Lily Forand

Lily Forand is a junior from West Hartford, Connecticut majoring in Political Science and Journalism. Her experience interning with Senator Chris Murphy in Washington, D.C. showed her just how polarized this country is, and how much influence the narratives that dominate news media and politics have over our perception of issues like climate change. This motivated her to pursue work with The Daily Campus as associate video editor and with the Undergraduate Student Government as director of its public policy branch. Through her work in USG, she hopes to lobby state lawmakers to pass environmental legislation and encourage UConn administration to make climate conscious decisions. She will also be completing a journalism project next summer as part of the BOLD Women’s Leadership Network where she will interview people from across the political spectrum to understand how they’ve come to believe what they do. She plans to travel to both liberal and conservative communities in the states and ask residents questions about their views on climate change, the future of the fossil fuel industry, and other topics. She believes that the fate of the climate crisis hinges on how we talk to people about it, and how we can make the cause of climate justice accessible and compelling to everyone, even if they don’t yet see their place in the movement. She is very grateful for the opportunity to attend this conference. Outside of work and school, she loves hanging out with her friends and hammocking around campus.