Francesca LoPresti (she/her) is a recent graduate from Macalester College where she majored in Environmental Studies, Community, and Global Health, and minored in chemistry and biology. She is currently pursuing a one-year fellowship with the Woodwell Climate Institute through the Accelerating Climate and Environmental Science Careers (ACES) program at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. At Woodwell, she conducts research on local wetland restoration.
“I believe that the uniqueness of my place in life- fully committed to the exploration of the complicated field of climate science- while also access to a well-established research center, could be a very helpful perspective to a wide audience and could lead to a plethora of exciting outreach materials,” Francesca wrote. “I want to understand how to think and create horizontally, so that just, holistic, and sustainable climate and community solutions can be established within the communities that are impacted most by the climate crisis.”
For Francesca’s YVoS outreach project she has certainly been able to fulfill this wish to bring sustainable climate and community solutions to the forefront. In her op-ed for Planet Forward entitled “What was saved: Reflections from a fire,” Francesca beautifully weaved her own family history and personal experience with a California wildfire with stories of colonialism and indigenous resilience to cultural suppression.
“Holding the inevitable loss of what we love, we must continue to invest in our local ecosystems however we can–see them flourishing and lean into their constant conversation,” Francesca wrote. “I will continue my work – tending to the recovery of our wetlands, coaxing the hidden meanders from our uncovered rivers – and when the speckled light from the regrown redwoods hits the cheeks of my own child, I will be able to show her what was burned, and what was saved.”
Read more of Francesca’s incredible piece HERE!
