Caribbean Youth against Heat Waves: Climate Justice, and Energy Restructuring
Author: Eduardo Soltero Ríos
November 1, 2023
Caribbean Youth against Heat Waves: Climate Justice, and Energy Restructuring
With global temperatures rising to unseen levels, the Caribbean lies at the center of the impact and the center of youth agency for climate change action. The summer of 2023 in the Northern Hemisphere broke historic heat levels and set itself as the hottest summer on record,[1] underscoring the Caribbean's susceptibility to climate challenges. UN Secretary-General António Guterres described the region as ‘ground zero’ for the international climate emergency.[2] Due to extreme climate conditions, students protested in Puerto Rico for air conditioning during heat waves. This civic engagement highlighted the responsibility of that “climate resilience” effort from younger generations to restructure approaches using schools to claim climate justice by refurbishing policies.
Even before summertime, the Caribbean Climate Outlook Forum (CariCOF)[3] advised that the region would experience concerning heat levels. These extreme conditions directly impact communities in which exposure to heat is part of life and, under hazardous levels, can pose physical challenges. These heat waves encapsulate the regional disparities that need to be structured and contextualized in the climate change global restructuring processes. The Council on Foreign Relations’ Diane Roy asserts that the Caribbean’s policy construction showcases the collective effort to create “climate resilience.” This analysis can lead to increased attention to the Island-Nation challenges and regional governance. In the case of the Caribbean, heat waves are climbing into the weather analysis. These weather conditions created a newfound worry and health warnings to care for the well-being of vulnerable communities. These communities were exposed to the heat due to their labor conditions or learning environments, as was the case for students in Puerto Rico in August 2023.
In August 2023 Puerto Rico experienced the hottest month since record-keeping began in 1998. As Coto reports: “Heat advisories for Puerto Rico became the norm this summer, with the island reporting a record 47 nights with temperatures above 80° F (26° C).” The current climate situation in Puerto Rico has been central to the education’s public sector, in which students experienced in-classroom temperatures of “99° F (37° C)” even with fans operating in the space.[4] The past season of heat waves strained the Island’s recovery process. Six years after Hurricane María, Puerto Rico is under multi-agential efforts to reestablish the electrical grid and infrastructure reconstruction in vulnerable communities. Additionally, the heat spikes in Puerto Rico push further the energy usage on the Island. To these conditions, a group of students from public schools in Cataño, Puerto Rico, acted and required government officials to provide relief. Diane Roy suggests in the Council on Foreign Relations that the Caribbean’s policy construction has created an academic discourse suggesting a regional-specific phenomenon, “climate resilience.” In Puerto Rico, the heat waves and extreme heat advisory reports challenge the climate resilience process due to the competing interests for energy reform and climate resilient policies.
In the Dominican Republic, the temperature reached “35° C while the thermal sensation was between 38 and 40 degrees.”[5] Listin Diario notes the medical precautions citizens should take to protect themselves against these extreme heat conditions. The central portion of this report is that the public health systems in the Caribbean are now facing physical extenuation and exhaustion from heat waves that, due to their persistence in weather conditions, have created a regional episode of heat waves. Moreover, the precaution and adjustments to the physical livelihood of communities illustrate how the “climate resiliency” in the Caribbean is being built through these extreme weather conditions.
Puerto Rico’s climate situation has exacerbated the country’s interest to promote adjustments for climate responsibility. These heat waves created a space for younger agents to voice their interest in climate justice in their communities. The demands that the Department of Education and the central government faced constructed a new phase in restructuring the Puerto Rico energy crisis. The policies these protests criticized brought into public discourse a new frontier for advancing energy policies that account for vulnerable communities and the Caribbean’s role in climate challenges. In light of Puerto Rico’s case, contestations over the energy transition tie in the movement towards full renewable energy by 2050. Altogether, the protests against studying in extreme cases further promote the sustainable approach that the electric grid in Puerto Rico requires to ensure climate equity and protection.
[1] https://apnews.com/article/un-hottest-summer-climate-change-b7c7936070952da781af01288607b1f1
[2] https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/07/1121902
[3] https://caribbean.loopnews.com/content/caribbean-heat-season-warms-and-may-be-hotter-usual
[5] https://listindiario.com/la-republica/20230608/conoce-provincias-sintiendo-mas-calor_757588.html
