Ciencias terrestres y del espacio

Lares - Did you know that vanilla is one of the best-selling products in the world and that Puerto Rico is one of the countries that grows it?

About 20 Puerto Rican farmers joined forces to revive the vanilla industry on the island under an ambitious project established in the Bartolo neighborhood of the town of Castañer, in Lares.

Las Piedras - In a quiet neighborhood of this municipality surrounded by colorful houses, is the Harlequin Butterfly Sanctuary, a sanctuary that captures the attention with the silent fluttering of butterflies fluttering among flowers. Crossing the entrance in recent days, one could observe the summer interns on their last day walking along the main corridor, surrounded by dozens of butterflies and plants climbing the edges of the space.

From anger over the thousands of deaths associated with Hurricane María and constant fear of another disaster, to sadness, anxiety, and rage over the government’s failures, a study by the organization Amigxs del M.A.R. organization highlighted the adverse impact of the climate crisis on the mental health of Puerto Ricans, finding that more than 50% of over 700 participants reported having suffered some form of trauma due to a climate event.

The tool is part of an effort led by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Caribbean Climate Center

As part of an effort to educate about climate change, the USDA's Caribbean Climate Center developed the "Caribbean Climate Resilience" game, an interactive tool that shows the impact of climate on the region's agricultural industry.

Forest fires, torrential rains, droughts and extreme heat affect the countries that supply the archipelago, forcing an increase in local production, according to experts.

On an island that imports 85% of what it consumes, seeing the shelves full of products in supermarkets, despite the fact that the last natural disaster was a year ago with Hurricane Fiona, does not hide an irrefutable fact: Puerto Rico is at the mercy of the ravages of climate change in the countries that supply it with food, agreed multiple voices consulted by El Nuevo Día.

The study began in February and has since been dedicated to conducting the first high-resolution airborne magnetic and radiometric surveys over the island and its surrounding waters.
A series of studies funded with more than $1 million in U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) funds will map the local geology and update Puerto Rico's seismic hazard map, which has not been updated in 20 years.