Tim on global warming: http://timtyler.org/end_the_ice_age/
1-line summary - I am not too worried about that either.
This is a pretty optimistic way of looking at it, but unfortunately it's quite unfounded. Current scientific consensus is that we've already released more than enough greenhouse gases to avert the next glacial period. Melting the ice sheets and thus ending the ice age entirely is an extremely bad idea if we do it too quickly for global ecosystems to adapt.
We don't even really understand what causes the glacial cycles yet. This is an area where there are multiple competing hypotheses. I list four of these on my site. So, since we don't have a proper understanding of the mechanics involved with much confidence yet, we don't yet know what it would take to prevent them.
Here's what Dyson says on the topic:
...We do not know how to answer the most important question: do our human activities in general, and our burning of fossil fuels in particular, make the onset of the next ice-age [sic] more likely or less lik
Ideally, I'd like to save the world. One way to do that involves contributing academic research, which raises the question of what's the most effective way of doing that.
The traditional wisdom says if you want to do research, you should get a job in a university. But for the most part the system seems to be set up so that you first spend a long time working for someone else and research their ideas, after which you can lead your own group, but then most of your time will be spent on applying for grants and other administrative trivia rather than actually researching the interesting stuff. Also, in Finland at least, all professors need to also spend time doing teaching, so that's another time sink.
I suspect I would have more time to actually dedicate on research, and I could get doing it quicker, if I took a part-time job and did the research in my spare time. E.g. the recommended rates for a freelance journalist in Finland would allow me to spend a week each month doing work and three weeks doing research, of course assuming that I can pull off the freelance journalism part.
What (dis)advantages does this have compared to the traditional model?
Some advantages:
Some disadvantages:
EDIT: Note that while I certainly do appreciate comments specific to my situation, I posted this over at LW and not Discussion because I was hoping the discussion would also be useful for others who might be considering an academic path. So feel free to also provide commentary that's US-specific, say.