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Comment by neilsharma | Hacker News Reader

This is sad. I could see this causing a lot more problem than all the fires we're getting in CA.

This is a slight tangent, but are there jobs for people in tech to help fight this (or drought, logging, etc)? Wouldn't mind spending a few years trying to protect the environment, but want to put the engineering skills to use.

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I see that the USDA has some software related to conservation up for download [1]. Anything from water budgeting on farms to Animal Waste Management. I did not download or test any of this software, just found it after a quick search.

Then there's this organization that ran out of funding, but contacting one of the former team members may help you. [2]

There is development of software that doesn't directly affect the environment but rather helps dictate what work should be done to improve/conserve conditions. This book seems to address this topic. [3]

Here are some other random related things. [4] [5]

Unfortunately, it seems like software engineers are mostly used to develop management software. Modeling software is closer to the type of action I suspect you are interested in. It is needed, though I doubt the software engineers are helping analyze data and building solutions based on that research. I could be very wrong.

EDIT: I should clarify. A SE COULD analyze the data, but in the context of a paid full-time position I doubt your employer would want you to spend your time doing that.

If you find any information regarding "environmental [activism/conservation] with software", or something like that, please let us know.

DISCLAIMER: I don't know what I'm doing ;)

[1] http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/wps/portal/nrcs/detail/national/ndc...

[2] http://se4s.ics.uci.edu/

[3] http://www.journals.elsevier.com/environmental-modelling-and...

[4] http://www.conservation.org/NewsRoom/pressreleases/Pages/sof...

[5] http://www.capterra.com/environmental-software/

Thanks a bunch for the resources :). Gonna play around with some of these.

Modeling software is definitely something that's interesting, but also just helping these organizations not seem so unappealing. Their websites are old unusable, their career tracks are pretty bad, pay is low -- they sell these jobs terribly.

I wouldn't even mind working a degree away from environmental endeavors just to get smart people motivated to solve these problems and learn more. Think data journalism on environmental educational pieces. Or helping local governments preserve the nearby environments. Kinda just shooting around in the dark hoping to hit something, but thanks for the start :)

Environmental engineering is a field that would be utilized for this sort of issue as one facet of a multidisciplinary remedy or study. I do a lot of environmental work but haven't heard much about the tech industry but there is a lot of technology involved with remote sensing, UAS, instrumentation and data analysis. I would love to hear about modern environmental tech firms working on solutions to these types of problems.

Unfortunately a lot of private sector "Environmental engineering" jobs are about getting projects through/around the regulations.

I believe there is quite a market for environmental protection research technology.

I worked IT in a forestry and enviro science department at a university, and the amount of technology they required was incredible. Lots of servers, storage, laptops, radar equipment, drones, gps, lab tech, cameras, everything you can imagine. I'm sure they could use some tailored tech.

Not exactly what you were asking and it has probably been posted 1000 times but it can't get enough visibility: http://worrydream.com/ClimateChange/

The only way to stop this, really, is to flood the world with an abundance of cheap, clean energy.

For example, prices of solar power have been dropping steadily and the cost of installation is now the biggest factor. Reducing this cost might have a huge impact on the world today and on the life of our children.

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