March for Science in city to target hostility to research

Science has been attacked from multiple directions throughout the ages, with current challenges to established research on climate change, evolution and environmental stewardship and continuing cuts in research funding through the National Institutes of Health and other federal agencies.

So scientists and the proscience community are striking back peaceably with a March for Science at noon Saturday in Washington, D.C. Sister marches will be held that same say in more than 400 cities worldwide, including one in Pittsburgh’s neighborhood of Oakland that’s expected to attract 2,000 to 5,000 people.

“Budget cuts, censorship of researchers, disappearing data sets, and threats to dismantle government agencies harm us all, putting our health, food, air, water, climate and jobs at risk,” an online statement from the March for Science website says. “It is time for people who support science to take a public stand and be counted.”

The local street march is scheduled to begin at noon Saturday on Bigelow Boulevard between Forbes and Fifth avenues, and continue for less than an hour around several blocks before circling back to the starting point. The march event also is scheduled to include speeches from notable scientists and others, with music and other festivities in the area of the Cathedral of Learning.

“We hope people will take away this that science is something we need to fund and protect and pay attention to when it is threatened,” said Rebecca Tasker, 20, a University of Pittsburgh anthropology major from Clintonville, Pa., in Venango County.

She is serving as event spokeswoman as a member of Pitt Progressives, which is working alongside Pittsburgh Progressives to organize the Oakland march. Other organizations and sponsors are assisting with the event.

Ms. Tasker said the apolitical march was organized in conjunction with the D.C. march, but seemed a natural in Pittsburgh, given the city’s role as a research center with its top universities and an economy largely based on health care.

“It made sense to march here rather than send our scientists to Washington, D.C.,” she said.

Other organizations including the American Psychosomatic Society went further in saying the march is designed to protect science “against recent threats by the Trump administration to overturn science-based policies on the environment, energy and health care; restrict travel; and substantially reduce research funding.”

Overall, Ms. Tasker said, the event promises to be “a giant science party” with a positive theme.

“We hope people take away from this that science is a movement that affects us all, all of the time,” she said. “It is something that needs funding and protection, and we must pay more attention to it when it is threatened.”