Why do people distrust science? A thought.

It's close to universal: secrecy cloaking specialist knowledge.  A medicine man on a Pacific Island is terrified of the consequences of revealing his knowledge of a cure or cures, and chooses his successor carefully.  Is that appalling?  The cure might be lost.  On the other hand, loose lips sink ships.  This appears to represent a mechanism for ensuring the continuity and fidelity of knowledge over generations.

In Western societies, Physicians write prescriptions in handwriting that is almost impossible to read, and in Latin, no less.  What's the difference?

We live in a time of peril, due to global climate change, and a plethora of other anthropogenic woes: introduced species, extinct species, plastic pollution, toxic waste, radioactive pollution, to name but a few.  Coral reefs are dying.  Scientists working on these problems often with public funding, yet their results are often hidden behind "paywalls." 

I almost laughed, when I saw that almost every article in Science Magazine bears an icon similar to this one.  But it isn't funny.

Climate scientists I follow are concerned with science communication. Yet, how can scientists communicate with the public when their work is turned to the profit of the publishing giants, which seldom grant free access to the articles in their pages, or online. 

Yay!  For the Public Library of Science (PLOS) and libraries like the University of California Library System that stands up to the publishers who demand obscene subscription charges for access to articles generated by even the faculties of these institutions. 

How are people going to trust something when they are prevented from knowing about it?