A massive disconnect: Publicly funded research behind paywalls [Opinion]

An increasing number of scientific journals allow at least some of their articles to be available to the public.  Some publishers are more onerous than others; for example, Elsevier, subscriptions to which the University of California libraries have refused to renew.  This is a nuisance to many, but the libraries have pledged to help obtain these articles.

To some, pay-walled articles are an even more insidious barrier.  As a science teacher in Micronesia, access to up-to-date scientific information is of crucial importance, especially on issues which may affect the peoples of the islands.  Global climate change is not a proprietary issue only in the West, where most publishers reside; it is beyond immoral to sequester such knowledge.

I unexpectedly found myself teaching environmental science.  As a recent graduate with a BA in Zoology, and as a graduate student in Marine Biology, I was in a wonderful position to explain the science to the most innocent victims of fallout from the higher standard of living touted by alien visitors from far shores.  All was not well; every aspect of life in the islands was being profoundly altered by the infusion of the "good life," of consumer goods and a new life style.   New political realities were foisted off on islanders, with promise of more and more and better and better.

As an educator, it has been incumbent upon me to ride the crest of the wave of scientific knowledge, to interpret  consequences unforseen even by the purveyors of these changes.

Today, a series of articles came to my attention, focused on plastics.  Plastics, as it turns out, must be seen by third world peoples as a miracle material.  But the greatest part of the miracle, and the least part of the consequences, fall to the corporations and investors who have generated this consequential avalanche on the planet.

Here is a screenshot of the what I encountered when I tried to download a pdf from the website heralding this article, or perhaps group of articles.

In the lower right hand corner of this image may be seen a disclosure of funding sources.  Clearly this publication is a product of research funded by public funds.

I am not now living in Micronesia, so I can obtain copies of these papers.  It is a reminder of the many, many publications I was unable to read when they were needed most.

A rhetorical question suggests itself.  In Micronesia, very few persons work, and the "minimum wage" of less than $1.00/hour  is far from sufficient to feed an extended family of a dozen or more; it was insufficient for a family member I knew to drive his motor boat once a week to the district center island.  It is common to say that subsistence for a government worker is subsidized by "local production," that is to say, breadfruit, sea cucumbers, fish, taro, sweet potatoes... the list goes on, and many persons are involved.  

Not only this!  A wholesale change is sweeping through the islands: the concept of "family" is undergoing a profound re-definition.  On Guam, I heard the complaint that younger family members no longer cared to share their income with the extended family.  A wedge has been driven.  Ways have fallen.  Culture has been redefined, in much the same way that Hawaiian music and culture have been profoundly reshaped by forces of tourism. 

So you see, it is not merely that the benevolent colonial masters have swooped down upon islands with a toxic package of gifts; with the proprietary walling in of knowledge, the islands are just as helpless as the consumers of the developed countries, in the face of insurmountable changes to health, environment, food supply, natural resources.

Plastics.  Just one part of the story.