First, I disagree with all the pessimism about careers in botany. I agree that botany is a somewhat generic term that can encompass a wide range of knowledge and skill sets. But that's the great thing about a botany degree - it can send you off a number of different paths where you can gain more experience to improve your qualifications. Botany majors can work in a wide variety of jobs ranging from positions in agriculture, horticulture, plant science research, biotechnology, conservation, environmental education and others. In agriculture, botanists are in pretty high demand in lab settings with large agribusinesses like Monsanto to work in the development of seeds and other plant products. In horticulture and agriculture, botany majors can also work in field settings in the propagation and management of plants. There are also a large number of entry-level lab technician jobs working for researchers in institutional settings - primarily academic settings. And if you're willing to pursue an advanced degree, you can work as a lead researcher. There are also a lot of botany jobs doing environmental education - from entry level naturalist jobs working with camps and school groups to more advanced jobs working in a formal school or institutional setting. In conservation, botanists are in super high demand with consulting firms doing plant survey and wetland delineations to help clients get permits for construction projects. Botanists are also employed by government agencies and non-profits working to protect important ecological areas. Really, botany is a great major for working in a wide variety of industries because it involves a highly specialized knowledge set that is in demand. I agree that the pay may not be as high as engineering, medicine, or other science-based professionals. But as you move up the ladder, you can definitely earn over $100K /year - especially in the private sector but also if you have an advanced degree and you work in an academic setting or you work for a government agency. To get more information, I would recommend looking at botany job boards to see firsthand the botany jobs that are being advertised by employers. For example see botany jobs here and see more examples here. Another valuable step is to follow up with botanists in different industries to set up informational interviews. They might even let you watch them for a couple of hours on the job. This will give a you a great sense of what botanists actually do in different industries and will give you a better idea of where you would be happiest working.

It's a good sale! Jean, who formerly gardened in Long Beach for 30-some years.

sorry.. been out landscaping all week... forgot to check mail... if anyone is interested in some plants or whatever email me at avalonweddingsbcs@yahoo.com

I'm commenting on this EC thread because I'm pretty passionate about American political thought. I'm hearing a lot about abolishing the EC from my democratic friends (I'm a dem too) but I dont know if they've thought it all through. I studied PS in school and took a class on voting behavior as well as many on the Constitution. Abolishing the EC wouldn't suddenly make your vote count more, because voting is part statistics and demographics, and part the art of persuasion, and part economics. Huge blocks of voters DO shift due to all of those factors. George Wallace started as a dem and finished his run as a republican and later kind of evened out as did the whole South. The New Deal, loved by us libs was forged in an alliance between working class northerners and poor white southerners. Then demographics changed, the civil right movement hit, and the Great Society was brought to us by a coalition of working class people of many races. Then the Republicans discovered race and religious politics and the South flipped into a reliable voting block that put them in the presidency several times, and now that and exploiting white people's insecurities about their economic station, has propelled the republcan party into quite a national powerhouse, if you look at where the democrats stand. We don't have the broad coalition needed to govern the whole country. All that is reflected by the EC, love it or hate it. So yeah, think you might be happy if the NE and CA where most people live got to rule the country. Maybe today. But watch this scenario--we get into a war with Iran (you heard it here), the economy tanks even more, and the Republicans play the fear and hate card into an even larger win in the next election. All your EC energy just got totally wasted. Less than a million votes in a few areas of the country means you've got a lot of work to do if you are going to conince the majority of people in the US that you represent their interests. And calling them dumb ducks isn't going to work, I don't care what they called you or worse. That's not what motivates people to vote. And if we abolish the EC, then you'll see even less attempt made to accommodate any type of minority ideas coming from the hinterlands, so yeah, the ones you hate, AND the ones you love. And believe me, not everyone loves my far out ideas, I get that! America is not liberal or conservative demographically, and everyone knows that, it is middle of the road. It can swing either way, and controlling the swing is the art of winning elections in the US. So I'm not going to get all excited because our nation's popular vote swung ever so slightly away from a demogogue because I know next time this country might sway even farther towards him if we don't make a more convincing case. Abolishing the EC aint' gonna happen and it is wasting time arguing something that might not make much difference anyway. I'm going to spend my time figuring out how to turn the US economy around and make it work for a larger section of the population. The reason I am so skeptical that it will under DT is (see same old same old thread), I saw the economy TANK under the last marginally competent son of a rich man who was in office. Obama was the classiest and most policy astute President in my lifetime, but he was also quite unsuccessful IMHO in turning out policies that benefitted the working class, due to republicans blocking it, and that should have been pointed out more strongly to the working class, not how DT gets to grope pretty women. I think that behavior is disgusting, but it's not my problem the way paying for health care insurance is. I think DT's working class supporters have been sold a line of goods by a flim flam man, but I could be wrong when the republicans open up the coffers again and start the pork flowing to their constituents, (that's what's going to happen my conservative friends, lots and lots of deficit spending, and I base this on what I lived through during Reagan and Bush). DT took a page out of the New Deal and put a xenophobic spin on it and rode it into national power. Me, being an actual New Dealer, think it is time we took it back. If we get all bogged down on race and religion we are not going to beat them at that nasty, nasty game, (not that I don't care deeply about those issues, but if they are all you have it's not going to bring the national coalition that you need). Cubbies won the penant by bringing THEIR game to Cleveland, and my party needs to bring OUR game, which is about helping the many achieve SOME parity with the few, back to the national stage. That's why I voted in the primary for an old guy with nothing to lose.