There’s one key consistency Dr. Miguel Román has observed across the countless photos he’s seen of our planet taken from space: our natural environment has no borders.

As a leading mind in climate science, Dr. Román has made it his mission to illustrate the effects of climate change through meaningful stories rather than onslaughts of data. And he often uses his native Puerto Rico as his protagonist. The island’s susceptibility to hurricanes and its reputation as a “front line community in the face of climate,” means that it’s consistently been forced to help itself structurally while propping up its own community emotionally.

Dr. Román believes that the disasters Puerto Rico has had to endure can inform and educate the greater Latino community about climate change moving forward. Not only in how we adapt to that change but in how we better understand the wellness of the planet as a whole—without borders.