Either way, having too much water or not enough places an unnecessary burden on the people of the DR.
Another issue that the DR is dealing with that isn't directly related to climate change is pollution. In many parts of the country, there isn't an organized trash collection system, so people have no other option but to burn their trash, producing harmful smoke, or dump it outside, causing waste to end up in forests and rivers. The Dominican government is working to create a more organized trash collection system, but it has yet to catch up with the amount of single-use plastics that people buy and throw away on a daily basis. In my town, we're fortunate enough to have a trash pick-up truck that drives through every Tuesday morning -- however, people still burn their trash in huge bonfires and dump it in the creek that runs through our town. There's also no option for recycling. This isn't to say that Dominicans don't find ways to reuse items that Americans might normally throw away. People often repurpose plastic shopping bags, soda bottle caps, glass/plastic containers and even the well-known green Presidente beer bottles. Even rainwater is captured and stored in huge outdoor barrels for later use. In the DR, pollution is a result of a lack of better options, not an unwillingness to protect the environment. Many people's livelihoods are directly tied to the environment -- farmers need clean fields for their crops and animals, fishermen need clean rivers and oceans and residents of the campo (countryside) depend on gardens and plots of land to harvest fresh fruit and viveres (root veggies). Dominicans are very conscious of the effects of climate change and pollution.
