Pomona Scholar Conducts Sustainability Research in Brazil

Pomona College Scholar Derek Basil-Porter remembers fondly going on trips with his mother to Brazil. Last summer, he had the opportunity to return to that country as part of a research project to strengthen grassroots sustainability initiatives across communities surrounding the city of Rio de Janeiro.

“Since I was a child,” Derek recalls, “I was always interested in helping strengthen communities and people.”

At 10 years old, with the help of local tour guide, he and his mother visited Rocinha, the largest informal community, or comunidade , in the outskirts of Brazil. It was then that Derek learned of the unequal allocation of resources within the country and the need for improved infrastructure such as paved roadways and better functioning sanitation and water systems.

“I learned a perspective that I didn’t ever hear about when I visited mainly tourist-oriented areas in Brazil,” he says. “That was the first time I ever got to visit an informal community and witness the unequal distribution of wealth.”

His experience visiting Rocinha inspired Derek to return to help address the disparities of social, economic, political and environmental resources in the communities.

In June of 2023, Derek joined assistant professors of environmental analysis Guillermo Douglass-Jaimes and Rede Favela Sustentável to examine the significance of communication technology, network maps and social networks within and across informal Brazilian communities. Derek assessed how community-based participatory mapping tools can connect local project leaders and promote sustainability initiatives, which includes everything from community gardens to childcare.

“The goal,” he says, “was to support existing initiatives in the work they do to strengthen and protect their communities.”

After spending a month in São Paulo transcribing previous interviews of community members, Derek traveled to the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro to visit and learn from local organizations across 10 such communities about their sustainability initiatives. He documented learnings to create a public network map that demonstrated connections and partnerships among various organizations and institutions.

Derek majors in environmental analysis with a concentration in economics. He hopes to introduce an environmental analysis cohort as part of Pomona’s academic groups, an initiative designed to facilitate the successful transition of first-generation and low-income students. Derek plans to work in partnership with Pomona’s sustainability office to launch the new cohort and support students as they discover pathways and concentrations within the major.

As a leader on and off campus, Derek encourages collaboration and building on existing leadership to expand the pool of strong leaders, a personal takeaway from his research experience in Brazil. He is still in communication with people he met during his recent time abroad, including community members and initiative leaders. He plans to spend next summer in Brazil to continue to “strengthen the health and safety of communities that have changed my life forever.”