207 Pageviews Read Stories
Causes: Environment
Mission: Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER) protects public employees who protect our environment. We are a service organization for local, state, federal and tribal law enforcement officers, scientists, land managers and other professionals dedicated to upholding environmental laws and values.
Results: Many of the best things we do at PEER, we cannot talk about. Working behind the scenes, we have saved the careers of hundreds of conscientious public servants, often by talking them out of publicly blowing the whistle and convincing them to work through PEER instead to expose a problem.
Target demographics: We work for one of the largest, most expertise-rich and most overlooked constituencies in the environmental movement: public employees. Through legal, administrative, and media avenues, PEER works to address environmental problems that public servants bring to us. Problems range from scientific fraud to obstruction of environmental enforcement to retaliation for whistleblowing, and cover issues from global warming to genetic engineering to livestock grazing.
Programs: Field operations: peer's field operations in california, colorado (covering the rocky mountain region), florida, massachusetts (covering new england), new jersey, and tennessee are extensions of the national operation and are the focal point for state and local activity.
peer's scientist protection/education program provides information and resources to scientists working in public agencies. In addition to providing direct guidance to scientists who contact peer looking for help, we have created a web-center to connect scientists to information about legal issues, scientists' rights and options, legal resources, and other information.
legal: peer provides legal counsel, assistance, and representation to public employees who may face retaliation for speaking out for higher standards of scientific integrity, environmental ethics, and accountability in government.