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Utah Mobilizes Marches For Science

Judy Fahys
/
KUER News
Alex Porpora (in green sweatshirt) is one of the Utahns who's planning to join the March for Science this weekend. More than 500 are planned worldwide, including five in Utah, to celebrate scientists and their work.

“My sign is a very pun-y sign that says ‘cell – c-e-l-l – e-brate science’,” she says, crafting her message with multi-colored markers and representations of both plant and animal cells.

Scientists and their supporters are gathering worldwide for 530 satellite marches. Five of them are planned in Utah.

These marches won’t be protests, organizers say. They will de-mystify scientists by showcasing how they integral their work is to everyday life.

“Scientists are part of our communities,” says Porpora, mentioning the smartphones and safe medicines scientists have brought society. “And they help to make our lives better.”

Up to 2,000 people are expected for the Salt Lake City march to the State Capitol Saturday afternoon. Nobel winner Mario Capecchi is listed as a speaker at the forum that follows.

Ginger Tolman, a non-scientist behind events in Park City Saturday morning, hopes the nonpartisan events educate and energize the community.

“I don’t see it as a political march,” she says, “but I also don’t see science as political.”

Some Utahns are even traveling to Washington, D.C., for the national March for Science. John Horel, a professor of atmospheric science at the U, says research funding and science data play crucial roles in our economy and well-being.

“There’s a number of folks,” he says, who have decided that it’s really important to raise awareness o”f some of the issues that are facing scientists in Utah and around the nation.

Marches are also planned in Logan, Moab and Saint George.

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Judy Fahys has reported in Utah for two decades, covering politics, government and business before taking on environmental issues. She loves covering Utah, where petroleum-pipeline spills, the nation’s radioactive legacy and other types of pollution provide endless fodder for stories. Previously, she worked for the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah, and reported on the nation’s capital for States News Service and the Scripps League newspaper chain. She is a longtime member of the Society of Environmental Journalists and Investigative Reporters and Editors. She also spent an academic year as a research fellow in the Knight Science Journalism program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In her spare time, she enjoys being out in the environment, especially hiking, gardening and watercolor painting.
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