The second “March for Science” is happening across the globe on Saturday. Last year’s edition drew out some 1.1 million scientists, students, and other supporters of evidence-based policy making. Organizers are expecting a much smaller turnout today, but events in support of the march are taking place all over the world.

Let’s start from the bottom—in Antartica:

Message of support from Antarctica: overwinterer at the Neumayer Station support the #MarchForScience @ScienceMarchDC pic.twitter.com/ISrptu1Gfi — AWI Media (@AWI_Media) April 14, 2018

Mother Jones‘s Jeremy Schulman is on the ground at the main rally in Washington, DC, where he’s already spotted some noteworthy protest signs.

This is Samantha Swamy, who says “science needs to be a higher priority on the government agenda” #MarchForScience pic.twitter.com/CuTm6UYChQ — Jeremy Schulman (@jeremyschulman) April 14, 2018

You can watch a live stream of the rally below: </s> The March for Science from around the world People in cities around the world take part in a global March for Science on Saturday, April 22, to show support of scientific research. Berlin, Germany, residents march behind a sign that reads, "There are no alternatives to facts."

The March for Science from around the world Marchers gathering in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Similar marches are expected to draw people in more than 500 cities across the world.

The March for Science from around the world Marchers at the Paris March for Science holding signs. In addition to Paris and Berlin, marches will be taking place in Rio, Munich, San Francisco, Boston, Oklahoma City and Bratislava, Slovakia.

The March for Science from around the world Scientists at the Neumayer Station in Antarctica take part in the March for Science on April, 22.

The March for Science from around the world Marching in support of scientific research in Berlin, Germany. Many of the marches are featuring music and speeches.

The March for Science from around the world A woman in Vienna, Austria,attends the March for Science there. In the US, many marchers have been galvanized by President Donald Trump's proposed cuts to scientific research, including slashing $5.8 billion from the budget of the National Institutes of Health.

The March for Science from around the world Researchers and scientist protest against budget cuts during the March for Science in Madrid, Spain.

The March for Science from around the world People stand together in Martin Place, in Sydney, Australia,for the city's international March for Science.

The March for Science from around the world Scientists and science enthusiasts gather prior to the start of the March for Science in central London. </s> What started as a march is turning into a movement. This year’s March for Science will involve rallies on 14 April in more than 200 cities, as a sequel to last year’s inaugural march in protest of president Donald Trump and his administration’s anti-science rhetoric. This time around, the day of protest aims to be more than just crowds of people wielding witty signs – though those will likely still be in high supply.

“The theme of the march last year has hardened and endured into this year,” says David Kanter, co-organiser of the New York City march. “Given that last year it was the early months of the Trump administration, there was more anxiety there. But the ultimate goals of building a community of science advocates and influencing policy with science are still the driving forces.”

In Washington, DC, crowds will descend on the National Mall for a morning of talks and performances before the march. Cities around the world have adapted the March for Science to their own communities, including seminars to encourage more scientific activism. Marches in other places, including New York City and London, will also promote voter registration efforts.

“We’re hoping people come away from the march knowing more about organisations in their own backyard,” says Jillian Sequeira, a coordinator of the London March for Science. For the New York organisers, the focus is on influencing local and national politics. “Our driving concern is making sure that the work of scientists is used in decision-making to make smart policy,” says Kanter.

An estimated 1.3 million people attended about 450 March for Science rallies around the globe last year. A survey of 20,000 of those marchers conducted by Edward Maibach and Teresa Myers at George Mason University in Fairfax, Virginia, found that 27 per cent were scientists, and 25 per cent worked in a science-affiliated job, while students comprised 8 per cent of marchers. A quarter of the marchers said they don’t work in a scientific field, but care about science. The attendees were highly educated, with 63 per cent holding a graduate or professional degree, and an additional 27 per cent had a Bachelor’s degree.

Estimates for this year’s turnout are lower than last year – from a few hundred in London to between 5 and 10 thousand in New York City, according to organisers.

The march goes on

Since the 2017 march, more scientists than ever have run for political office, Kanter says. There has also been a shift in science funding in the US. Trump’s draconian budget request – which suggested drastic cuts to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), among others – was rejected by Congress, and a spending bill that increases funding for science at many federal agencies was signed into law.

“I would attribute a lot of the holding the line on science funding on sustained activism from scientists and their supporters,” says Michael Halpern at the Union of Concerned Scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But he says that budgets don’t tell the whole story – there’s still a lot to march for.

