Darya Anderson

I am an environmental scientist and Tucsonan passionate about seeing saguaro cactus flowers bloom in the late spring and reducing my carbon footprint through gardening, composting, and harvesting rainwater. I started off my career as an undergraduate researcher in a microbial ecology lab at the University of Arizona (U of A) where I studied how the climate is impacted by soil processes at the microbial level! After completing a B.S. in Soil, Water and Environmental Science, I grappled with questions regarding how ecological changes driven by climate change disproportionately impact communities. I moved from sunny Tucson, Arizona to cold Montréal, Québec to study the impacts of vegetation changes on an Indigenous community living off the land. After graduating with an M.Sc. in Geography from McGill University, I left the academic world and accepted an environmental consulting position in the private sector. At ERA Environmental Management Solutions, I ensured accurate and complete environmental reporting by our clients to the state and federal government. With this up-close view of environmental regulatory requirements, I wanted to have a more active role in informing environmental policy. Now back in Tucson, Arizona, I am a candidate for Juris Doctor at the U of A James E. Rogers College of Law and excited to pursue work at the intersection of environmental law and policy. This past summer, I was an intern at Earthjustice and thrilled to work on cases related to federal environmental statutes.