What do we want?
Science.
How do we want it?
Peer reviewed!
[Chant continues]
Climate change. Real!
When I say climate change, you say real.
Climate change. Real!
[Crowd noise]
Monica: We just made it through security it is 6 a.m. and
Becky: We are tired.
Monica: We haven't slept.
Becky: At all.
[People talking, engine humming, birds chirping]
Aubrey: We'll be meeting at the bus again to go home at the Library of Congress...
Becky: I'm actually marching for a lot of reasons.
The first being that science has always been political.
I mean if we’re looking from the beginning of when science first really started emerging,
Copernicus who found heliocentricity, he did it for the church, the Roman Catholic
Church, which was the biggest political power at the time.
If you look throughout history—the nuclear arms race, the space race—all those were
fueled by politics.
Michael: I didn't think I'd ever have to do this.
I never really saw myself coming to a protest, but I am starting to get fed up with neglect
of the sciences.
Max Watkins: Science is what I do with my life and a lot of my time.
It’s incredibly frustrating to see people not taking it seriously and not understanding
the importance of science to society and what it’s given us.
That’s why I’m here.
Aubrey: As a graduate student my career is in the sciences and research funding for the
sciences, trusting science, and seeing science make an impact on society by using the scientific
advances that we make.
Michael: I believe that science should be funded and that science is truth, there is
no real debate there.
Monica: The government putting together the BRAIN Initiative, the Microbiome Initiative,
and any initiative to come is going to bring scientists together throughout the entire
country and it’s going to foster innovation.
And the government being behind that is super important to stay on top as a country.
Clarissa Towle: I hope all of our elected politicians are going to feel the pressure
from this many people marching in over 600 cities around the world and get on that science
policy and funding.
Xylar: Facts and scientific ideas have become political and controversial in a
way that I find uncomfortable.
Robert : I clearly see the idea of science under attack by the current administration
so it is very disturbing.
Michael: There are a lot of us who believe in facts.
Not alternative facts.
Becky: I did a whole bunch of scientific accomplishments from immigrants, and I actually
put a Jay Z quote, it says...
Jay: Not bad, huh, for some immigrants?
Vicki: My lab is very diverse, as many academic labs are, and in my lab I have people from
the 7 different countries represented.
Jeffrey: My parents did everything for me.
They immigrated to America.
They both are scientists and engineers and they are basically my heroes and why I want
to pursue this with my life.
Michael: Guess what it is doing right now?
Off-camera: Raining?
Michael: Precipitating.
Off-camera: [Groans]
Ryan: How's the March for Science going so far?
Monica: It’s good.
We’re making it through.
Signs are melting.
Ryan: It looks like Rosalind Franklin is sort of…
Monica: Slowly melting away.
Ryan: Slowly melting away.
Aubrey: It’s really exciting to see that so many people are here supporting the cause
even though the weather is not what we were all hoping.
Ryan: We’ve been out here for hours, the March for Science is coming to an end.
We made it to the Capitol Building.
How do you guys feel?
Group: Good. Tired. Tired.
Ryan: Do you you feel like this event is going to have a lasting impact on science?
Is this a turning point in how scientists view how they're supposed to interact with
culture and politics?
Becky: I think so, I think some people are sometimes a little turned off by combining
politics and science, but it's the way that science works.
A lot of the research we do is affected by policy and a lot of our funding
is affected by policy, so I think that, if anything, it has pushed scientists to try to make a statement
for what they want out of their government.
Aubrey: There are a lot of scientists that are more excited about writing blogs for the
public and more excited about trying to get involved in policy discussions.
So I do hope that if nothing else comes of this that we do see more engagement from scientists
in the society role.
["Let's go science!" chant]