Another Obvious Step

It belatedly occurs to me that it might be productive to throw open the door to suggestions for possible work environments, since that seems to be the bone my mind keeps digging up and gnawing on.

I like Western environments, particularly deserts. I enjoy observing the animals and plants that live in such environments, though I lack the scientific training to avoid reinventing the wheel. Photographing and sketching often accompany these observations, and my skills are not bad in these areas.

My research work has been interested in questions of adaptation (of self/culture to environment and vice versa) and the social and individual representations and understandings that govern the processes of adaptation. In other words -- how people come to know the place they inhabit, and how that knowing shapes and is shaped by the experience.

I'm somewhat interested in environmental ethics and its relation to effective political action, but I'm not that interested in politics per se (nor am I good at critiquing policy, as previous efforts to do so in this blog indicate!) I'd be happy to work with activists, but I don't believe that I have the passion for any given cause to be one myself.

I like solving problems and working with my hands -- I did once contemplate a major in mechanical engineering that foundered on the higher math involved -- though that would not be enough without associated intellectual challenges. (In other words, I'm good with machines, handicrafts and pottery, but I don't want to work only with people who are good with machines and little else.)

I like writing and I'm a good editor. I like reading.

I like playing with the graphical presentation of information; I am fascinated by maps and web design (though not necessarily the coding that underlies it) and graphic layout more generally.

Activities that consistently give me joy: Making things with my hands. Watching animals. Fixing machinery. Solving problems and learning how to make things work. Learning weird science facts. Knowing obscure information others don't. Writing or presenting something and hearing people's reactions to it. Playing with old documents and artifacts. Wrestling with theories and devising my own out of them. Yoga. Reading books. Photography. Playing with maps. Teaching people how to do something. Playing with new languages, but more in terms of solving grammar puzzles than learning to speak them. Organizing data and playing with it to discover the relationships between variables.

I also prefer informal over formal working environments, casual or arty clothes over suits, workspaces filled with plants and toys and cartoons over cubicles and formal offices. I like small companies more than large; I want to know my co-workers and work for people, not faceless boards of directors. I want colleagues who see their job as a place to play and explore and make a difference, not a place to maximize profits, garner status and live by the rule book.

So... what does this add up to? What career venues might prove a satisfying home for my interests?

Working in a museum has occurred to me, but the market there is even worse than in academia.
Should I look for an environmental non-profit? If so, any in particular?
Go to work for someplace like the USGS? Other options?
Apprentice to a periodical like the UTNE Reader? Other possibilities?

Other suggestions?

Throw 'em at me; I have no plans now, so I have nothing to lose by exploring a wide range of possibilities. In fact, I will be doing this with the temp agency; it would be nice to give them a few examples of the sorts of places I'd like to be placed, if the option is available.