Thousands gathered in downtown St. Louis last weekend to voice their opposition to the Trump Administration\u2019s positions on science related issues.<\/p>\n
Demonstrations, titled March for Science, occurred in around 600 cities around the world on Saturday \u2013 Earth Day. In the St. Louis, marchers started at the intersection of 18th<\/sup> and Market Street and walked to the Gateway Arch. Some carried signs with messages such as \u201cscience saves lives,\u201d \u201cEinstein was a refugee,\u201d \u201clove Trumps hate,\u201d \u201cdon\u2019t wreck our planet like your business\u201d and \u201cglobal warming is real, wake up!\u201d<\/p>\n Those who work in the sciences were represented among the marchers. Anne Griffith, a resident of St. Louis and an archeology professor at St. Charles Community College, held a sign that said \u201cback off I\u2019m a scientist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI think it\u2019s a love of science,\u201d Griffith said when asked about her participation. \u201cThere\u2019s also a despair about it being ignored. I want a general raising of awareness on this.\u201d<\/p>\n Griffith said she was concerned about the Trump Administration\u2019s proposed budget cuts to the National Institutes of Health and the administration\u2019s \u201cflat out refusal to acknowledge scientifically proven evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t like those who say if the facts don\u2019t fit their agenda, they\u2019re not facts,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Griffith said the cause of science and peace are connected because the discipline of science allows countries to bridge cultural gaps and cooperate on scientific advancement.<\/p>\n Noor Scoaib, the daughter of Pakistani immigrants and an engineer at the Missouri University for Science and Technology in Rolla, also attended the demonstration.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m really concerned about funding for the Environmental Protection Agency,\u201d Scoaib said. \u201cAnd I\u2019m also concerned about alternative facts.\u201d<\/p>\n She agreed the science and peace are interconnected.<\/p>\n \u201cScience brings people together around facts,\u201d she said. \u201cFacts don\u2019t change, regardless of your country of origin.\u201d<\/p>\n As the hundreds of demonstrators walked down Market Street toward the Gateway Arch, they chanted in unison. Saying things like \u201cstand up, fight back,\u201d \u201cthis is democracy,\u201d \u201cthis is science,\u201d \u201c(E.P.A. Administrator) Scott Pruitt has to go\u201d and \u201cno science, no peace.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cScience is important, science is our future,\u201d said Renee Riley of Ladue. \u201cFacts are being attacked on every level and I\u2019m happy to be here today.\u201d<\/p>\n Stacey Holland marched down Market with her 10-year-old daughter Sophia who wore a shirt saying \u201cfuture scientist.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m here today because I\u2019m really concerned about the funding of science,\u201d Stacey Holland said.<\/p>\n When the marchers arrived at the Gateway Arch, speakers delivered words of inspiration on the importance of science. Brian Carthans, an organizer for March for Science in St. Louis, spoke.<\/p>\n \u201cScience is more important to country than ever before,\u201d Carthans said in his speech. \u201cThe future will be built by the work of every citizen but especially the researcher, the engineer, the tinkerer and the mathematician. Science is the fuel for innovation, the tool for discovery and the catalyst of change.\u201d<\/p>\n Carthans talked about the diversity of the crowd that included all genders, ages and races.<\/p>\n \u201cI didn\u2019t make something like this happen,\u201d he said in an interview. \u201cIt happened on its own. This is a wonderful crowd, wonderful people.\u201d<\/p>\n Former National Weather Service Meteorologist Wes Browning also delivered a speech. During his career, Browning covered the St. Louis.<\/p>\n \u201cI embrace that skepticism,\u201d Browning said of climate change deniers. \u201cThis is called critical thought.\u201d<\/p>\n But like many scientists, Browning expresses concern about the impacts of climate change.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s one of the foremost challenges we face in the world today,\u201d Browning said in an interview after his speech. \u201cIt\u2019s not just locally, it\u2019s worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Thousands gathered in downtown St. Louis last weekend to voice their opposition to the Trump Administration\u2019s positions on science related issues. Demonstrations, titled March for Science, occurred in around 600 cities around the world on Saturday \u2013 Earth Day. In the St. Louis, marchers started at the intersection of 18th and Market Street and walked […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5065,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/04\/GEDC0062.jpg?fit=4320%2C3240&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5064"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5066,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5064\/revisions\/5066"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/peaceeconomyproject.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}