I grew up in coastal central Florida, and like all other young girls in the Sunshine State, I wanted to become a dolphin trainer when I grew up. This early career aspiration was only one indication of my love for nature and all the critters that live in it. Whether I was climbing trees, swimming in alligator-filled lakes, or collecting seashells at the beach, I developed a strong connection with the environment when I was young -- a connection that has stuck with me ever since. These days, I don't get to spend quite as much time outdoors. I do some occasional camping, even though my dog is vaguely terrified of nature (particularly its scary sounds), and I've got a life goal of visiting all our National Parks (I'm up to 18 so far). But I love that even at my desk-bound day job I'm helping to protect the environment by working at NRDC. The path from Tampa, to Boston (for college and law school at Harvard), to D.C. has been a fairly circuitous one, but now I am thrilled to be here, first as a two-year legal fellow and now as a full-time staff attorney in the NRDC water program. It's not dolphin training, but it's still pretty great.
Posted October 2, 2012 by Becky Hammer
Today NRDC, together with the National Wildlife Federation, filed a petition with the federal government that, if granted, will improve the way states plan for the water-related impacts of climate change – saving money, property, and lives in the process....continued→
Posted July 18, 2012 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, U.S. Law and Policy
The House of Representatives is scheduled to vote next week on the “Red Tape Reduction and Small Business Job Creation Act” (H.R. 4078) – a bill that, among other things, imposes a moratorium on issuing virtually any new regulations as...continued→
Posted May 21, 2012 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, U.S. Law and Policy
On Friday afternoon, NRDC and three Washington, D.C.-area environmental groups (represented by public interest law firm Earthjustice) reached an agreement with the Environmental Protection Agency that will require D.C. to develop a legally enforceable plan to clean up local waterways...continued→
Posted May 9, 2012 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably, U.S. Law and Policy
A new report released by NRDC today shows that contaminated fracking wastewater is threatening people’s health and the environment, and none of the methods currently used to treat or dispose of that wastewater are safe enough. The process used to...continued→
Posted April 5, 2012 by Becky Hammer in Solving Global Warming
Bordered by water on three sides, Florida is arguably one of the states most vulnerable to climate change. Over 14 million people (75 percent of the state’s population) live in coastal counties, and Miami ranks first in the world in...continued→
Posted December 16, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment, Living Sustainably
Yesterday the Obama administration announced the new round of TIGER grants, some of which will be used to fund pollution-preventing green infrastructure projects. Federal agencies award TIGER (Transportation Investment Generating Economic Recovery) grants on a competitive basis to transportation projects...continued→
Posted November 18, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
My colleagues in the NRDC Water Program have been talking a lot this week about our new report, Rooftops to Rivers II, which shows how communities across the country are using green infrastructure techniques to stop water pollution. That’s because...continued→
Posted November 17, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
As two of my colleagues revealed yesterday, NRDC has just released a new report called Rooftops to Rivers II showing how communities across the country are using green infrastructure techniques to stop water pollution. The report provides case studies for...continued→
Posted October 5, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Health and the Environment
Today the Environmental Protection Agency is issuing Washington, D.C. a new stormwater permit that has the potential to make our nation’s capital a cleaner, greener city. Every time it rains, gross stuff like dirt, oil, toxic chemicals, heavy metals, bacteria,...continued→
Posted May 6, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution
When most people think about the environmental impacts of roads and highways, they usually think of things like air pollution and noise from vehicles, or wildlife being hit by cars. What many people don’t realize is that the roads themselves...continued→
Posted May 5, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution
On Monday morning, I headed down to the beautiful new Yards Park on the Anacostia River along with a bunch of my colleagues and a few local and federal officials. We weren’t there to admire the park or the view...continued→
Posted February 17, 2011 by Becky Hammer in Solving Global Warming
If you’re like me, you probably know someone who views this winter’s crazy blizzards as evidence that global warming obviously doesn’t exist. If you do, you might want to show that person the two studies appearing in this week’s Nature...continued→
Posted December 27, 2010 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution
America's rivers, lakes, and streams got an early Christmas present from Congress last week. Before adjourning for the year, the House and Senate passed a bill that requires federal agencies to comply with local stormwater fees that are used to treat and...continued→
Posted December 21, 2010 by Becky Hammer in Living Sustainably, Solving Global Warming
The 2010 U.S. Census results, released today, provide us with lots of new information about how America has grown in the past ten years. In particular, we can see that a great deal of that growth has taken place in...continued→
Posted July 8, 2010 by Becky Hammer in Curbing Pollution, Living Sustainably
Last week, the Senate introduced a bill I’ve been working on that will provide tools to help communities clean up their waterways and make them more resilient to droughts, water shortages and floods at the same time. That bill -- sponsored by...continued→
Switchboard is the staff blog of the Natural Resources Defense Council, the nation’s most effective environmental group. For more about our work, including in-depth policy documents, action alerts and ways you can contribute, visit NRDC.org.
