Usually, we don’t think of scientists as being overtly political people. By its very nature science is not partisan, because it’s about evaluating all the available evidence before making a decision. On the other side of the coin, it’s important for politicians and policy makers to pay attention to scientific development as they’ve got to make decisions about issues ranging from healthcare to agriculture to transport. During the EU referendum campaign Michael Gove said that the public “have had enough of experts” – but have they?
When Donald Trump was elected the President of the United States last year, it’s safe to say that not everyone was overjoyed to hear the news. The fact that in 2012 Trump had asserted on Twitter that climate change was a Chinese hoax “in order to make U.S. manufacture non-competitive” was one reason why many scientists were sceptical of his suitability to the role of a leader with global superpower. So far this scepticism seems to have been justified given that almost immediately after Trump took office, the section of the White House website called “Climate change” under the Obama administration was removed and replaced with “America first energy plan”. In March the President signed the Energy Independence executive order to reverse Obama’s Clean Power Plan that aimed to reduce carbon emissions.
The suggestion for a March for Science originated on Reddit, where it was proposed that Trump’s “war on science” needed to be publicly opposed with a protest in Washington, D.C.. This idea developed into a global movement, with marches and rallies in Washington as well as other sister satellite marches. It was decided that the marches would take place on 22nd April 2017 to coincide with Earth Day, and be celebratory of science and evidence-based decision making, rather than party political.
So, in over 600 cities across the world, scientists swapped their pipettes for placards and took to the streets. In the UK, thousands of scientists from academia and industry and their supporters joined in with marches. A prominent theme was fears over the negative impact Brexit could have on science in Britain, including loss of research funding and no longer having so many talented scientists from overseas coming to work in the UK. Following the marches, the campaign has said “the march is over, and the movement has begun”. So that the public can understand the issues prompting the marches, they need to be able to engage with science. In order to facilitate this, scientists are encouraged to connect with the wider community, explaining their research and listening to what the public have to say in return.
The people that marched did so to show the world that in the era of “fake news”, facts do need to be recognised and understood. One of the core values of the March for Science movement is that “science serves the interests of all humans, not just those in power” – maybe it is time to listen to the experts.