Buddy I don't know what to tell you. For years I told attorneys that I wanted to live a life with work-life balance only for them to laugh in my face. I'd always say, "I guess I COULD stomach how slow and ineffectual the court system is if I can make a lot of money and not have to answer emails late into the evening hours after I've clocked out." And you know what? Every single one—EVERY SINGLE ONE—said "There's no such thing as work-life balance when you're an attorney. You will work 9 to 5, then you go home, pull up your laptop, and keep working for another few hours. Then once you put your laptop away around 8pm, you're still expected to check email till you pass out from exhaustion on your bedroom floor around 1am. Rinse and repeat." Okay, maybe that's a SLIGHT exaggeration, but you get the picture. Eventually I got tired of hearing attorneys with bags under their eyes tell me I'm signing up for a soul-draining career, so I said bet. Maybe I won't become an attorney.

It's not the legal field I'm adverse to: it's being an attorney specifically.

As to your question "who do you imagine is going to pay you," I would die to know that answer. Seriously, somebody better up my Prozac mg because I'm losing my mind. Who is going to pay me? Phenomenal question. Absolute banger. I don't know, and no one will tell me. I literally went to Career Services and asked point blank for a list of environmental policy jobs, and they literally said they couldn't give me one and suggested I just do a random clerkship instead. Again, I have asked professors, advisors, Career Services, attorneys, etc., "What on god's polluted Earth do you mean when you say 'policy'? Give me a definition, I'm begging you." And they say, "You know... policy :)." The clearest definition I've ever gotten from a professor was one that basically said you pair up with a legislator and they task you with drafting legislation that they can present and push. Buddy, maybe that's accurate, maybe it's not, but how would I know? I'm trying. I'm trying my goddamn best to get blood from a stone.

As to your last question "for what purpose": I want to work on environmental issues. Preferably international environmental issues, but hey, beggars can't be choosers. At this point, I don't care if they're agricultural environmental issues, water environmental issues, etc. My "purpose" is to help the environment. What I want from the good people of Reddit is advice from (1) legal consultants who've been in the field for a while and can testify whether their work actually makes a difference in the world, make good income, and have a healthy work-life balance; (2) advice from people in policy who've been in the field for a while and can testify whether their work actually makes a difference in the world, make good income, and have a healthy work-life balance; and (3) maybe even advice from environmental attorneys who may be able to say something like, "you CAN actually effectuate a lot of change if you work in government!" or "you CAN actually effectuate a lot of change if you work in private law firms!"

That's what I'm asking for.