Books by Catalina de Onís
Editora Educacion Emergente, 2023
¡Juntes por la justicia climática!/Together for Climate Justice! tells the story of Maya and her ... more ¡Juntes por la justicia climática!/Together for Climate Justice! tells the story of Maya and her journey to learn about climate justice. After her Portland, Oregon, teacher tells her about this social movement, Maya travels south and encounters several young people who share their experiences with migrant justice, environmental racism, and Indigenous cultural fire. This bilingual book concludes by encouraging readers to make plans for how they will support climate justice. Another school is possible!
Argumentation and Advocacy, 2022
Editora Educacion Emergente, 2021
La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me is a bilingual... more La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me is a bilingual book about environmental justice for children of all ages. Introducing environmental justice's key concepts, its main objective is to raise awareness about the multiple threats to the environment. Likewise, the book stimulates active civil participation to achieve environmental justice for all.
With La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me, Catalina M. de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Mabette Colón Pérez –who is also the illustrator– and Khalil G. García Lloréns offer an essential educational tool to foster our sensibility concerning all forms of life, with special attention to the intersections between racism, poverty, and the environment in the Jobos Bay, in Puerto Rico's southern coast. With this publication, EEE ratifies its commitment to an emergent education that guarantees us true justice and dignity. Another school is possible.
La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me es un libro bilingüe sobre justicia ambiental para ninas/niños de todas las edades. Define conceptos claves de la justicia ambiental para un público infantil y juvenil y tiene como meta principal crear conciencia sobre las amenazas que existen contra el medioambiente. De igual modo, estimula la participación ciudadana activa para lograr la justicia ambiental para todas y todos.
Con La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me Catalina M. de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Mabette Colón Pérez –también su ilustradora– y Khalil G. García Lloréns ofrecen una herramienta educativa imprescindible para desarrollar nuestra sensibilidad en beneficio de todas las formas de vida, con especial atención a las intersecciones entre racismo, pobreza y medioambiente en la Bahía de Jobos, al sur de Puerto Rico. Con esta publicación Editora Educación Emergente revalida su compromiso con una educación emergente que nos garantice la vida en justicia para todas/tdos. Otra escuela es posible.
https://catalinadeonis.com/environmental-justice-is-for-you-and-me-a-bilingual-childrens-book/
Energy Islands: Metaphors of Power, Extractivism, and Justice in Puerto Rico, 2021
Editora Educacion Emergente, 2020
Esta contribución tiene el propósito de establecer vínculos entre el verano de Revolución Boricua... more Esta contribución tiene el propósito de establecer vínculos entre el verano de Revolución Boricua de 2019 y las luchas históricas y actuales en contra de la injusticia y el racismo ambiental y energético para imaginar y llevar a consecución otros futuros posibles. Nombrar y describir la justicia ambiental, climática y energética, así como otros conceptos indispensables discutidos a continuación, nos permite ofrecer un vocabulario para entender mejor las realidades pasadas y presentes en Puerto Rico.
Asimismo, nos parece crucial resistir la narrativa simplista, opresiva y colonial de que el huracán María o los “RickyLeaks” constituyen el comienzo de las movilizaciones para exigir y trazar cambios dramáticos y profundos en pos de un mejor futuro para nuestro archipiélago. En tanto nos ofrecen visiones y acciones alternativas para la transformación justa en cuanto al poder y la energía en todos sus sentidos, las y los protagonistas revolucionarios han sido y siguen siendo muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro, colectivos de base comunitaria, e individuos comprometidos e infatigables. En este texto recogemos dos ejemplos particularmente inspiradores en la zona sur y sureste de isla grande: la lucha contra AES, contra el depósito de cenizas tóxicas y contra las fuentes de energía sucia y el compromiso comunitario en pos de la justicia energética de Coquí Solar.
Journal articles by Catalina de Onís
Journal of Environmental Media, 2022
This article critiques industrial-scale solar energy development in Puerto Rico as a form of gree... more This article critiques industrial-scale solar energy development in Puerto Rico as a form of green capitalism that threatens the archipelago’s self-determination. Rather than uncritically embracing supposedly benign ‘green energy’ as necessary for advancing environmental, climate and energy justice, we argue that where, how and with whom this energy transformation takes place is crucial for calling attention to and challenging the continuance of inequitable and unjust power relations. To counter Puerto Rico’s ongoing exploitation as a ‘blank slate’ for development, we visually juxtapose the harms of industrial-scale solar ‘farms’ with distributed on-site, rooftop solar projects organized by grassroots group members in south-eastern Puerto Rico’s Jobos Bay region.
