on selling out

I set aside my beliefs for money. I work for people that take oil and gas out of the ground and sell it. Never mind that it's a lot of money. Never mind that extractive industries are not bad, that the particular people I work for are separated by degrees from anything I can call wrong, that the companies that are their clients are good, performing a needed service.

Let's examine what belief I'm setting aside here. Is it my deeply held belief that capitalism is evil, that corporations by their nature do bad things? I don't believe either of those things without reserve, though. Unregulated capitalism is completely unsustainable and self destructs. The last time this happened, we called it the great depression. But with good regulation, Capitalism isn't a bad system, so long as basic human needs (food, shelter, water, medicine) aren't subject to market economies. They are in a lot of places, and this seems to lead to tragedy (see for example, water strikes in south America, recent food crises worldwide, the healthcare system here in the states). So no, capitalism isn't essentially evil, but the uses it's put to make it do bad things.

Corporations, though, are pretty bad. They make lots of money, which is the problem. You can't get money without someone else losing money, resources, time, or all of the above. In general, the little guy gets screwed. In my work though, luckily for all te rights holders, there are laws binding whoever drills and extracts to pay what they owe, to clean up after themselves, and generally good corporate citizens. At least here, in the little area I'm working in, they don't really do anything bad. They perform a service, pay for what they take, and the common good is served.

Oil though, there's a big topic. I don't think we should go to war over oil. I think our burn rate (of energy total) is outrageous, that we should be able to make do with a quarter (or less) of what we use. I'm not an engineer, though. I make things sometimes, but I'm not going to come up with the replacement for fossil fuels. It will happen though. So again, it's a wash. With or without me, the days of burning hydrocarbons for energy are numbered.

So, if what I'm doing doesn't conflict with any of my beliefs, makes me money to let me do what I want to do, is that still selling out?

(edit: fixed the broken link to focus fusion society)