Reggaeton, an urban music form which has its roots in Latin and Caribbean music, is usually surrounded by controversy due to explicit and violent lyrics. But in ENLACE (an initiative that brings together grassroots organizations with the public and private sector around an agenda for an inclusive and just city and the environmental restoration of Martin Peña tidal channel “CMP”, that has been catalogued as the most ambitious and comprehensive participatory community planning process developed in Puerto Rico) Reggaeton is used as the common language that unites schools and children and increases environmental awareness.

Roberto, a geographer, was assigned the task of developing tools to strengthen and institutionalize environmental awareness campaigns, including the Caño Reggaetón Contest (CRC), in order to educate the community on the dangers of not being environmentally conscious. The data on the CMP is frightening: approximately 3,000 structures discharge raw sewage directly to the tidal channel; fecal coliform communities in the CMP were 60 times higher than the water quality standard, and considered indicative of pathogens and infectious diseases; approximately 40% of housing units are flooded with polluted water every year; and five of the eight elementary schools within the CMP district are located close to water bodies and are thus directly affected by wastewater discharges.

While the CRC is in its fifth edition, under Roberto’s leadership it has transformed into something much bigger and unexpected. What was initially one event has become a series of projects and workshops that include partnerships among multiple government agencies and environmental NGOs that bring popular environmental education to each of the District’s elementary schools. Ensuring that each school has the tools and resources to carry each one of the activities deemed necessary by the students. Considering the 26,000 District inhabitants and the ten school coordination, the CRC could be seen as a monumental task, but not for Roberto.

For the CRC, participants write their own lyrics with an environmental message, and compete against each other, until a song is selected as the winner of the year’s contest. The winning team then performs the song in the different schools, sharing the environmental message. Reggaeton, a type of music that is often viewed as low brow, but so familiar to our residents, becomes a uniting force and a tool for furthering the knowledge of the students and promoting their health and protection. From the workshops and alliances, one school started participating in the community garden, another held a photographic art exhibit, and another created new music and musical instruments to prepare for the CRC.

Under Roberto’s supervision and thanks to his efforts the CRC has risen to a whole new level. His degree of commitment and integration with the project has earned him the trust of the students, and the respect of multiple school directors, whom overburdened and underpaid, resisted what was viewed as more work. Roberto transformed the CRC, and his efforts and commitment have proven to be invaluable, impacting schools, children and the environment, one lyric at a time.