The march for science table talk was very interesting since there were so many surprising facts/figures/thoughts presented. For example, GRF Tyler showed us what the proposed budget for various government agencies (NIH, FDA, etc) under the Trump Administration looks like, as well as the results of a survey where people were asked if climate change is real.
I think that people are really disillusioned by the world around them particularly because of what information is available to them/the things media presents to them. For example, anti-vaxxers do not believe in the benefits of vaccines because they were presented a poorly done research that was “presented” as “fact.” Lack of education on top of a poor understanding of science plus a difference in experience (modern day people have never lived through a smallpox outbreak, for example, so they don’t know the true value of vaccines and how detrimental it could be to have even 3% of the population unvaccinated) resulted in the emergence of the anti-vax movement. The topic of climate change is headed in a similar direction, with a large number of well-educated/well-informed population speaking out to the government to try to change things, and then with a growing number of ill-informed, uneducated population perpetuating that “climate change isn’t real.”
All of this is incredibly problematic since scientific decisions impact all of us. Since we all live on this earth, a smallpox outbreak caused by anti-vaxxers would impact every single person who lives on this earth. The same goes for climate change. This is why the March For Science means so much. It means educating the population to help make decisions that impact all of us, and it’s advocating for continued scientific research and discovery, because on the long run, that’s how humankind will advance. It’s particularly sad that the current administration doesn’t see things this way (choosing to invest more in defense) and I’m scared to see where this kind of mindset (science is objective/should be ignored) would take us should we continue on this trajectory.
In the talk, we also mentioned how to best advocate for science. Scientists are good at what they do, but are not good at advocating for themselves and not good at convincing policy makers to change policies. I think we came to the conclusion that as scientists/supporters for science, we must not only have facts, but have reasons why these facts are important: in the form of anecdotes and calls to actions.
There are lots to be learned from the March for Science and there’s still a lot we can all do to be better advocates for science. It all starts here.
I agree with you that lack of education and poorly planned studies are driving our decisions in science, something that this country and the world cannot afford at this time. Maybe to address this issue, we need to focus more of our efforts in reforming education, and not just in science and politics.
The fact that we are now shifting away from a fact-based policy in favor of nationalistic and xenophobic policies is deeply troubling and really emphasizes how much work still needs to be done in America to overhaul long held prejudices and to educate the general public about basic scientific facts. While I do believe the government is mostly responsible for this trend, I do believe that we the people have a role in having our voices heard by our representatives. Hopefully this movement is a sign of more widespread citizen activism and not just a one-off event inspired by the actions of the Trump administration.