Georgetown Journal of International Affairs, 2021
Frontiers in Communication, 2021
Rural, coastal communities in the Jobos Bay region of southeastern Puerto Rico confront dispropor... more Rural, coastal communities in the Jobos Bay region of southeastern Puerto Rico confront disproportionate harms as an energy sacrifice zone. This space is constituted by imported fossil fuel dependency, economic and climate injustices, environmental racism, ecocide, US colonialism and imperialism, neoliberalism, and racial capitalism. In response, many grassroots actors mobilize against the toxic assault on their communities to push for alternatives beyond the suffocating status quo via apoyo mutuo [mutual support]. This survival work and movement building occur literally in "the outdoors" and in other intertwined multispecies environments, challenging narrow, oppressive colonial, and consumerist constructs that reduce "the outdoors" to recreation and thus erase the numerous ways that people labor in, honor, and defend places and spaces to lead good lives. Thus, critical examinations of communication and race/racism/racialization in and about this colonial US territory must grapple with the brutalities and pain caused by systemic and structural cruelties and translate how, where, and with whom self-determined and potentially liberatory environmental and energy justice advocacy takes shape to refuse a trauma-only narrative. Studying these embodied and emplaced efforts positions energy and power broadly construed, including in the form of collective action. This article centers on the collaborative energies of local grassroots actors and scholars who ideologically and politically align and who value working together toward anti-colonial praxis. To provide one example of how these collaborations can yield public-facing projects that contribute to struggles tied to the survival and well-being of the most impacted communities, this essay focuses on the creation of an environmental justice children's book. This bilingual text documents and translates the pollution caused by a US owned, coal-fired power plant and mobilizations to topple this corporate invader. The article concludes by reflecting on some of the difficulties and possibilities that emerged during multi-year coalitional relationships that inform and exceed the children's book. To reject racist and colonial dominant assumptions and discourses about outdoor spaces as only privileged recreational areas or as a "blank slate" devoid of people and culture, this project narrates how grassroots organizers and scholars persist in continued study and struggle for power(ful) transformations in Jobos Bay and beyond.
Social Justice: A Journal of Crime, Conflict & World Order, 2021
In 2018, the City of Salem issued drinking water advisories for “vulnerable
populations,” after ... more In 2018, the City of Salem issued drinking water advisories for “vulnerable
populations,” after detecting cyanotoxins in the water supply. Informed by
Spanish-speaking, Latinx community member testimonials and the authors’
lived experiences, as well as drawing connections between other crisis contexts
in Puerto Rico and Flint, Michigan, this essay details several communication
problems involving English monolingualism and intersecting injustices. To do so,
this article triangulates scholarship on disaster capitalism, risk communication,
and border rhetorics to comprehend and challenge the dominant assumptions
and practices shaping city-level responses in crisis situations. The conclusion
suggests several interventions to transform oppressive emergency management
ideologies and communication for more equitable, culturally and linguistically centered alternatives.
NACLA Report on the Americas, 2020
The struggle to transform Puerto rico's flawed energy grid with locally controlled alternatives i... more The struggle to transform Puerto rico's flawed energy grid with locally controlled alternatives is a matter of life and death.
Journal of Applied Communication Research
In September 2017, Hurricane María rattled Puerto Rico and its Caribbean neighbors. To study this... more In September 2017, Hurricane María rattled Puerto Rico and its Caribbean neighbors. To study this US colony’s post-hurricane crises, long-time histories and present experiences with what I call ‘energy coloniality’ and ‘energy privilege’ must be foregrounded. This approach allows for an understanding of this unnatural disaster as just one of countless systemic colonial and neoliberal entwined cruelties, driven by disaster capitalism. Informed by fieldwork and years of ‘e-advocacy,’ I critique four rhetorical problems that shape everyday and extraordinary emergencies in Puerto Rico. While I focus on this archipelago, hegemonic emergency discourses are widespread and linked to what I term the ‘emergency manager effect.’ This shock doctrine outcome is constituted by neoliberal and colonial governance and discourses, whereby undemocratically appointed overseers manage local places and peoples, who are perceived as anachronistic and incapable of solving problems independently. Delinking from these exploitative strategies and systems requires intervening in the entanglements of energy coloniality, energy privilege, and neoliberalism, as reckless extractivism continues to disproportionately target frontline communities.
