Welcome to the Calentón: How Puerto Rican Community Leaders Respond to Extreme Heat

This study examines how community leaders in Puerto Rico respond to the growing threat of extreme heat within the context of colonial inequality and climate vulnerability. As heat events become more frequent and severe, they exacerbate existing challenges, including unreliable energy infrastructure and public health inequities. To explore how leaders understand and address this challenge, two listening sessions were conducted in May 2025 with 17 community leaders. Reflexive thematic analysis revealed three central themes: Narratives of Disillusionment, reflecting frustrations with government inaction; Climate Recommendations that are Misaligned with Puerto Rican Realities, highlighting the disconnect between proposed adaptation strategies and lived conditions; and Filling the Gaps: Community-Led Climate Action, illustrating how leaders mobilize local knowledge, cultural traditions, and natural resources to adapt. Findings demonstrate that community leaders serve not only as advocates but also as communicators and knowledge holders whose perspectives are essential for context-specific climate solutions. This situates Puerto Rico's environmental communication within broader Latin American traditions of community-driven responses to socio-environmental crises while highlighting links between environmental risk and colonial exploitation. Puerto Rico's political subordination to the United States adds a colonial layer shaping resources and governance, making community-driven education a crucial environmental and political strategy for collective action.