Science Advocacy
The 10% Solution

Linda C. Schaffner
ERF President
Linda@vims.edu

When I agreed to run for President I didn't anticipate the degree to which I would be exposed to science policy. ERF is a member of the Council of Scientific Society Presidents (CSSP). CSSP member societies include the American Society of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO), the Ecological Society of American (ESA), the American Chemical Society, and 60 others whose combined memberships number well over 1.4 million scientists and science educators. CSSP's mission is for its member societies to work together to advance and promote the sciences to benefit scientists and society worldwide.

Scientific societies' roles in science policy

Increasingly, scientific societies are recognizing the role they can play in bringing scientists together to work for better public policy, better science education and better public understanding of science… you can make a difference if you use the right approach
At the spring 2004 CSSP meeting, the current chair, Dr. Sharon Mosher president of the Geological Society of America, focused attention on topics ranging from the grand challenges in science, to the state of funding for science in the U.S. and the role of the science community, including scientific organizations such as ours, in formulating U.S. science policy.

CSSP leaders challenged the scientific society presidents to actively involve our members as advocates for science. My first steps in meeting that challenge are to help you, the Federation members, understand the federal science budget projections and to urge you, as individuals, to take action to effect science policy and funding.

We face an impending crisis for science and science funding in the U.S. The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) tracks research and development (R&D) funding and major changes in U.S. science policy on their web site (http://www.aaas.org/spp/rd). Numerous recent reports point in the same direction and the news is not good for research science- record-breaking projections of budget deficits, combined with enormous spending on defense and homeland security, and the high cost of social security and Medicare as the U.S. population ages, will have severe consequences for federal support of R&D.

AAAS analyses of President Bush's proposed budget indicate that "non-defense R&D funding would decline steadily over the next five years …, and nearly every federal R&D program outside the priority areas of defense, homeland security, and space would see reduced funding ..."

Coastal and Estuarine Science and Education Funding

Some useful science policy websites:
What about the agencies that fund coastal and estuarine science and education? The NSF's R&D is projected to rise slightly in 2005, but would then begin to fall in FY 2006 and "never recover lost ground, ending up 4.7 percent below this year's funding level by FY 2009 after inflation."

Other agencies would see even more dramatic reductions in their R&D portfolios. U.S. Geological Survey funding is expected to fall 13.2 percent; and EPA's R&D portfolio would plummet 15.0 percent over the coming five years. The Administration budget plan would cut USDA intramural research by 19 percent and extramural research grants by an even steeper 28 percent and Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) would see its R&D portfolio fall 10.5 percent by FY 2009. The longer-term projections are worse.

US public wants US to remain a leader in research

As dismal as all these plans sound, we have considerable evidence that there is strong public support for science in the U.S. A 2002 poll conducted for Research America, a not-for-profit alliance of individuals and groups involved in public outreach about research (http://www.researchamerica.org) found that 78% of the public thinks that it is "very important" that the U.S. should remain a world leader in scientific research. Seventy-five percent of those polled agreed that "Even if it brings no immediate benefits, basic research which advances the frontiers of knowledge is necessary and should be supported by the federal government." And 61% favored the idea of doubling our national spending on government-sponsored scientific research over the next five years.

The 10% Solution

First and foremost ERF provides a forum for the exchange of scientific ideas and the dissemination of scientific information via our publications and meetings. We also pride ourselves in the role we play in helping to develop future generations of coastal and estuarine scientists.

Increasingly, scientific societies like the Federation are recognizing the role they play can in bringing scientists together to work towards better public policy, better science education and a better public understanding of science. We can provide information on issues, lists of experts and help to agencies or other groups that need to work their way through complex science information.

Recent Federation involvement in public policy includes our sponsoring a Capitol Hill briefing on essential fish habitat and policy with the American Fisheries Society and the Ecological Society of America in March 2004 (see text of the address I delivered there at www.erf.org). The ERF Presidents also recently sent letters to the Governors of 50 states that encouraged support of the U.S Commission on Ocean Policy's recommendations for increasing our nation's scientific capacity (for more about this please see the article by Dennis Allen that begins on page 1).

A recurring theme at our CSSP discussions is that many scientists feel that they don't have time to get involved in policy-related issues, don't know how, or think that their actions will have little real impact. I can't do much about the time issues, but I can tell you that the evidence is there that you can make a difference if you use the right approach.

As science leaders we can talk to the media, engage in public outreach to local groups and schools, and talk to neighbors and friends about science issues. Do you know your local, state and federal politicians? The experts tell us that "Congressmen listen to constituents, that politics is local and that receiving one good science-related letter does matter to them."

The CSSP Chair challenged all scientific societies to actively involve 10% of our members as vigorous advocates for science, science-informed public policy and science funding. This is the 10% solution. Please join me!

I encourage you to begin now. Learn more about the funding projections for the programs that support your research, or science education, or an environmental issue that has meaning for you. With the information in hand, you write a letter or call and leave a message to your elected representatives. Consider writing a "thank you" note or inviting an official to your lab the next time you are awarded a new grant. Or write an op-ed piece for your local newspaper on an important local environmental issue.

There is no time like the present, particularly for those of us in the coastal ocean science community. The release of two important reports in the last year, one by the Pew Oceans Commission and the other by the U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy sets the stage for action by all of us, collectively and one at a time.

Invitation - join the Federation's 10% Club

After you take an action like the ones discussed above, drop me or ERF Headquarters a message and we'll make you a member of the 10% Club. Club members will be invited to a special and fun event at the next Federation conference!

Please join us, we need your help right now. This is an important time for action.