Many thanks to artist Rafael Trelles for sharing this 2025 video, “Why Puerto Rican Activists are Fighting to Protect the Coastline” by PBS (from their collection, HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From), which summarizes ongoing battles to preserve beaches from rampant, and seemingly not-well-thought-out development encroachment.

Why Puerto Rican Activists are Fighting to Protect the Coastline | PBS

Description: Explore the area of Escambrón Beach in San Juan, Puerto Rico, as beachgoers, protestors, performance artists, and scientists come together to protect its coastline from overdevelopment. Collectively, they make the case for why this public space is vital to the well-being of the people and marine life that intermingle on its shores.

‘HOMEGROWN: A Part Of/Apart From’ is a collection of short films from the U.S. territories and Hawaiʻi exploring issues of cultural identity, sovereignty, and agency, as residents and members of the diaspora grapple with what it means to be “a part of and apart from” the mainland U.S.

Escambron, Playa | HOMEGROWN

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