there’s another layer of racialization here.”

Reflecting on the Lecture

Students enjoyed learning about Lloréns’ specialized knowledge of sustainability.

“I’m really passionate about environmental justice, and I’m Puerto Rican, so it was kind of perfect,” said Marina Pineda Shokooh, a senior studying sustainable community development.

“Environmental justice means to me an interdisciplinary way of looking at environmentalism, that isn’t just caring for the environment, but it’s also caring about the people that live in the environment, and making sure we achieve social justice,” Pineda Shokooh added.

Theo Eagle, a senior studying sustainable food and farming, found a connection between Lloréns’ work and his Honors Thesis.

“I’m currently working on an ethnography of the Pioneer Valley’s farming culture, and there’s a lot of talk about local ecological knowledge and honoring Black and Indigenous voices,” said Eagle. “I am excited to learn about someone who’s dedicated a lot of time and effort into this one specific field. In class, we’re often exposed to all these exciting paradigms and ideologies and things, but to be introduced to someone who spends all their time in this one field and get to talk about it in this setting feels exciting."

After her lecture, Lloréns engaged in a Q&A with audience members. One student asked Lloréns how to practice environmental stewardship when their family never cared for the natural landscape.

"Stewarding and being in cohabitation with the ecosystem are natural," answered Lloréns. "Maybe it’s been lost for a generation or two, but you can absolutely take it up and bring it back into the consciousness of your life and your family."

"The future is yours," added Lloréns. "You’re here at UMass, and you’re gonna graduate. What are you going to do to make it better for you, for us, for nature? You don’t have to be a forager...but you could be a policy maker, you could be a teacher, you could be an engineer that looks for solutions to the climate crisis. There’s so many ways in which you can help, but the main way right now is for you to get your education."