What do Mechanical Engineers actually do?

What do environmental engineers actually do?

• I'm in college right now and I was wondering what environmental engineers actually do. Do they sit at a desk or do they usually get to work outside in nature? What specifically or types of projects would they work on? Do they get to travel? Do environmental engineers get to choose what they want to work on? Is there alot of freedom and flexibility in the job? I'm really into nature and was wanting to help the environment, but at the same time it seems kind of futile. I was also thinking about ecology and conversation or something like that. Basically my life goals are to just own land, have a large garden for food, have a horse, a few livestock and to have a small house. I'm into survivalist things too and learning about plants and such. I really just don't want to be sucked into the American typical life of working your life away. So anyways, how about that environmental engineering?

• Answer:

  Environmentalists and environmental engineers are not the same thing. Environmentalists often don't know the engineering details of what they are promoting and therefore most of their proposed changes are not feasable. Environmental engineers are often involved in areas of our infrastruture that impact our environment. Some of these are waste water managemant, solid waste management, etc. I have a brother-in-law who is an envornmental engineer. He designs water and waste water treatment plants. Just like nearly all types of engineering the situation like travel, indoors vs outdoors, etc. vary depending on the situation at specific jobs. It is hard to say what you will be doing when you graduate and are hired. When you are doing a job search you may be able to find a job that will include some of your specific preferences.