“They’re marching because they see EPA administrator Scott Pruitt go against his scientific advisers and fail to ban chemicals shown to cause damage to children’s brains. They’re seeing people at the Department of the Interior kicked out of their jobs [working] on climate change. They’re seeing scientists at the CDC being told they can’t use words like ‘evidence based’ and ‘transgender’ and ‘fetus’ in describing their work,” he says.

Kanter agrees that there’s still reason to take to the streets. “There are science posts in the government not being filled, or being filled by inadequately trained people. The reason we’re still marching is that the goal of the march – use of evidence in policy-making – still isn’t being fulfilled in our politics today.”

Read more: Science fans have many reasons to take to the streets again </s> The March for Science returned on 14 April for its second year, with marches and rallies planned for 200 cities worldwide. Last year’s march was one of the largest public displays of support for science, drawing 1.3 million people around the globe to rallies in more than 450 cities.

David Kanter, an organiser of the march in New York, says the theme of the day is the intersection of science and education. “We really want to focus on the power of science and scientific training to empower young people, to empower communities that have often been underrepresented in society and in science,” he says. “The theme for all the marches this year is accountability, making sure that all of our elected officials are held accountable in terms of being able to respect science.”

On the morning of 14 April in Washington Square Park in New York, a small crowd began to gather under a cloudless sky. Some, like mechanical engineer Patrick Landry, had attended marches and rallies last year. He came out because “carbon emissions keep going up, we need to send a message to our administration and the world that we need to find a solution,” he said.

Other marchers, like Liz Ndoye, a retired teacher from Hoboken, did not attend last year but felt that current events made this year’s march particularly important. “I’m terrified to live in a time when our leaders say science is fake news or a conspiracy. Marches make everyone aware there are people concerned about, for example, the EPA rolling back regulations,” Ndoye said.

10-year-old Dakota Shanley, whose stepmother Susan Perkins was a speaker, said she thinks kids should have more science classes in school. Shanley said that she hasn’t had a unit on science yet this year. “If we get rid of science, we’re on the verge of losing so much information about Earth and space,” she said. “The result of not enough science is people think the earth is flat, and we need to stop that.”

At the back of the rally area, music, hands-on science demonstrations, and scientific posters lent a feeling halfway between a street fair and a scientific conference. Even a few of the police officers patrolling the area were drawn in by a booth about the ecology of Washington Square Park.

As the speakers began, an upbeat crowd of a few hundred people gathered to listen. Andrew Hamilton, president of New York University, kicked off the event with a rousing speech that felt almost sermon-like. “The sun shines on the righteous, and the cause of science is righteous,” he said. He encouraged people to continue fighting for science beyond just making sure that federal funding remains intact.

New York Congressperson Carol Maloney followed with a speech on policy. “We need more science in policymaking,” she said. “You will never find a better investment for public funds than scientific research: it is what has made our country great.”

While last year’s marches were heavily focused on larger policy issues, many of this year’s events have shifted to be more local. Gale Brewer, the Manhattan borough president, emphasized this shift, speaking about local initiatives in the city such as new composting efforts. “You save the world from the neighborhood up,” she said.

After several more speeches about science-based policy, human rights, and the environment, the gathered crowd began to march down Broadway. Chants of “What do we want? Peer review! When do we want it? Now!” and “Hey hey! Ho ho! We won’t let our planet go!” echoed off the buildings. According to a volunteer organizer, the march almost doubled in size along the way as bystanders joined from the sidewalk.

New York City hosted just one of hundreds of demonstrations. People around the world gathered for marches in support of science: </s> On Saturday scientists and science enthusiasts are gathering in South Bend for the 2018 March for Science.

Last year the March for Science in South Bend drew a crowd of more than a thousand. Far higher than the couple hundred organizers expected.

Robert Stanley is the chair of March for Science South Bend. He said they are expecting fewer people this year because the momentum is down with other protests and issues drawing people’s focus.

Stanley said science relates to a lot of those other issues.

“Whether it be the necessity of studying gun violence in order to reduce it or the ability to develop the science to decrease the time to process rape kits. There are so many connections that we have and we’ve seen increased engagement when we’re able to communicate with these other groups.”

