In every corner of the globe, Earth stewards prioritize community work to demand environmental, climate, and ecological justice.
Madres de la Tierra is an oral history, photo essay and exhibit that recognizes and centers the stories of women that are cultivating and birthing diverse innovative projects addressing environmental and climate injustices across the archipelago of Puerto Rico. The purpose is to bring awareness, resources and support to their grassroots work.
ABOUT 9 MILLONES
9 Millones is a network of educators, journalists, and designers who love Puerto Rico, its people, culture and ecosystems. We do this by spotlighting solutions, data-driven stories that help the nine million Puerto Ricans in the world and our allies to advocate for a healthier, more prosperous, and joyful society.
PRODUCTION TEAM
Frances Marie Medina
CREATOR & PRODUCER
Frances believes that storytelling is transformative. With more than 10 years of experience working with nonprofit organizations and advocacy groups as a Communications and Development consultant, Frances has a keen understanding of how to creatively maximize use of technology and digital platforms to connect people to issues they care about using storytelling as a tool.
Camille Padilla Dalmau
JOURNALIST
Camille is an educator, journalist and founder of 9 Millones. She believes stories are sacred and that storytelling is a transformative tool to create a more just world. Camille is a proponent of constructive journalism. She was part of Solutions Journalism Network's first cohort of solutions trainers in Latin America and conducts workshops in Puerto Rico and abroad. Her work has appeared on Grist, NowThis, AJ+, Latino USA, El Diario NY, and Remezcla. Based in Puerto Rico's mountains, she finds solace in gardening, qi gong, and cooking.
Mari Blanca Robles López
PHOTOGRAPHER
Mari is a Caribbean multidisciplinary artist, based in Puerto Rico. Starting off as a visual storyteller, Mari Blanca yearned to challenge the status through her art, using it as a collective tool of inner child healing, for whoever might need to deem it as such.She affirms herself as anti-patriarchal, anti-racist, feminist, anti-capitalist, and abolitionist, and she aspires for this to always be present in her art. Mari is a militant member of the Colectiva Feminista en Construcción, and has collaborated with international and national media outlets, as well as several museums and art galleries around the Earth.
Nicole M. Hernández Rodríguez
DESIGNER
Nicole is a graphic designer and founder of Buenaaas Creativo, an agency that helps entrepreneurs elevate their brands through strategic design & impactful visual narratives. Her goal is to help businesses communicate effectively and connect with their audience, providing high-quality design solutions that translates the brand's unique message and values into compelling visuals.
Luis Alfaro Pérez
COPYWRITER
Laura M. Quintero
EDITOR
ADVISORS
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Dr. Hilda Lloréns teaches Anthropology & Marine Affairs at the University of Rhode Island. She is the author of Making Livable Worlds: Afro-Puerto Rican Women Building Environmental Justice (2021) and Imaging the Great Puerto Rican Family: Framing Nation, Race, and Gender during the American Century (2014).
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Catalina de Onís (she/her/ella) teaches, researches, and engages in environmental, climate, and energy justice advocacy in Puerto Rico and in the US diaspora. She is the author of Energy Islands: Metaphors of Power, Extractivism, and Justice in Puerto Rico (University of California Press, 2021) and the coauthor of bilingual children's book La justicia ambiental es para ti y para mí/Environmental Justice Is for You and Me (Editora Educación Emergente, 2021). She also co-produced El poder del pueblo: Una lucha colectiva por la vida y el medioambiente/The Power of the People: A Collective Struggle for Life and the Environment. More information about this film and her other projects is available at catalinadeonis.com.
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Ruth Santiago is a resident of Salinas in southeastern Puerto Rico where she’s worked with community and environmental groups for over thirty years. Ruth has been involved in the establishment of broad alliances to prevent contamination and is part of We Want Sun, a civil society initiative that promotes community-based solar projects and energy democracy. Beyond litigation in courts and administrative agencies, Ruth has co-organized environmental education projects, advised the Jobos Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve on watershed protection and land use issues. Recently, she has focused on cases related to energy projects and integrated resource plans and serves on the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council.
The production of this series was possible thanks to the generous support of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.
Help us amplify las madres!
We are looking for partners that help us expand this series. Please fill out this form if you’re interested in supporting or collaborating with 9 Millones on Madres de la Tierra.