Milwaukee's March for Science fills downtown streets

Scientists and their supporters took to the streets of Milwaukee, Madison, Green Bay and other Wisconsin cities Saturday as part of a national march critical of a weakened role for fact-based research in politics.

Waving signs with slogans like “Denial Won’t Save The Earth” and “In Science We Trust,” about 2,000 people gathered in Milwaukee’s Red Arrow Park for a downtown march.

The event coincided with Earth Day and was billed as nonpartisan, although some participants carried signs clearly aimed at President Donald Trump.

“Science Saves Lives. Even Yours, Mr. President,” one of the signs read.

Marches were held in other U.S. cities including Boston, Washington and Los Angeles. Overseas, some of the largest events took place in London and Berlin.

In Milwaukee, some of the focus was on Lake Michigan and support for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative that’s at risk of being cut from the federal budget.

Among the efforts funded through the initiative are restoring wetlands and fisheries and fighting the spread of invasive species.

The Great Lakes are the largest surface freshwater system on the Earth. Only the polar ice caps contain more fresh water, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Milwaukee, with its Lake Michigan access, is well-positioned to be a leader in water technology, said Brandon Gross, a researcher at the School of Freshwater Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, and a participant in Saturday's march.

“If we lose science funding, if we lose things like the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, then the potential will never be realized,” Gross said.

“That potential means jobs for people in the Milwaukee area,” he added.

The national March for Science movement has viewed the Trump administration as a threat to science and the environment for its skepticism about man’s role in climate change.

Issues like global warming have put scientists smack in the middle of heated political debates.

“We have states in this country where you aren’t even allowed to use the term ‘climate change’ in a public building,” Gross said.

Also of concern to critics is the Trump administration's budget that calls for sizable cuts in funding for the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy's Office of Science.

Still, the marchers weren't a partisan group, according to Gross.

“There is absolutely no reason to feel that science-based policies and science funding is a conservative or liberal issue. It’s not. We all stand to benefit,” he said.

Organizers of the march encouraged scientists in their ranks to wear their lab coats, goggles, stethoscopes, field gear and other work clothes to make their presence known among a group that frequently shies away from public political displays.

Organizers said the march "has generated a great deal of conversation around whether or not scientists should involve themselves in politics. In the face of an alarming trend toward discrediting scientific consensus and restricting scientific discovery, we might ask instead: Can we afford not to speak out in its defense?"

It’s time to stand up for the truth, said Beth Ferris, who isn’t a scientist but was at the Milwaukee march as a science supporter.

Her father is a scientist at Dartmouth University who does research in the arctic.

“There’s so much climate change denial going on in the community. This (march) is a way to combat that,” Ferris said.

“I wanted to get involved because I believe in this and because science will make our communities better.”

USA Today contributed to this story.