The march starts in Leeper Park at 2 p.m. Marchers will follow Michigan Avenue to Jon R. Hunt Plaza in front of the Morris Performing Arts Center where there will be speakers, ask a scientist booths and kid-friendly science activities. </s> The capitol grounds in Salem and Olympia will offer a colorful juxtaposition of political movements Saturday. Marches for Science are scheduled in 10 Northwest cities. These roughly coincide with separate pro-gun rallies at the state capitals..



The Salem version of the March for Science is scheduled for the exact same time as a gun rights rally titled Good Guys With Guns or Americans For America, depending who you ask. The event permits place the rallies about a block apart. The science marchers have the north steps of the Capitol and the pro-gun supporters are invited to converge on the World War II Memorial area.

In Olympia, the same two movements have both reserved the Capitol steps to rally, but are separated by about four hours in time.

The March for Science is officially non-partisan but it grows out of opposition to Trump administration stances on climate change, research funding cuts and alleged muzzling of government scientists.

This is the second year for the March for Science. The main march takes place in Washington, D.C., with satellite events across the country and globe including in Seattle, Portland, Astoria, Spokane, Medford, Bend and Victoria, BC.

The gun rights rallies arise in response to student-led gun control marches last month that followed the Parkland, Florida, school shooting. RSVPs on Facebook indicate some gun rally participants plan to exercise their right to openly carry their firearms, which organizers are urging be unloaded.

The Second Amendment activism stems in part from a national campaign to stage rallies at all 50 state capitols on Saturday. A group called the National Constitutional Coalition of Patriotic Americans drummed up interest in rallying, mostly using social media.

In Salem, the park manager for State Capitol State Park anticipated no problem handling two simultaneous rallies expected to draw hundreds of people each.

"We've had 5,000 to 6,000 thousand people with plenty of room to spare before," Kevin Strandberg said Friday. </s> PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – People across the world marched and rallied in the name of science Saturday.

The largest “March for Science” took place in Washington, D.C.

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Boston was another of the more than 200 cities around the globe that held rallies.

Participants called for policymakers to consult with experts before making decisions, and to enact evidence-based policies that serve all communities. </s> Back in high school, there were the super-smart kids who were into science... and then there were the rest of us who dreaded the baffling formulas, the nauseating frog dissecting, and the dreaded eye-wash station. Had we known we’d end up living in some bizarro universe where a growing chunk of the population and our own leaders are denying science exists, though, maybe we’d have tried a little harder.

While it may be too late for AP Physics, you can actually still do something important and meaningful in the name of science, like getting involved with the LA Alliance for Science, starting with this weekend’s March for Science. One of 230 marches taking place around the world this Saturday, the idea behind LA's second annual March for Science is to counteract the budget cuts, science-related department closures, and those ever-increasing “alternative facts” that are silencing science these days. Here’s what you need to know about participating in the march and supporting the cause. </s> Marchers are turning out again to support science. On Saturday, people around the world will take to the streets for the second “March for Science.” The event highlights the importance of evidence-based policymaking and in Seattle, will feature speeches from House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal. Stacy Smedley, a coordinator of the Seattle march, says this year’s marches may be even more important than last year’s, when rally-goers worried about how science could be pushed aside under the Trump administration.

“I think what’s happened over the past year is, we’ve seen that kind of play out. We’ve seen that start to happen in the EPA and other places with proposals to reduce research funding, all sorts of different avenues when it comes to legislation.”

Smedley adds however, that it isn’t a partisan march and says the goal is to bring together as many diverse voices as possible. The Seattle event begins at 10 A-M at Cal Anderson Park. There will also be marches in Olympia and Spokane.

The theme of the Seattle march is “Science’s Silenced Voices.” T-J Greene is a former chairman of the Makah Tribal Council and a current trustee of The Nature Conservancy of Washington, one of the sponsors of the march. Greene will speak Saturday about the importance of indigenous knowledge. He says the western science approach could benefit from a more holistic view of the world.

“I think what’s missing, but I see it being done a lot more often is – and this is throughout most every indigenous culture – a way of viewing our environment and the world around us as being connected – you know, everything.”

Mary Ruckelshaus is a scientist and a member of The Nature Conservancy’s science advisory board. She says it’s an important time to stand up for science.

“Being an activist for what you believe in has obviously come to the fore, more recently. So yeah, I think this is something that maybe too many people take for granted – that science affects everything in our lives, and I really feel like it’s important to remind people of that.”
A second March for Science is held with various rallies happening internationally.