Some Good News For Scientists

A modicum of help is on the way for scientists who are under siege from climate deniers, corporations, ALEC and even some government agencies sympathetic to Chamber of Commerce influence. According to an email received by BuzzFlash from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility:

A new program providing legal information, counseling and, when needed, formal representation to embattled scientists at no cost to them was unveiled today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER). This Alliance for Legal Protection of Science (ALPS) will also field a national network of volunteer attorneys from a variety of specialties to help PEER staff counsel provide pro bono legal assistance to besieged scientists.When public scientists’ research has economic or political significance, their findings and careers are sometimes put under pressure or attack from industries or interest groups, such as fossil-fuel extractors, chemical and other manufacturers, as well as the law firms and “think tanks” they finance. Individual researchers are often ill-equipped to counter well-funded harassment campaigns.  ALPS will organize legal and other resources to protect both targeted scientists and their work products. 

The support services are much needed, given that the mainstream corporate media generally accepts assaults on the integrity of climate scientists and their work as "valid" opposing viewpoints. This is a result of two developments in news coverage. First, there is the generally established practice in current mass media of offering the reader false equivalencies rather than the establishment of fact by reporters. Second - and this is likely related to the first point – most mainstream media outlets, particularly television, are owned by parent corporations who support the pursuit of profit over the findings of scientists. If scientific research - on global warming or environmental pollution - results in conclusions that could undercut the bottom line for businesses, then it is generally in the interest of big media to call proven fact into question.
The media-amplified legitimatization of anti-science, anti-fact proponents of destroying the earth has successfully confused and neutralized much of the US population. This has resulted in climate change not being perceived as a pressing issue by a large segment of the electorate.

Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) is providing an important service to those concerned about the future of the planet and protection from toxic corporations by creating The Alliance for Legal Protection of Science. It is worth noting that PEER specializes in the protection of government scientists who are punished for whistleblowing or for issuing reports that are at odds with the corporate political biases of some agencies.
That many scientists employed by the government need to be protected from assaults on their research is testament to the pervasiveness of the war being waged on factual knowledge by the likes of the US Chamber of Commerce, ALEC, and the Koch Brothers. (It should also be noted that the religious right sides with corporations in this battle, based on creationist beliefs.)
Scientists, toilers in the realm of establishing verifiable reality, should be honored for their contribution to understanding our options in regard to the future of our planet. They deserve legal and public support for their efforts to ferret out the truth.

from here