Congressional Member’s Report Card

Congressional Member’s Report Card

Doubting Science. Why?

Perspective

ENGAGE TO CHANGE ” OUR STATUS QUO “

  • 1. Trust the academic scientific experts on matters of science especially the specialists in their designated fields of study and demand that they be used as the sources of information for forming our public polices and not the think tank pundits appointed by corporations.
  • 2. Pay attention to who the experts actually are by asking questions about their credentials, their past and current research, are they peer reviewed and what are their sources of financial support. A climate scientist is no more qualified to comment on health care reform than a physicist is to judge the cause of bee colony collapse.
  • 3. Challenge the political appointees leading our agencies such as EPA , who have limited or no scientific credentials and significant conflicts of interest, including direct ties to the industries that agencies are supposed to regulate.
  • 4. Ensure an independent, transparent federal science enterprise that can support effective decision making. Making sure that government science is not vulnerable to political pressure. When evidence supports policies that threaten powerful interests, science often gets manipulated, suppressed, or pushed to the sidelines.
  • 5. It is crucial that the science that is considered be free from interference. When political leaders and their appointees corrupt the decision-making process or pressure scientists to distort or suppress their findings, they betray the public trust and make evidence-based policy impossible.

MAKE CHANGE HAPPEN

PARTICIPATE & IMPACT