About 10000 people turned out (according to the Houston Chronicle) for our local version of the March for Science. Observations:
- While there were some overtly partisan participants and signs, the overarching messages that came through were "We're all in this together!", "Science has made the world a better place, with much less disease and famine, a much higher standard of living for billions, and a greater understanding of the amazingness of the universe.", "Science does actually provide factual answers to properly formulated scientific questions", and "Facts are not opinions, and should feed into policy decisions, rather than policy positions altering what people claim are facts."
- For a bunch of people often stereotyped as humorless, scientists had some pretty funny, creative signs. A personal favorite: "The last time scientists were silenced, Krypton exploded!" One I saw online: "I can't believe I have to march for facts."
- Based on what I saw, it's hard for me to believe that this would have the negative backlash that some were worrying about before the event. It simply wasn't done in a sufficiently controversial or antagonistic way. Anyone who would have found the messages in the first point above to be offensive and polarizing likely already had negative perceptions of scientists, and (for good or ill) most of the population wasn't paying much attention anyway.
So what now?
- Hopefully this will actually get more people who support the main messages above to engage, both with the larger community and with their political representatives.
- It would be great to see some more scientists and engineers actually run for office.
- It would also be great if more of the media would get on board with the concept that there really are facts. Policy-making is complicated and must take into account many factors about which people can have legitimate disagreements, but that does not mean that every statement has two sides. "Teach the controversy" is not a legitimate response to questions of testable fact. In other words, Science is Real.
- Try to stay positive and keep the humor and creativity flowing. We are never going to persuade a skeptical, very-busy-with-their-lives public if all we do is sound like doomsayers.
