Science on the March
April 21, 2017
Tomorrow, on Saturday, April 22, thousands of scientists, teachers, researchers, and science advocates will take part in an unprecedented experiment of public protest to demonstrate the importance of science in society. The first ever March for Science will take place in Washington, D.C., and other cities across the United States. The march was organized to coincide with Earth Day, an annual observance to increase public awareness of environmental issues. The march is the result of a grass-roots campaign by scholars and scientists hoping to preserve and continue environmental and scientific research. President Donald Trump has strongly criticized such research; expressed doubts about, or rejected, the validity of its conclusions; and questioned its value to society.
The Women’s March in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 21, 2017, inspired a similar March for Science on Earth Day, April 22. 2017. Credit: Mark Dixon (licensed under CC BY 2.0)
The March for Science was inspired by the massive turnout of the Jan. 21, 2017, Women’s March, when millions of people in cities throughout the United States and the rest of the world protested the controversial policies and comments of the newly inaugurated President Trump. The idea of a March for Science began on social media as a suggestion for a science-based protest, but the scope quickly grew as the supporting Facebook page gained hundreds of thousands of followers. The event’s honorary cochairs are American science educator and activist Bill Nye and Mona Hanna-Attisha, a pediatrician who first discovered that high levels of lead in drinking water were poisoning children in Flint, Michigan.
American science educator Bill Nye, known for his educational television show “Bill Nye the Science Guy,” is an honorary cochair of the March for Science. Credit: © AP Photo
The March for Science represents an unusually vocal response from the otherwise temperate community of academic scientists and researchers. But many scientists who work in federal agencies or have their work funded by the government have recently expressed concern that their work is being ignored or threatened by the Trump administration. Scholars point to a strong antiscience stance by Trump-appointed officials at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Trump administration’s dismissal of scientific findings on climate change by government-funded scientists, and Trump’s proposed federal budget that would eliminate funding for many science programs ranging from basic cancer research, oceanography, and Earth-monitoring programs at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
The main March on Science will take place tomorrow in Washington, D.C., and satellite marches are planned for hundreds of cities across the United States. Large satellite marches are expected in such cities as Boston, Chicago, Houston, New York, and San Francisco, which are important hubs for computer, medical, technology, oil and gas, and alternative energy industries. These industries make up a large and fast-growing component of the U.S. economy, yet they depend on a scientifically literate and highly educated work force. Many researchers feel that science is becoming less important in the public sphere, when it is actually more important than ever in order to help prevent and solve global problems. In addition to the protests, the marches will feature programs of speakers to communicate the importance of science in the everyday lives of all people.
