Climate Stories Driving Change

VICTOR’S STORY

My name is Victor-Pierre Melendez and I grew up in Bronx, New York and Rockland County. I decided to stay in the Hudson Valley because I wanted to be somewhat close to my family, but it’s is actually the strength of the environmental movement and how active people are about protecting their neighborhoods that has kept me here.

I was introduced to Joule Assets by Jeff Domanski, a dear friend that I have worked on many projects with over the years and someone with which I have always shared strong values about doing meaningful work that improves the health of our cities. I was working with Jeff during the set up for the Hudson Valley Community Power CCA and roughly a year later we reconnected to work on outreach and education around community solar. The rest is history in the making!

I think that there is something special that happens when folks are take control of their environmental reality and work toward a clean energy future. I love hearing how excited people get when they learn how easy it is to save money while contributing to renewable energy in New York State.

I can see the impacts of climate change everywhere I go and what drives my work is my desire to preserve the natural resources available to my 3 kids and the future generations that they will be leading. I will not be able to fix much but I can at least do my part to push us in a better direction.

I am an outdoors type of guy and so if you don't see me out in the woods for an amazing camping trip then I am probably hosting a backyard cookout with close family and friends. I eat organic, recently started composting, and teach my family how to conserve what we have and to always respect our neighbors and our community.

In my spare time I teach Latin dance to all ages and I like to tell stories about how the humble beginnings of tribe dance were intended to praise and honor the natural environment and how it sustains us all – it’s my little way of increasing awareness about how important it is to protect the earth. These days part of that story is cleaner energy and the fight against the climate crisis.