David Riera (he/him/el)

About David's Community Action Project (CAP)

This Community Action Project invited college students, dual enrollment learners, and educators to explore how we connect with and care for our environment. Too often, economic gain outweighs the needs of people and the planet, leaving communities and nature to carry the cost. This project asks: How can we enjoy the benefits of Earth while protecting it as a living, interconnected, system?

Over eight months, participants will engage in hands-on, creative, and service-based learning. They will explore environmental issues, including how climate change and pollution affects historically marginalized communities. Storytelling, inspired by Studio Ghibli films, will help participants understand and communicate environmental challenges in meaningful ways. Students will also take part in outdoor and community projects—like coastal cleanups, citizen science, and advocacy initiatives to connect what they learn with real-world action(s).

Through this work, participants will develop environmental knowledge, civic engagement, and storytelling skills, while building a community of problem-solvers who care deeply for people and planet. This project emphasizes listening, learning from multiple perspectives, and fostering healing across generations. By blending education, creativity, and service, we aim to inspire lasting change for our communities, our world(s), and the generations that will inherit a problem or promise. 

About David

I am an environmental scientist, teacher-educator, and advocate with twenty years of leadership experience, eight of them as a U.S. Marine Corps combat veteran and formal academic. My experience is complemented by multi-lingual proficiency and over thirty years of community/experiential service-learning. I believe, as Christopher Morcom noted, that those least expected to lead can create unimaginable change. I am a co-founder and leader of numerous initiatives, including the South Florida Beekeeping Association, certifying 44 diverse apprentices, and a Latino Outdoors Miami outings organizer, leading environmental explorations locally and nationally. Collaborating with the Florida Public Archaeology Network, I designed and implemented the D.I.V.E. program that supported Latinx youth in obtaining SCUBA certifications and ocean advocacy training. Nationally, I have served with the Mission Continues and co-created an Indigenous fisheries program in North Carolina with the support of an Ocean Conservancy grant. 

Currently, I serve as an elected Graduate Senator at Florida International University, where I have supported and co-authored five resolutions, as well as authored and passed two resolutions and one bill. This semester I will be facilitating the unification of campus sustainability organizations into a first-of-its-kind university-wide bureau focused on Earth, environment, and ethics. I strive to empower communities, particularly marginalized ones, to co-lead transformative change rooted in environmental stewardship, justice, and resilience.

The CEE-Change Fellowship aligns and supports a vision: collective action, coalition-building and participatory leadership. I seek to grow alongside mission-driven individuals, bridging skills toward equitable stewardship. As I teach my students, true strength comes not only from ourselves but from lifting others—and that is the world we must co-create. ¡Juntos podemos! 

More About Me

What is your favorite memory of being in nature? 
My favorite memory of being in nature is being underwater (while diving).

When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grow up?
When I was a kid, I wanted to be a wildlife veterinarian and healer.

What is one fun fact people should know about you? 
One fun fact people should know about me is that I almost got face-hugged by a Camel Spider.