Resilience is a term that’s talked about a lot today. But to see its human face, look no further than the 3.4 million residents of Puerto Rico. ENR’s Managing Editor Scott Blair and Energy and Environment Editor Pam Radtke Russell traveled to the island recently to find out how the territory is recovering six months after Hurricane Maria. They found unexpected levels of devastation everywhere they traveled. House after destroyed house, boarded up hotels, paint literally “blown off” buildings, as one contractor put it. Downed power lines and people still living “off the grid”—with or without generators—were everywhere.

Workers commented more than once that if residents on the mainland had been without power for half a year, “there would be rioting in the streets.” But in Puerto Rico, the people were patient and welcoming. In the mountain town of Naranjito, a woman offered lunch to the ENR editors at her home, where she was already feeding a dozen power-restoration workers from across the U.S.