March for Science on Saturday, April 22


The nationwide March for Science has been scheduled for Saturday, April 22, which is also the annual Earth Day. It is actually a global event with marches all over the world. Following the model of the March for Women on January 21, the main march in the US will be in Washington, DC with satellite marches in various locations across the country and the world for those who cannot make the trip to DC.

The march in Cleveland will be from 9:00am -2:00pm. The assembly point will be at the newly redesigned and renovated Public Square downtown which is easily accessible by public transport. Activities, including some for children, will start at 9:00 AM, followed by speakers at 10:00 AM, with the actual march beginning at 11:00 AM along a route to be specified later.

A flyer has been created that can be distributed as advertising. You can sign up for the marches at the links given above, though of course it is not necessary.

The Cleveland march organizers have signed up an impressive array of local institutions as collaborators: The George Gund Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland Museum of Natural History, Bike Cleveland, Cleveland State University, Cuyahoga County, Greater Cleveland Aquarium, Great Lakes Science Center, Holden Forests & Gardens, The MetroHealth System, and West Creek Conservancy.

I am not sure why Case Western Reserve University has not joined up, especially since Patricia Princehouse, co-organizer of the march, is a faculty member there. CWRU is kind of a cautious organization and may be shying away from something that is viewed by some as ‘political’. Over at Pharyngula, PZ Myers discusses the debate going on about whether marches such as this are undesirable because they ‘politicize’ science and how strictly the march should limit the range of topics that are covered.

UPDATE: I want to highlight this cartoon about science and politics that commenter InvivoMark in involved in creating and that he linked to in the comments.

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