Rally for Science

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This Saturday, April 22, there is a Rally for Science on the Boston Common starting at 1 p.m.

Who would have thought that in 2017 people would have to rally to show a United States president that science and knowledge are important to the American people.

To date, besides claiming that “Climate Change” is a hoax perpetrated by the Chinese to help business, he ordered the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to remove references to Climate Change from their websites, and imposed gag orders on the Department of Agriculture and a freeze on EPA grants.

Regarding the EPA, any data collected by them–including information that is of direct consequence to people’s health and that of the planet- must first be vetted by politicians, many of who have begun their comments on science with the words, “I am no scientist, but…..” –

Trump’s EPA transition team member Myron Ebell called environmentalists “the greatest threat to freedom and prosperity in the modern world”, and then Scott Pruitt of Oklahoma, with his history of suing the EPA for anything that would protect the people of his state got appointed the head o the EPA.

One-fifth of scientists in the U.S. are immigrants, whose lives were affected by the Trump travel ban.

“In my relatively long career I have not seen this level of concern about science…This immigration ban has serious humanitarian issues, but I bet it never occurred to them that it also has scientific implications.”

And Steven Hawking has even said he no longer feels welcome in the United States.

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Trump wants the federal government to stop doing science in the public interest, and wants an end to fact-based discourse when the facts run counter to right-wing ideology.

Boston is a city involved with science. Just look at the universities and medical centers that have produced so much good for people the world over.

The Rally for Science has these goals:

 

  • Publicly funded scientists should feel free to communicate about their research, data sets, and interpretations of their work as they see fit. Public outreach, education, and accessibility of scientific knowledge should be encouraged as an extension of this goal.
  • Funding: Publicly funded scientific agencies are vital for public safety and continued scientific research, development, and application. These agencies should determine their own funding allocations and overall monetary distributions from the government for scientific endeavors should not decline.
  • Policy: Public policy should be informed and guided by evidence-based scientific research, local scientific knowledge, and mainstream scientific consensus.
  • Literacy: Initiatives to promote the public’s knowledge about scientific topics, understanding of how scientific research is conducted, and how to consume media about scientific studies must be supported for all age groups and demographics.
  • Improvement: Scientific institutions and systems play a role in public distrust, lack of representation, and unequal benefiting in the fruit of scientific endeavors. Addressing these issues is vital if we want to encourage the public and their elected representatives to continue funding scientific research, trust that research to inform policy, and promote education and literacy.

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The organizers want to make science accessible to everyone and encourage people from diverse backgrounds and experiences to pursue science careers.

As the organizers’ web site states

“All persons have the right to pursue and enjoy the fruits of science regardless of age, gender, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, religion or lack thereof, political affiliation, or socioeconomic status. Science belongs to all people, and should be done for all people.”

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Groups from MIT, Tufts, Boston University, Boston University Medical Campus, Harvard, Northeastern, Medical Community (MGH), the Association for Women in Science, Kendall Square Tech & Innovation, and Mass General will participate.

Groups concerned about science, like Religion for Scientific Freedom, Pause for the Planet, People with HIV, friends, ACT UP Alumni, and Supervised Injection Facilities in MA NOW (SIFMA NOW) Coalition will be there too.

My own organization, We Won’t Go Back New Bedford, will be there because, as our statement says,

“we realize that for coastal communities like ours, sound, scientific research supports the foundation of our economy and culture. We are cleaning up New Bedford harbor, studying fish populations, monitoring water quality, cleaning up our beaches, saving the whales — all of these initiatives are put in jeopardy when research is denied because of a political ideology and scientific study is disregarded and undermined. We will not allow this to happen.”

And so we rally for science and for us, the ones who benefit from it.

 

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