The disconnect between learned science and understood science is the subject of Checker’s piece. Learned science is owned by the camp of “experts” those with the universally accepted credentials to evaluate an environment. Understood science is owned by the community members that observe changes in their environment. The research method of learned science fixates on a particular observation and is pigeonholed into a specific area of study which limits the range of interpretation of phenomena. The research method of understood science is based in the observation of the entire environment, without identifying control or variables. One would argue that the camp of understood science would produce the better scientific understanding. However, the inability to translate observations into an analytical understanding that can be evaluated in a causal manner gives power to the learned science discipline. In the case of Checker’s research, residents of Hyde Park are in the understood science camp and EPA scientists are of the learned science. Because learned science has the power and is unable to reach the same conclusions as understood science, they believe there is no environmental problem. However, the observations of understood science are valid. The elimination of the disconnect between trained and citizen scientists or rather, increased collaboration and understanding between the two would lead to a more holistic understanding that would prevent the marginalization of communities that are not represented by the discipline of trained science.