I get to fulfill my life calling of helping to save the world's oceans, forests and farmland by helping people learn how to create sustainable livelihoods from the landscape and its resources .. thus becoming its protectors instead of destroying it.
Using my gifts and talents of working with numbers, maps, data, trends, computers and software .. I get to create reports and give presentations about the emerging trends and propose solutions based on weather, geography, human use practices and other factors.
My dream job allows me to work in the places I love ...analyzing data in an office hunched over a computer and also being paid to travel to check out mountain streams, emerging deserts, re-purposed rainforests and restored farmland ... and get in some great local fishing.
I get to work around people who care deeply about using technology, forecasting and great ideas about sustainable livelihoods to end poverty ... even if I am the nerdiest number cruncher in the bunch. I get to solve the problems of world poverty caused by unsustainable livelihood and environmental changes by working to support sustainable farming, fishing and other livelihoods that will feed people and help them stop going to bed and waking up hungry everyday.
Using data, forecasts and trends in natural resource use and depletion, I can help farmers, fishermen and others make a good living while helping the planet become more sustainable and in harmony with nature and how it works to renew and replenish itself.
My workday is filled with amazing experiences, such as predicting crop failures years before they happen, coming up with ideas of how to re-purpose the rainforests, analyzing when it is appropriate to restock lakes, streams and the ocean with wildlife ... and saving the livelihoods of people around the world.
In doing this, I get to use my favorite things like databases, animated maps, graphic and presentation software to analyze, spot problems and turn them into opportunities and get the information into the hands of the people who care and can use the information to make a difference.
I am finally able to afford the life I want, where I can be a part of the solution and travel to places I only used to read about, meet the people I help and see the forests, oceans, reefs and farmland I help save. I could go to the places my coins are from, try out native cooking pots and wander around the local farmer's markets ... and make friends with and visit people around the world who I blog with ... things I only dreamed about being able to do.