March for Science: Rally to highlight research, climate change

Jeanne Fromm has her shirt T-picked out for Saturday.

The University of South Dakota earth science professor's black T-shirt says "I'm With Her" and has an arrow pointed at an image of the planet.

Fromm is among hundreds expected to join Saturday's March for Science in Sioux Falls. The effort is the local arm of a national campaign to raise awareness about science and to encourage research and data-backed policymaking.

“We need to keep researching and understanding what’s going on so that we can react and help people adjust," said Fromm, who worries federal budget cuts will hurt climate change research at a critical time for the planet.

South Dakota scientists fear cuts to funding sources that have helped them run university labs, medical research facilities and technology start-ups. And that concern has been enough to drive some to break their silence in the political sphere, upsetting traditional scientists who've said it's not the role of researchers to push policy decisions.

President Donald Trump has proposed a budget that cuts funding for the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Institutes of Health and has publicly stated that he believes climate change is a "hoax" and expressed doubts about the safety of vaccines.

“I think there’s a growing fear that there’s a lot of policy being passed that isn’t based on science or data, it’s based on partisanship,” event organizer Kylie Kiesner said. “With this march, it's not directly trying to be political, it’s just trying to show science serves a common goal."

Carrie Olson-Manning worries about climate change, and that her students won't get the same opportunities that helped her become an evolutionary biologist.

"We have a climate denier who is in the White House and we have an evolution denier who is the vice president," Olson-Manning said, "and when people who deny science get political power, then they have the chance to dismantle important funding institutions."

The South Dakota Board of Regents has advised participants not to advocate for their institutions, but their scientists do have permission to participate as individuals.

Days ahead of the event, scientists said they hoped to recharge their excitement about the field and encourage non-scientists to reach out to their elected officials to support additional funding for research in South Dakota.

Others said they were unconvinced that the march would have much of an impact. Matt Staab, a conservationist and owner of Northview Fishing & Pets, said he'd like to see scientists make use of their current funding to provide more solutions to phenomena like climate change.

"I believe in science and I believe in all of this stuff, but climate change to me is just a way to raise taxes and redistribute wealth," Staab said.

Andrew Manning, microbial biochemist and lab supervisor for Novita Nutrition, hasn't been politically active in the past, but he said he feels like scientists have no choice at this point but to share their accomplishments and ask that elected officials continue to support their work.

“I think there’s a quiet majority that thought that logic would win out and now it’s time to call representatives and senators and state legislators to let them know that we are populists, we are here and we are paying attention,” he said.

Clarification: Sanford Health does not have a policy on employee participation in the March for Science. An earlier version of this story overstated the organization's position.

Follow Dana Ferguson on Twitter @bydanaferguson, call (605) 370-2493 or email dferguson@argusleader.com

Event details: 

Where: March begins at Carnegie Town Hall – 235 W 10th St.

When: Saturday, April 22 beginning at 10 a.m.