Scientists and their supporters marched in hundreds of cities around the world Sunday, protesting against proposed U.S. government funding cuts to scientific research and public rejection of established science such as climate change.
Events in about 600 cities in 68 countries were inspired in part by the Women’s March on Washington, held a day after U.S. President Donald Trump’s inauguration in January.
Scientists and science enthusiasts gather for London’s March for Science, triggered by concern over mounting attacks on science. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP/Getty Images)
This series of marches, on Earth Day, puts scientists — who generally shy away from advocacy and whose work depends on objective experimentation — into a more public position.
Political, not partisan
The main event for science is being anchored in Washington, D.C., where organizers say it’s political, but not partisan.
However, participants who braved the pouring rain in Nashville, Tenn., twisted a Trump catch-phrase, holding signs that said “Make America think again.” Others carried signs that read, “Climate change is real, ask any polar bear” and “There is no planet B.” In Manhattan, the crowed chanted “science, not silence.”
With the White House in the background, participants gather for the March for Science event in Washington. (Sait Serkan Gurbuz/Associated Press)
The March for Science attracted several thousand people in Berlin, with people walking from one of the city’s universities to the Brandenburg Gate.
Meike Weltin. a doctorate student at an environmental institute near Berlin, says she’s participating because, “I think that politics needs to listen to sciences.”
Germany’s foreign minister Sigmar Gabriel has endorsed March for Science events across Germany. Gabriel said “free research and teaching are the supporting pillars of an open and modern society.”
People in at least 18 locations across Canada are participating in marches to promote and advocate for science. In Ottawa, organizers scheduled a march on Parliament Hill.
“Some of the signs we’re seeing are spreading the message that science matters, evidence matters,” CBC’s Andrew Foote said, reporting at the Ottawa march.
“They’re targeting the Trump administration and they’re saying that any politician who tries to undermine science, ruin trust in science, or politically motivate funding of science, particularly climate change, is a risk and they want to speak out against that.”
People protest, holding banners, at a similar march in Madrid. (The Associated Press)
Foote said participants included a teacher, the father of a burgeoning scientist and students studying biology.
“While climate change is a major issue, they’re concerned about a number of Trump’s executive orders and his proposed budget, which proposes massive cuts to scientific research.
“They worry what that means for discoveries in cancer research. As one woman put it, ‘science equals prosperity,’ and a number of advancements in the past decades are because of science.”
