My First Environmentalist

Abstract

This chapter is a sociologist’s personal reflection. In it, she recognizes that her mother, a woman from rural Puerto Rico with limited formal education, was actually an informed environmentalist. She taught her children the things she learned growing up as one of the older girls among 11 siblings from a poor family. Her mother’s family members knew a great deal about the environment, for example, how to grow healthy, edible and useful plants in or near the home; and, how – for reasons that seemed implicit to her, not to consume too much sugar in the daily diet. The author and her siblings were taught basic environmental principles through their mother’s shopping and meal preparation in the South Bronx and visits to family members in Puerto Rico. She recalls that her mother knew the importance of fresh produce, something the author only learned through formal education, and that she was an amazing cook. Nothing was wasted and everything tasted better than just good.

Citation

Rodríguez, C.E. (2024), "My First Environmentalist", Demos, V.(V). and Segal, M.T. (Ed.) People, Spaces and Places in Gendered Environments (Advances in Gender Research, Vol. 34), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 119-121. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1529-212620240000034007