March for Science steps off Saturday

Miles Greb walked into a Capitol Hill hardware store. He was picking up some PVC pipe for the March for Science banner he helped design.  Last minute errands for a march of scientists taking a stand for, well, science.

"I think it's really important that we have a public moment of support for science, said Greb, a Seattle science comic book writer and the march's brainchild. "It does so much in our lives.  And it is the driving force that helps us understand the universe and build a better future."

It's a better future they feel is threatened given the current political climate.

"We can clearly see that their funding is being cut," Greb said. "Their work is being undermined and doubted by the administration's kind of attacks on the EPA. Now is the time for us to get out of the lab and into the streets."

Scientists have been conspicuous by their absence at the many climate change protests right here in Seattle. The battle two years ago against Shell's oil drilling rig, the Polar Pioneer, was led by lay activists.

"This has been a challenge for decades," said The Nature Conservancy's Mike Stevens.  He says scientists are waking up to the need to speak up.

"What we're realizing is to really achieve the kind of transformational change that we need in order to tackle these big challenges," said Stevens, "scientists need to be out literally on the streets, bringing a way of asking questions, bringing diverse people together to try to answer those questions.

The Nature Conservancy is one of several sponsors of the March.  The march begins at Cal Anderson Park.  It will end at the Seattle Center, the site of the World's Fair where science was celebrated back in 1962.

Cox Media Group