Jobs: Do you work in Ethical/Community fields?

[aimran]

Just a short survey. Any of you work in such fields that "give back to the society" ? For example: Green energy companies, free software development for education/etc, or even charity. Post your experiences here =)

Edit: After my graduation I plan to search for jobs such as those, which is why I'm asking as well :D

[gn2]

I work for a rail company. Rail transport is supposedly "greener" than most other methods.

Some modern trains even generate and return electricity back to the system during decelleration.

[aimran]

I work for a rail company. Rail transport is supposedly "greener" than most other methods.

Some modern trains even generate and return electricity back to the system during decelleration.

I guess it will be too heavy for trains to have onboard batteries :D!

That's an interesting field.. I'll look more into it. Thanks!

[.nedberg]

Education for me.

I teach math and physics and administer the IT-department (it is just me in that department :))

[popch]

I work after hours in a cooperative which provides affordable housing.

[aimran]

I work after hours in a cooperative which provides affordable housing.

In what way? Construction of houses or sourcing cheap homes?


Education for me.

I teach math and physics and administer the IT-department (it is just me in that department :))

Do you advocate linux? :D

[popch]

In what way? Construction of houses or sourcing cheap homes?

Mainly administration and maintenance of a set of 150 semi detached houses built 1919-1921. However, we did build a new house with 50 flats during the last couple of years.

That work is not only socially oriented but also somewhat green. The new building has won a local low energy predicate. The older buildings are adapted to more recent standards quite regularly.

[aimran]

Mainly administration and maintenance of a set of 150 semi detached houses built 1919-1921. However, we did build a new house with 50 flats during the last couple of years.

That work is not only socially oriented but also somewhat green. The new building has won a local low energy predicate. The older buildings are adapted to more recent standards quite regularly.

Now there's an idea. May I ask what company is this you're working for?

[popch]

Some modern trains even generate and return electricity back to the system during decelleration.

Slightly off topic, but I would not call that technology 'modern'. That's been done in the alps for ages and ages. Still, it's green and it's a cool thing to do.

[helliewm]

Yes I have set up an organisation to campaign against the NHS Care Records. All medical records in the UK are to put on a centralised goverment database.

We also provide information/advice to any patient with concerns about medical confidentiality.

We receive no funding whatsoever.

I am extremely interested IT, Privacy, Human Rights issues and Medical confidentiality. I was an NHS Manager now just do a little Consultancy work.

We have had huge publicity over the Xmas, New Year Hols.

All volunteers use 100% Ubuntu. I have very serious concerns re WGA and Microsofts privacy policies.
My website is in my signature. See below just one news article. Google and we are all over the place.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/health/healthmain.html?in_article_id=505419&in_page_id=1774&ICO=HEALTH&ICL=TOPART


Helen

[graabein]

I work at the computer department for the town hospital. I'm also a member of a couple environmental organisations but I could do more off course... I'd like to work for an open source company like, I don't know, maybe Sun, IBM or HP or something, so that my work not only benefits my employer but also other people.

[PartisanEntity]

I just started an internship at UNEP, that's my little contribution for now.

[Nunu]

The company i work for is a securities exchange so could be considered green as they don't cause pollutants, but as a SCUBA Diver i love the ocean and there for i am a member of a South African Based Conservation Group call Shark Life. www.sharklife.co.za (http://ubuntuforums.org/www.sharklife.co.za)

[gn2]

Slightly off topic, but I would not call that technology 'modern'. That's been done in the alps for ages and ages. Still, it's green and it's a cool thing to do.

In the UK I think it's only the newer trains that do it, the Virgin Pendolino tilt trains, OK the idea may not be modern, but the trains that do it in the UK sure are:
http://www.virgintrainsmediaroom.com/media/images/2/t/17-1.jpg

[Sporkman]

I work for a rail company. Rail transport is supposedly "greener" than most other methods.


As they say on NPR, rail ships "a ton of freight 300 miles on one gallon of fuel"...

[aimran]

The company i work for is a securities exchange so could be considered green as they don't cause pollutants, but as a SCUBA Diver i love the ocean and there for i am a member of a South African Based Conservation Group call Shark Life. www.sharklife.co.za (http://ubuntuforums.org/www.sharklife.co.za)

Do you recycle your printouts at office? ;)

[.nedberg]

Originally Posted by .nedberg
Education for me.

I teach math and physics and administer the IT-department (it is just me in that department )


Do you advocate linux? :D

Yes I do! When I started as "head of the IT department" (really, it is just me). We were a Windows only school. Now we are switching our servers to Linux, and I see some Linux desktops in the future as well. I try to use open source whenever I can!

