(Originally posted June 1, 2019)
I am challenging myself to provide meaningful content on the Conserve & Prosper blog EVERY DAY this month of June 2019! In return, I would greatly appreciate your thoughts, likes (or dislikes), comments, and topics of interest to make this relevant to all the readers! If you’re interested in looking at my resume, please see my LinkedIn page.
I officially retired from my U.S. Government job as an environmental scientist just one month ago! I’m feeling a tremendous relief from the high-stress office politics that came from the top on down and look forward to sharing insights on my many experiences in future blogs. The federal government is increasingly a very challenging, chaotic and restrictive place to work, especially for dedicated scientists who are focused on truth, justice, and making meaningful actions.
I worked in several administrations starting with Ronald Reagan and civil servants were told to stay non-political and could not engage in political activism per the Hatch Act. With the sharp political, anti-government divisions of nationalism occurring in the U.S. and globally, civil servants and especially the scientific community are needing to become activists as demonstrated by the first March for Science as described in my blog on Earth Day 2017. A great book I highly recommend on the transition between the Obama to Trump administrations affecting the Department of Energy and other federal agencies is The Fifth Risk by Michael Lewis!
However, disruptions also occurred when President Obama took office in 2008 and he made a campaign promise to Harry Reid, defying the law, to shut down the proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain. This resulted in my DOE Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management closing, reductions-in-force (i.e. layoffs), and total chaos for finding new jobs - especially for scientists as described by the Government Accountability Office. This severely affected the political environment of other agencies including the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. I will go into much more detail in an upcoming blog on nuclear waste disposal.
Blogging (my First Amendment right) for the past four years during weekends and holidays gave me a healthy outlet but resulted in my making just a few posts per month. The blogging opened me up more than ever to what is going on in our precious environment and how people around the world are being affected yet becoming more aware of our perilous situation. Obviously, I had to be non-political (as a federal civil servant) to provide unbiased educational news. Now, I can REALLY share my opinion and views on what is happening on many topics!
Over the past two years, I have also been occasionally working as a substitute teacher at local elementary, middle, and high schools. What an awesome, exhilarating, and sometimes intense experience to spend time with youthfully exuberant kids as well as dedicated teachers and administrators. These full-time professionals definitely deserve more appreciation as shown through better pay and newer schools.
So far I have not been commercial advertising on the website and hope you’ve enjoyed the non-commercial content! In the near future, I plan to provide products including a monthly newsletter, educational posters. and much more. This feature is not active yet so please stand by for a few more weeks.
Thanks for all the support and please share with your family and friends!