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Toward a Better Life in
California
Their
aggregate years of university education exceed 120 centuries and
cost more than $50 million to attain. They hold graduate degrees
in virtually every scientific discipline, specializing in such
esoteric areas as nematology, virology, seismology, epidemiology,
toxicology and several dozen others.
As taxpaying
citizens of California with home mortgages, families and political
preferences, they share the hope of the Yuba City farmer and San
Diego warehouseman for a better life in California.
However,
their years of education and professional roles give these men and
women extraordinary vision. Some have watched the slow rise of
salinity levels in South Bay soils, foreseeing the consequences
for California agriculture. Others recognize a surface earthquake
fault at first sight, and can offer a reasonable estimate as to
when it will again become restive. Still others have witnessed our
landfill sites vanish beneath the weight of millions of tons of
waste per year, and their vision of the future is one of concerned
alarm.
These are
the scientists -- more than 2500 of them -- who work in over 31
departments of California government. Like Sir Isaac Newton, they
see farther because they stand on the shoulders of giants:
Lavoisier, Harvey, Leeuwenhoek and Priestley. And the work they do
provides us all with renewed hope for better food, safer homes and
a cleaner environment.
The Scope of the Task
What are the
relative benefits and hazards of experiments with engineered
bacteria? Can we build an effective earthquake warning system? How
do we determine energy needs for the coming decade? How do we
reduce smog and toxic chemicals in our air? How can we insure that
the yearly take of fish and game does not endanger wildlife
populations? How can we use technology and sound ecological
principles to best protect our number one, multibillion-dollar
industry---agriculture---from plant pests and diseases? How do we
protect our citizens from the health hazards of toxic waste
disposal? How do we insure safety in our workplace environments?
These are
but a few of the problems California's professional scientists
confront daily. Finding solutions requires energy, educated
insight and dedication. On any given day, California scientists
may be hip deep in a contaminated lake, probing the secrets of
bacteria with an electron microscope, or poring over ancient
archives to document the history of an endangered species. Often,
the work demands not only ingenuity but raw courage as well.
The work of
state scientists require critical decisions which are based on
rigorous scientific fact-finding and ultimately affect the lives
and property of all Californians. The contamination of our
California air, for example, has been slowed by the burn/not burn
decision of a meteorologist. Drinking water is safer because a
sanitarian alerted developers to the dangers of toxics
precipitating from a landfill. An industrial plant is free of
radiation hazards because of a health physicist's recommendations.
CAPS: California Association of Professional
Scientists
The
California Association of Professional Scientists is an
independent association formed solely for the purpose of
representing the interests of scientists in California state
service. The membership is unified by three fundamental
principles:
Professionalism. CAPS is committed to helping individual
scientists fulfill their needs as professionals -- men and women
with roles in the world community of science and with occupational
responsibilities as well.
Independence.
CAPS members
are pledged to pursuing professional courses of action determined
without regard to political influences.
Responsible
Advocacy. CAPS takes a firm but responsible approach to
representing its membership in legislative matters, contract
negotiations and individual personnel actions.
Twelve CAPS
directors and officers are elected statewide from five districts.
CAPS
is broadly and effectively representative of the considerable
talents and education of the state's scientific expertise.
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