Despite claims on the earthday.org website that the Science March slated for Saturday on the National Mall is to “defend the vital public service role science plays in our communities and our world,” the people planning to take part have another take, according to the Washington Post.
It’s about President Donald Trump.
“The protests are often fueled by those with left-leaning political views who were surprised by Trump’s victory but have not been quelled by his policies and actions since taking office,” the Post reported on Friday.
“I still wake up with palpitations,” said Michele Hooper, a 62-year-old physician from California who attended the Women’s and Tax March and plans to attend the science rally.
“Hell hath no fury like a scientist scorned, and that’s essentially where we are,” Kathleen Rogers, president of the Earth Day Network, event organizer, told the Post. “People will be marching because their integrity and honesty has been called into question.”
“This is a new and energized constituency – they just happen to be wearing lab coats,” Rogers said.
The Post drives its point home by investigating the number of permits issued by the National Park Service to allow for rallies and marches on the mall since Trump was elected.
“The National Park Service, which oversees the Mall, has fielded 33 percent more requests this year for permits to protest on Washington’s federal land than it had at this time last year, said Mike Litterst, a spokesman for the agency,” the Post reported. “The Park Service had received 197 permit requests for demonstrations as of Wednesday, compared with 148 at the same time in 2016.”
The Post noted that four “high-profile” marches — Tax March, Earth Day and Science March, and Climate March — are taking place on consecutive weekends, and immigration and LGBT marches are planned in the coming weeks.
The Science March starts at 9 a.m. Saturday with a “teach-in” focused on the theme of the march, “environmental and climate literacy.” At 2 p.m. participants will march to the Capitol.
The earthday.org website states:
Science serves all of us. It protects our air and water, preserves our planet, saves lives with medical treatments, creates new industries, puts food on our tables, educates the next generation, and safeguards our future.
Science isn’t Democratic or Republican, liberal or conservative. Indeed, threats to science are pervasive throughout governments around the world.
Using the teach-in concept deployed for the very first Earth Day in 1970, the rally and teach-in on the National Mall will focus on the need to hold our leaders – both in science and in politics – accountable to the highest standards of honesty, fairness, and integrity. The vital role science plays in our democracy must be preserved.
The Earth Day Network says its mission is, in part: “to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide. Growing out of the first Earth Day, Earth Day Network is the world’s largest recruiter to the environmental movement, working with more than 50,000 partners in nearly 195 countries to build environmental democracy.”
The network also takes credit for the regulatory state that is the Environmental Protection Agency.
“The first Earth Day on April 22, 1970, activated 20 million Americans from all walks of life and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement,” including pushing for the passage of the landmark Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act, the website states.
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