Within almost a month after the presidential inauguration, various protests had been held in many cities in the United States. This time, scientists took take their part. They held "Stand Up For Science", a rally to push President Trump and his administration to always base their actions on facts, and of course, science. The rally was held Sunday noon (2/19) at Copley Square, Boston, MA. It was the first since Trump has taken the office. "The attacks on science are not new, but they have taken an alarming turn in recent weeks," said Naomi Oreskes, Professor of the History of Science at Harvard and author of Merchants of Doubt. "It's not political to defend the integrity of facts."
The approximately 90-minute rally was featured almost a dozen of speaker scientists in white lab coats from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard, Northeastern University, Union of Concerned Scientists, 500 Women Scientists, even a high school student who was part of the Alliance for Climate Education and many more. "The nerdiest crowd I've ever seen," said one of the speakers Dr. Geoffrey Supran, a scientist studying energy modeling at MIT and science history at Harvard.
After delivering their speech around the issue of climate change, the new leader of the Environmental Protection Agency, and generally the importance of science and facts especially to be the foundation for the new government, scientists asked the crowds to join their movements to stand up for science. While the science rally held at the same time with the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) annual conference in Boston, the science march will be held in DC and in cities around the world on Earth Day, April 22, 2017.
