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Alexis Massol González

Liberation

b. 1947

Environmental activist who led the fight against mining in Puerto Rico's central mountains, Goldman Prize winner

Alexis Massol González (born 1947) is a Puerto Rican environmental scientist and community organizer who founded Casa Pueblo in Adjuntas in 1980. Casa Pueblo is a self-sustaining community organization that has become a model of grassroots environmental activism and community energy sovereignty.

Massol González led the successful campaign to prevent open-pit mining in Puerto Rico's central mountain region in the 1990s, preserving the Bosque del Pueblo forest. After Hurricane María in 2017, Casa Pueblo's community solar installations were among the few power sources available, demonstrating the viability of decentralized renewable energy.

In 2002, he received the Goldman Environmental Prize, considered the world's most prestigious environmental award. Casa Pueblo's model of community solar energy, sustainable coffee production, and environmental education has become a template for climate resilience and decolonial environmental practice.

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