KEYWORDS: Disaster capitalism, emergency management, energy coloniality, energy privilege, Puerto Rico
Frontiers, 2018
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico. Blasting the Caribbean archi... more On September 20, 2017, Hurricane María made landfall in Puerto Rico. Blasting the Caribbean archipelago with 155-mile/h winds, this, in many ways, unnatural disaster exposed the brutal consequences of energy colonialism and an extractivist economy, as well as ongoing and increasing advocacy for decentralized solar infrastructure by many local residents and other renewables supporters. This paper argues that acknowledging colonial power relations and their consequences is essential for studying the interplay of energy systems, environments, and actors. To support this claim, this essay outlines Puerto Rico's history as a US colony by focusing on key policies and their implications; examines openings for and barriers to decentralized, community solar in Puerto Rico; and concludes by discussing future research directions on just energy transitions and the imperative of uprooting colonialism and agitating for community self-determination and energy justice in these transformations.
Chiricú Journal: Latina/o Literatures, Arts, and Cultures, 2017
From its origins in queer community conversations online, the term “Latinx” continues to gain wid... more From its origins in queer community conversations online, the term “Latinx” continues to gain wider circulation in various publics. This scholarly exchange examines the language and other politics of choosing to employ or to reject the “x” signifier. To engage a variety of perspectives on this topic, we invited five scholars with expertise in language, sexuality, gender, and latinidad from the continental United States and Puerto Rico to participate in an online exchange about what the “x” linguistic marker enables and constrains. Contributors do not always agree, and the tensions that arise point to broader discussions and strains unfolding beyond the pages of this journal. Ultimately, this exchange seeks to enliven ongoing conversations and to spark new ones among those interested in the politics, intersectional social locations, and exigencies implicated in discussions about “Latinx” and similar linguistic choices. As this exchange elucidates, the answer to “what’s in an ‘x’?” depends on whom you ask.
Communication Monographs
Special issue on “Innovations in Research Methods and Analyses.”
This essay explores the reproductive rights realities of Spanish-speaking, migrant Latin@s by ana... more This essay explores the reproductive rights realities of Spanish-speaking, migrant Latin@s by analyzing the interplay of cultural and linguistic difference, ideology, and translation. Rather than offer another ideographic argument in support of <choice>, this study uncovers why the term fails to translate culturally and linguistically and how this incompatibility necessitates a language alternative: reproductive justice (or justicia reproductiva in Spanish). Introduced in 1994 by U.S. Black feminist activists, this term fuses reproductive rights with social justice to provide a framework for communicating the intersecting inequalities encountered by Women of Color and the poor. This essay contends that <choice> advances White, monolingual feminism, while eliding and even erasing more precarious positionalities and perspectives. Such a tendency impedes coalition building among Third-World and other feminists. The article concludes by encouraging communication scholars to recognize and resist U.S. monoculturalism and English monolingualism, which heretofore have circumscribed our research.
Book chapters by Catalina de Onís
The Routledge Companion to Motherhood, 2020
This chapter examines the intersections of reproductive justice and environmental justice to cons... more This chapter examines the intersections of reproductive justice and environmental justice to consider the possibilities and pitfalls of approaching these social movements and discourses as always-already interrelated in relationship to motherhood. Both reproductive justice and environmental justice point to unique and overlapping histories and present interconnections, as well as the imperative of centering the experiences and perspectives of women of color, Indigenous peoples, and low-income communities to challenge the corporations, politicians, ideologies, and material conditions that make life unlivable for billions of people on Earth. In many cases, the stakes are especially high for women, mothers, and children. Climate disruption and environmental degradation interact to make parenting and parenting with sufficient resources and survivable environments increasingly difficult. In response, fierce calls for change from grassroots groups continue to be mobilized, often led by women and mothers. From these struggles for alternative ways of knowing and being, this chapter argues that radical coalitional possibilities for uprooting false “solutions” that function to further alienate, erase, and threaten the lives of entire communities are possible.
The Routledge Handbook of Contemporary Feminism
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Books by Catalina de Onís
With La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me, Catalina M. de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Mabette Colón Pérez –who is also the illustrator– and Khalil G. García Lloréns offer an essential educational tool to foster our sensibility concerning all forms of life, with special attention to the intersections between racism, poverty, and the environment in the Jobos Bay, in Puerto Rico's southern coast. With this publication, EEE ratifies its commitment to an emergent education that guarantees us true justice and dignity. Another school is possible.
