Wait, is that grass greener over there?

So I kinda had a revelation about my job today that may make it more bearable for me. If you don’t know I’m currently an environmental economist for a federal (pound you in the ass) agency. I do benefit cost analyses for project looking at water quality improvement, flood protection, etc. Before we go any further, here’s a little history.

Prior to coming on board with the Feds. I worked for a non-profit think-tank in Research Triangle Park. I was doing policy analysis there with a focus on economics, the environment, and climate change. Because it was a think-tank with all of the senior staff being research scientist, the scientific rigor behind all of the analyses was top notch. You know it was kinda like the whole Ivory Tower kinda thing, but with an applied component. I mean the EPA was really using the stuff we did to formulate national environmental policies. Anyway, the research that I was doing wasn’t being supported by the administration (it was before this latest craze where everyone and their mother have suddenly realized maybe we should start talking about climate change). All of this lead me to where I am now.

One of the biggest challenges with the new job was adapting to the way the govt. works. I found it to be a LITTLE bit slower, and a LITTLE less rigorous academically/scientifically. For the longest time that really bummed me out, and may have led to me make a few enemies in the office. They were all singing the tune of “This is how we’ve always done it and we don’t have the time or the money to do it your way.” So I was always like “If you want me to just effin make up numbers say it. Don’t make me try to hide the fact that this analysis is incomplete. The way you’ve been doing it is garbage.”

Today while I was brushing my teeth after lunch I thought to myself, if a new person was coming into our office for my current position, what would I say to them? I ended up with this. I’d ask them if they wanted to do economics or if they wanted to do conservation? You see I just finished a draft analysis for something, which if I would have had more time, would have probably come out with a little different result. Would the results have been so different that they would have led to an alternative decision on the project, who knows, but probably not. What I came up with was an analysis using the best data I had available to me. The result of the project is going to provide conservation, protect people in potential flooding dangers, and create recreational opportunities. It determined the best plan for a situation that I feel comfortable with. Could the analysis have been more detailed, absolutely. Would I have liked to have done the more detailed analysis, you bet. But at the end of the day it would have been an Ivory Tower type of exercise.

So, new job candidate (me), if rigorous analysis is what you are looking for, this is not the place for you. If you want to help people make informed decisions with the information you have, giving them a plan that actually gets implemented, then welcome aboard. I think I’ve finally made the change over from the prior to the later. Or I’ve fooled myself into thinking what I do matters.