No amount of rain could stifle Earth Day enthusiasm as 10 of our own Penn State Altoona students—along with several PSUA faculty members, thousands of other science advocates, environmentalists, and the King of Science himself (Bill Nye) — took to the streets of D.C. for the “March for Science” on Saturday, April 22nd.
After multiple early morning teach-ins at the National Mall, several speakers and a musical performance near the Washington monument to hype up the crowd, the group of Altoona student activists were ready to make history. The march lasted only two hours, but made some serious waves, being joined by thousands of satellite marches held simultaneously throughout the United States and around the world.
In the wake of the multitude of comments and actions from the Trump administration regarding climate change, environment-related regulations, and science program funding, outrage and concern has increasingly swept the scientific and environmental communities. From calling climate change “a hoax made by and for the Chinese,” to vowing to repeal the Paris Climate Agreement, to budget proposals mentioning double-digit budget cuts to organizations like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), President Trump has not established himself as much of an ally to environmentalism. Those who have, however, took it upon themselves to fight for what they felt needed advocacy, bringing some pretty clever signs and costumes with them to help make their point.