La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me es un libro bilingüe sobre justicia ambiental para ninas/niños de todas las edades. Define conceptos claves de la justicia ambiental para un público infantil y juvenil y tiene como meta principal crear conciencia sobre las amenazas que existen contra el medioambiente. De igual modo, estimula la participación ciudadana activa para lograr la justicia ambiental para todas y todos.
Con La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me Catalina M. de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Mabette Colón Pérez –también su ilustradora– y Khalil G. García Lloréns ofrecen una herramienta educativa imprescindible para desarrollar nuestra sensibilidad en beneficio de todas las formas de vida, con especial atención a las intersecciones entre racismo, pobreza y medioambiente en la Bahía de Jobos, al sur de Puerto Rico. Con esta publicación Editora Educación Emergente revalida su compromiso con una educación emergente que nos garantice la vida en justicia para todas/tdos. Otra escuela es posible.
https://catalinadeonis.com/environmental-justice-is-for-you-and-me-a-bilingual-childrens-book/
Publisher's book page: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520380622/energy-islands
Thirty percent off discount code from UC Press: 17M6662
Book Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EnergyIslandsBook
What’s happening beyond the book pages: https://elpoderdelpueblo.com/
Asimismo, nos parece crucial resistir la narrativa simplista, opresiva y colonial de que el huracán María o los “RickyLeaks” constituyen el comienzo de las movilizaciones para exigir y trazar cambios dramáticos y profundos en pos de un mejor futuro para nuestro archipiélago. En tanto nos ofrecen visiones y acciones alternativas para la transformación justa en cuanto al poder y la energía en todos sus sentidos, las y los protagonistas revolucionarios han sido y siguen siendo muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro, colectivos de base comunitaria, e individuos comprometidos e infatigables. En este texto recogemos dos ejemplos particularmente inspiradores en la zona sur y sureste de isla grande: la lucha contra AES, contra el depósito de cenizas tóxicas y contra las fuentes de energía sucia y el compromiso comunitario en pos de la justicia energética de Coquí Solar.
Journal articles by Catalina de Onís
https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2021/06/21/fuera-luma-puerto-rico-confronts-neoliberal-electricity-system-takeover-amid-ongoing-struggles-for-self-determination/
populations,” after detecting cyanotoxins in the water supply. Informed by
Spanish-speaking, Latinx community member testimonials and the authors’
lived experiences, as well as drawing connections between other crisis contexts
in Puerto Rico and Flint, Michigan, this essay details several communication
problems involving English monolingualism and intersecting injustices. To do so,
this article triangulates scholarship on disaster capitalism, risk communication,
and border rhetorics to comprehend and challenge the dominant assumptions
and practices shaping city-level responses in crisis situations. The conclusion
suggests several interventions to transform oppressive emergency management
ideologies and communication for more equitable, culturally and linguistically centered alternatives.
KEYWORDS: Disaster capitalism, emergency management, energy coloniality, energy privilege, Puerto Rico
Book chapters by Catalina de Onís
With La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me, Catalina M. de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Mabette Colón Pérez –who is also the illustrator– and Khalil G. García Lloréns offer an essential educational tool to foster our sensibility concerning all forms of life, with special attention to the intersections between racism, poverty, and the environment in the Jobos Bay, in Puerto Rico's southern coast. With this publication, EEE ratifies its commitment to an emergent education that guarantees us true justice and dignity. Another school is possible.
La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me es un libro bilingüe sobre justicia ambiental para ninas/niños de todas las edades. Define conceptos claves de la justicia ambiental para un público infantil y juvenil y tiene como meta principal crear conciencia sobre las amenazas que existen contra el medioambiente. De igual modo, estimula la participación ciudadana activa para lograr la justicia ambiental para todas y todos.
