Behind the scenes at the March for Science

Here we go.
OK, so the morning of January 24th
we started talking about the Women's March
and how incredible it was that they had managed
to pull off this global movement
that was just like a phenomenon.
We couldn't quite grasp the logistics
of how anyone could make that,
how any group could make that happen.
And then I said, oh but I would totally throw down
for a science march.
We should organize that.
My exact words were, I can tell you:
Which is the most spectacularly ignorant statement.
"Seems like it would be pretty easy."
This will be on my tombstone.
So I emailed the person who had the Twitter handle:
who's Jonathan Berman, one of the other co-chairs,
and started emailing with him saying
I wanted to tie everything together
and then in the midst of us having that
kind of email conversation it exploded on Twitter.
And went to from like you know
whatever it was like 10-50 followers to
like 30,000 and it just kept growing
and growing and growing.
And it was kind of so dramatic that there was really
no other choice but to throw in.
I happened to be off that morning,
which is the only reason that I'm talking to you now
instead of one of the other hundreds of people
who had this idea.
My name is Caroline Weinberg.
I'm one of the National Co-Chairs for the March for Science.
The March for Science is a global movement
that focuses on the role of science in society
and the importance of having it inform the policy
that shapes our present and future.
There are 70 people in the core national group.
All volunteers--no one's getting paid.
No one has asked to be paid.
It's just people dedicating their time because
they're passionate about what the march stands for
and we have I think like 150 partners now.
And then there's the satellite cities,
which we just crossed 490 satellite cities globally.
It's a lot of a lot of moving parts that we're
trying to keep together all really remotely
over the internet.
Really just trying to pull everyone together and to
make sure that everything kind of gels
into the same place come April 22nd.
You guys haven't met right?
No!
Great to meet you!
Nice to meet you!
Her hair's not purple-pink in real life.
My name is Ayana Elizabeth Johnson
and I am co-director of partnerships
for the March for Science.
I'm a scientist. I am a marine biologist by training.
So I really care about science because it's kind of
the way my brain works and a really foundational way
that I interact with the world.
I was just chatting with my mom last weekend
who was a civil rights activist, both my parents were.
and they were joking that they finally got their daughter
to be an activist but it's for science.
Which was not really what anyone
expected would be necessary.
My name is Courtney Weber and I am the
Social Media Co-Lead for the March for Science.
It's there, it's live . We've had 104 people donate
just this week, which is really great.
And then I just like how much people are
still interacting with posts.
I always worry for however many posts we get out
that we're going to eventually overwhelm people.
But they're still very much interactive and engaged.
So I got these buttons in the mail today
and I showed the mailman the buttons
and he said: "Wow those are really cool, can I have one?"
And I said: "Well it's for the March for Science--
do you know what that is?"
And he said: "No." And I said: "It's about facts
in support of facts and evidence-based
policy-making and the role of science
in government and society." And he said:
"Yeah yeah, I'm super for facts I mean
that sounds great!"
And I said: "Well you can have one
if you're going to march."
So we'll see, hopefully he'll be there.
Day of the march I will be sharing the really
cool things that are happening.
We really focussed on people with a strong history
of speaking out about science.
So Bill Nye is the science communicator,
making it accessible.
Lydia is a really amazing example of more basic,
publicly-funded research that can
change the entire course of medicine
and the lives of millions with diabetes.
And then Dr. Mona, who can speak about government
attempts to silence science
and the importance of citizen science.
And those together as a unit--they represent
everything that the march stands for.
There's a power to kind of standing in a crowd
with people who are standing behind
the same thing that you are and I'm hoping
that that's what the march does.
Is sends that kind of message like you're not alone.
This is something that we're all
going to work on together.
And that is a really powerful thing.
So it's not necessarily Aprill 22nd,
It's what everyone does when they walk away.
The Association of American Physicians just voted.
Over 83% of them voted to have them sponsor
and endorse the March for Science.
Yay!
So many amazing secrets that will be revealed soon!

Behind the scenes at the March for Science

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