With over 600 users, about 350 workstations (both laptops and desktops) and a couple of servers this is not a small achievement if I must say it my self!

I will not force any teacher or student to use Linux though, but I am planning on giving them the choise!

[Samhain13]

I don't really "work" in it but I am involved with a cause-oriented group here in my country. It's called, the "Philippine Web Accessibility Group (http://www.pwag.org)", which promotes best practices in web design and development for the sake of disabled users-- primarily the blind and the deaf.

Most of the time, the group members, through our mailing list, just help out other designers to make their projects disabled-friendly. But sometimes we get the opportunity to go to other parts of the country to conduct talks and seminars.

Sadly though, I think I'm the only Linux user/advocate in our group. Most others rely on Windows primarily because its where JAWS (a popular screen-reading application) functions. I've suggested that my friends have a look at Orca (running on Ubuntu, of course) though but I don't get any responses. It seems to me that the disabled community is in a tighter spot where the Windows lock-in is concerned...

[Tundro Walker]

I can tell you that Telecom isn't exactly a good field for the socialistic type. A lot of telecom is about creating charges that look like their government required, but are actually just a way to make a hidden profit in addition to base price. You get to use social engineering to sneak bill notices and price increases past customer. You get to make overly complex rules for how service is charged or how service plans go together, so customers give up trying to understand any of it and end up paying for stuff they don't want (EG: most telecom companies never advertise or talk about a "basic" service plan, which is the cheapest plan they mandatorily have to provide per government regulations. Instead, when a customer calls in, they're directed to other more pricey plans. Only when a customer says "I want the cheapest plan with no features" will the telecom company bring up the "basic" plan.) You can work with the technical dept's to do wonderful things like throttling down the speed of movie and torrrent internet traffic (*cough*ComCast*cough*), and try to use that as a method to get customers used to paying for different "types" of internet (EG: unlimited web internet use, but you have to pay for any bandwidth used to download movies, files, etc. Thank God this method hasn't caught on.) You can offer "unlimited" long distance plans that will actually charge you long distance minutes if you go over a certain threshold per month... basically a huge focus on making money first, and providing service second.

There are tech companies that develop Telecom software, hardware, etc, and that's interesting, because you'd contribute to making the future faster and more reliable. But majority of Telecom field is about min-maxing profits from customers, which leaves you with a not-so-honest feeling at the end of the day.

[popch]

Now there's an idea. May I ask what company is this you're working for?

Sorry for the delay in answering.

I would rather not disclose its identity. Would you care to elaborate what you want to know? Or shall I PM you the answer to your question?

However, if you want to ask that company any questions, you can ask just as soon myself, as I am part of the managing team.

[50words]

I am a lawyer, so I suppose no matter what I do, someone will say I am a leech on society.

But I represent consumers suing consumer predators like debt collectors, equity strippers, landlords and property owners, etc. (Not all, just the ones who violate laws designed to protect consumers and defraud and discriminate against consumers.)

Because I work for myself, I have the time and discretion to pick up other projects, as well. I do a fair amount of work with the Minnesota Volunteer Lawyers Network, including a clinic to help those sued by debt collectors.

My work is tremendously rewarding, and I enjoy helping my clients get financial justice.

[oldb0y]

Don't know if it's called "work", but I have all my computers running the Folding@Home-client. And in the future it might solve some of the great mysteries of protein-folding(e.g. Alzheimers and cancer) . Check my sig for more info on the project:)

Edit: Oh! And I give monthly donations to SaveTheChildren (http://www.savethechildren.net/alliance/index.html).

[Sporkman]

I am a lawyer, so I suppose no matter what I do, someone will say I am a leech on society.


You can thank corporate-funded public relations smear campaigns for that. You've been perception-managed into the role of parasitic slimebag.

[gn2]

I am a lawyer, so I suppose no matter what I do, someone will say I am a leech on society.


For what it's worth I think lawyers are great.

One got me acquitted of serious assault and saved me from the sack.

Another was very quick submitting an offer to buy the house I live in, if he had been a few hours slower I might not have got it.

A very attractive and charming lady lawyer won me access rights to see my son when my wife decided to leave.

So lawyers are cool with me.

[popch]

You can thank corporate-funded public relations smear campaigns for that. You've been perception-managed into the role of parasitic slimebag.

I might be mistaken here, but I think that Mark Twain already offered some remarks on lawyers which could not have been meant as compliments.

I hasten to add that I personally have nothing in the least against lawyers. Some of my best friends even ...:)

[HermanAB]

I do mostly military work.

"Join the army, meet interesting people, and shoot them."

That is totally ethical. It just depends on what side you are on.