Con La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me Catalina M. de Onís, Hilda Lloréns, Mabette Colón Pérez –también su ilustradora– y Khalil G. García Lloréns ofrecen una herramienta educativa imprescindible para desarrollar nuestra sensibilidad en beneficio de todas las formas de vida, con especial atención a las intersecciones entre racismo, pobreza y medioambiente en la Bahía de Jobos, al sur de Puerto Rico. Con esta publicación Editora Educación Emergente revalida su compromiso con una educación emergente que nos garantice la vida en justicia para todas/tdos. Otra escuela es posible.
https://catalinadeonis.com/environmental-justice-is-for-you-and-me-a-bilingual-childrens-book/
Publisher's book page: https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520380622/energy-islands
Thirty percent off discount code from UC Press: 17M6662
Book Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/EnergyIslandsBook
What’s happening beyond the book pages: https://elpoderdelpueblo.com/
Asimismo, nos parece crucial resistir la narrativa simplista, opresiva y colonial de que el huracán María o los “RickyLeaks” constituyen el comienzo de las movilizaciones para exigir y trazar cambios dramáticos y profundos en pos de un mejor futuro para nuestro archipiélago. En tanto nos ofrecen visiones y acciones alternativas para la transformación justa en cuanto al poder y la energía en todos sus sentidos, las y los protagonistas revolucionarios han sido y siguen siendo muchas organizaciones sin fines de lucro, colectivos de base comunitaria, e individuos comprometidos e infatigables. En este texto recogemos dos ejemplos particularmente inspiradores en la zona sur y sureste de isla grande: la lucha contra AES, contra el depósito de cenizas tóxicas y contra las fuentes de energía sucia y el compromiso comunitario en pos de la justicia energética de Coquí Solar.
https://gjia.georgetown.edu/2021/06/21/fuera-luma-puerto-rico-confronts-neoliberal-electricity-system-takeover-amid-ongoing-struggles-for-self-determination/
populations,” after detecting cyanotoxins in the water supply. Informed by
Spanish-speaking, Latinx community member testimonials and the authors’
lived experiences, as well as drawing connections between other crisis contexts
in Puerto Rico and Flint, Michigan, this essay details several communication
problems involving English monolingualism and intersecting injustices. To do so,
this article triangulates scholarship on disaster capitalism, risk communication,
and border rhetorics to comprehend and challenge the dominant assumptions
and practices shaping city-level responses in crisis situations. The conclusion
suggests several interventions to transform oppressive emergency management
ideologies and communication for more equitable, culturally and linguistically centered alternatives.
KEYWORDS: Disaster capitalism, emergency management, energy coloniality, energy privilege, Puerto Rico
https://www.latinxproject.nyu.edu/intervenxions/madres-de-la-tierra-women-leading-environmental-justice-movements-in-puerto-rico
My research studies how expansionist efforts play out in the U.S. unincorporated territory of Puerto Rico. For centuries, Spanish and U.S. colonial governments and corporations have practiced what could be called “energy dominance” by harnessing human labor and fossil fuels to exploit local resources through mining, coffee and sugarcane development, and other industries. Puerto Rico’s history makes clear that Trump’s policy, which benefits corporations and their political allies to the detriment of local communities, promises more of the same.
People on the front lines of climate chaos have long documented that Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, coastal and rural regions, and low-income and low-wealth communities are most at risk. These disproportionate impacts stem from centuries of colonial and imperial violence, neoliberal austerity measures, environmental racism, racial capitalism, and many other oppressive systems and structures that treat subjugated communities as sacrifice zones.
Given these injustices, one might assume that individuals facing the most intense and frequent climate disruption consequences would be centered and taken seriously at this year’s event. However, as reported by independent news media outlet Democracy Now!, this convention is the whitest and most privileged of all UN climate conferences to date. The problem results from, at least in part, grave COVID-19 vaccine inequities and visa obstacles, which have barred the participation of numerous people from low-income areas.
Language: Spanish with English-language subtitles
Duration: 41 min.
Format: YouTube link (provided by the production team)
To host a film screening: Please email [email protected] and include the anticipated screening date, location, and estimated number of attendees. Donations are appreciated and will benefit the Comité Diálogo Ambiental (Environmental Dialogue Committee) and the Casa Comunitaria de Medios (Community Media House) in Salinas, Puerto Rico.
https://nacla.org/puerto-rico-solar-farms
https://www.editoraemergente.com/es/inicio/122-la-justicia-ambiental-es-para-ti-y-para-mi.html
See: https://nacla.org/news/2020/06/04/methane-gas-scheme-puerto-rico-energy
Review the zine in booklet form with digital pages here: https://issuu.com/teachingenvirocommzine/docs/teaching_environmental_communication_zine_final#google_vignette. This downloadable PDF version includes alt text: https://drive.google.com/file/d/17glxshJGhGSYT9RLrvBe2whQTUOHFg3j/view?usp=sharing.