Salvador Gómez-Colón is a young activist from Puerto Rico. After Hurricane Maria struck the Island in 2017, Gómez-Colón founded the organization Light and Hope for Puerto Rico. This initiative distributed hand-operated washing machines and solar-powered lamps to households in 16 municipalities to help them through the long months Puerto Rico went without electricity after the hurricane.
More than 3,500 families were served, and Gómez-Colón was able to raise nearly $200,000 in a Go Fund Me campaign for this effort. He was able to He went on to support Puerto Ricans affected by the earthquakes of 2020.
A changemaker
Gómez-Colón’s website describes him as a “changemaker” speaking up for climate resilience.
Following his experiences responding to these disasters, Gomez-Colon went on to share a message about resilience of the climate and among youth. He shared what he had learned in Time Magazine, CNN Business, CNN New Day, The Guardian, The New York Times, The Hill, Teen Vogue, NowThis, Remezcla, Global Citizen, International Business Times, The Village Voice, ABC’s Tiempo with Joe Torres, Le Figaro, and Caribbean Business.
Gómez-Colón was the keynote speaker of Solar Power International in 2018 and in January 2020, he spoke at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. He has received the President’s Environmental Youth Award, the Diana Award, and the Straubel Foundation’s Impact Leader Award.
He is also a part of Marvel’s Hero Project. This is an unscripted documentary series that looks at young people who have made a difference in the world, showing them as real-life superheroes. The comic strip version is available to read online.
A story of resilience
Gómez-Colón recently published a book called Hurricane: My Story of Resilience. “After Hurricane Maria,” he wrote, “I was forced out of normalcy. We all were.”
He was also featured in Stone Soup for a Sustainable World: Life-Changing Stories of Young Heroes.
Gómez-Colón is now a student at Yale University.
