Seattle’s March for Science is expected to be the second largest one in the country, second only to Washington D.C. That’s according to the activists behind it.
The event is coinciding with the annual Earth Day celebration, when people who care about the environment traditionally get out there to show their colors.
Many people who don’t normally show up for political protests are planning to march for science tomorrow. Take Bruce Congden. He’s the dean of STEM and social sciences at Seattle Pacific University.
“I’m planning to march for science on Saturday – yup,” he said.
The 60-year-old sounds actually kind of surprised at himself. He’s a self-described “classic introvert.” He's an entomologist by training and said he hasn’t thought yet much about what kind of sign he might carry or any of that. He just wants to contribute to the numbers of people out there.
“The system seems kind of too big for an individual like me to go in and make any corrections to. And nobody has asked my opinion," Congden said. “But when I heard about this march that was being organized, I thought, well, okay. There’s something that allows me to at least feel like I am standing up and being counted.”
The Seattle march was organized chiefly by Miles Greb, a 29-year-old computer engineer who writes pro-science comic books.
“And because I had all that media and I had a decent following, based on my books, that kind of helped me get the march organized in Seattle, ” Greb said. "Because I had a bunch of great art already made of scientists – to share on social media.
“So, it’s really helped the Seattle march. We’re actually the biggest Facebook and Twitter following of any of the Satellite marches,” said Greb.
Organizers expect between 50-70,000 people for the Seattle march.
Those are conservative estimates, Greb said, adding that those are the numbers they submitted to authorities for permitting.
Seattle Is Not The Only March In The Region
Olympia organizer Jessica Archer says theirs is one of the bigger events, but there are smaller ones too. She’s a marine biologist with a day job as a team manager at the state Department of Ecology.
“There’s marches happening in Shelton and Chehalis and Bellingham and White Salmon, of all places? So that is really exciting,” she said.
Marches are also taking place in Tacoma, Spokane and Kennewick.
There’s a link that shows them internationally here.
And here is a map of the routes for the Seattle March for Science.
