News compilation by New Cold War.org., April 23, 2017
March for Science events in New York, London, Paris, Berlin see crowds gather worldwide on Earth Day
ABC.net.au, April 22, 2017 (with extensive photos)
Crowds have marched in more than 600 cities worldwide for Earth Day events billed as a “celebration of science”, amid growing concern about U.S. President Donald Trump’s climate change scepticism and cuts to research funding.
The marches, timed to coincide with Earth Day, come after moves by Mr Trump to sharply cut federal science and research budgets, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health. Marchers around the world brandished placards saying “There is no Planet B”, “Science not Silence” and “Make Science Great Again”.
The main event took place in Washington, where March for Science festivities included “teach-ins,” speeches by researchers and environmentalists, and musical performances on National Mall.
While the movement was started by scientists sceptical of the agenda of Mr Trump, the marches have quickly spread globally amid what people believe is growing scepticism from politicians and others on topics such as vaccinations, genetically modified organisms and evolution.
Marches were also held in Australia yesterday in cities including Sydney, Melbourne, Hobart, Perth, Brisbane and Townsville.
Mr Trump released a statement on his approach to environmental issues. “My administration is reducing unnecessary burdens on American workers and American companies, while being mindful that our actions must also protect the environment,” Mr Trump said. “Rigorous science is critical to my administration’s efforts to achieve the twin goals of economic growth and environmental protection.”
Protests held across Europe
Scientists and supporters also gathered in a number of cities around the world, including London, Germany, France and Ireland.
Organisers said 11,000 people took part in an event in Berlin, which they said aimed to highlight the importance of science and evidence-based knowledge in democracies.
“We Berliners know from our own history what the repression of freedom means,” mayor Michael Mueller told marchers. “That is why we have a particular responsibility to mobilise for free science and an open and tolerant society.”
#MarchForScience: Thousands protest in over 600 cities around the world
RT.com, April 22, 2017 (with video and extensive photos)
Climate Change was the epicenter of April 22 March for Science
By Brian Kahn, published on Climate Central, April 22, 2017
‘There is no Planet B’
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The roar of the crowd of thousands of scientists and supporters rippled up and down Constitution Avenue like a wave on Saturday. It found two fitting sounding boards on either side of the street.
On one side, the Smithsonian, the world’s largest museum and research program. It’s a literal institution in the science community, with its research cutting across all disciplines. In many ways, it’s above reproach and apolitical, something march organizers said was a central tenet of the march.
On the other side, the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency run by an administrator that denies the established science of climate change and an organization to which the Trump administration has proposed radical cuts. It’s the epicenter for a war on science increasingly being waged on partisan grounds and one that marchers were intent on pushing back against.
That paradox is also why climate change emerged as a central part of Saturday’s march and the movement surrounding it, which organizers said included more than 600 marches around the world (Climate Central was among the organizations that partnered with the march). The reality of climate change has turned into a left-right issue despite being indisputable and posing an existential threat.
“The signs around here say it all,” said Liz Kohan, a fifth-grade teacher from Columbiaville, Mich., as she stood on the National Mall ahead of the march. “There is no Planet B.”
The marchers, who braved a mist that turned into a steady rain, said they were trying to reclaim the high ground and advocate for policies based on the best science. Many said the partisan divide had left them no choice but to mobilize and make their voices heard.
“The only politicization of science that’s new is what Republicans have been doing in rejecting mainstream science (of climate change),” John Holdren, Obama’s former science advisor, said. “The questions of whether you need government support for science, whether you need science advice in the White House. That’s the new politicization that’s driving people into the streets.”
People took the streets in droves, marching en masse but also fanning out across Washington in smaller groups. Many found their way to the White House, mingling with Royal Air Force cadets, middle schoolers from Jasper, Ind., and selfie-seeking tourists in bus tour ponchos. They wanted to see the source of their frustrations and voice them.
Michael Freeman, a Masters student studying forestry at the University of Washington, held up a graph of the past 800,000 years of atmospheric carbon dioxide as the rain picked up ahead of the march. He said the Trump administration’s lack of climate expertise coupled with the impact of the proposed funding cuts convinced him to join the march. “Not hiring new grad students, that has direct implications four years down the road on the scientific enterprise,” Freeman said.
The White House did not directly address the march, but it did release a statement for Earth Day that tied directly to science. “My administration is committed to advancing scientific research that leads to a better understanding of our environment and of environmental risks,” Trump said. “As we do so, we should remember that rigorous science depends not on ideology, but on a spirit of honest inquiry and robust debate.”
Later in the day, Trump also tweeted that “economic growth enhances environmental protection,” an assessment some economists were quick to dismiss as too simplistic.
While the partisan divide in Washington was a driving force for the march, the goal for many in the streets was to bring science back from that brink and draw attention to the very real threats that cutting science budgets would pose, not just to science, but to society as well. And when it comes to climate science, the risks are manifold because climate change permeates every facet of the world.
“If funding gets cut, especially satellites, we lose our ability to follow the changing planet,” Kelsey Reider, a PhD candidate studying climate change and biology at Florida International University, said. “They’re deciding that in there,” she said, pointing to the Capitol. Wanting to get the message across the Congress is what drove her to attend the Washington march rather staying in Miami.
While Congress’ authority extends to federal science grants that help fund university research, it also hold the purse strings for federal agencies’ own research budgets.
Rep. Bill Foster (D-Ill.), the only physics PhD in the House, said he thought the thousands of scientists in town “can raise the profile of science that our economy and society is absolutely dependent on. It can do that, I hope, across the aisle.
“I also hope it can get scientists involved with public service. If you look at the decisions we have to make, almost every issue has a technology edge to it. That part of the decision has to be made correctly from a scientific point of view. There’s no substitute for having that technical competence in the U.S. Congress.”
Of course, the march was just one day and one step for many of those involved. A number of groups have sprung up encouraging scientists to run for office at the local and national level. Whether they make in-roads remains to be seen, with the 2018 midterms being a good early test. But beyond running for office, scientists are also taking the march as an impetus to engage with their elected representatives and provide them with the science they need to make informed decisions.
Kelsey Reider, the Florida International PhD candidate, said she was planning to go back and engage with her local politicians in Miami where sea level rise is a major concern.
Michelle LaRue, a biologist at the University of Minnesota who studies seals that are climate indicators for Antarctic sea ice, used her time in Washington to lobby Senators Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar about science funding. “It’s my first time doing that,” she said. “It came to a tipping point. What we’ve been doing hasn’t been working.”
The march potentially represents a major shift toward a more politically active research community. Now that community faces the challenge of remaining active while not getting sidelined as just another partisan interest group. When it comes to climate change, putting science in its rightful place in policymaking is of utmost importance, in part because time is running out to avert the worst impacts.
With a federal government that’s been slow to address climate change, citizens have taken action to make it speed up the process. That includes a group of children that are suing the president (the case started against Obama but has since switched to Trump). Climate science is central to their case.
“We couldn’t have a case if it weren’t for science,” Julia Olson, the lawyer representing the kids in court, said. “We need our human laws to match up with the laws of nature.”
Related stories on Climate Central:
- The March For Science is heading to Greenland, April 20, 2017
- Chart showing U.S. warming since the first Earth Day in 1970, April 19th, 2017
- ‘Critical’ NASA climate missions targeted in budget cuts, March 31, 2017
- Scientists are poised to start a new movement, March 1, 2017
Why they march: ‘Science and scientists are now under attack’
Profile of Earth Day marchers in Washington DC on April 22, 2017, by Sharon Lerner, The Intercept, April 22, 2017
