March For Science: Route, Plan For The Day, Notable Speakers

Washington has seen a seemingly endless march of protestors since President Donald Trump's inauguration Jan. 20. Women and those who support them flooded the city the day after Jan. 21. That was followed by demonstrations on immigration policy, health care policy, public education — you name it and people show up for the cause.

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This weekend, on Earth Day, people from near and far will descend on the nation's capital in support of science. The march and rally are planned for Saturday to urge politicians to create policy backed by science. And while people are marching in the District of Columbia, there will be 609 satellite marches across the world. If you want to get involved you can look up a march near you. There are also posters on the March for Science website created specifically for the events available for download and printing.

Washington March for Science Schedule:

Participants in D.C. are getting an early start on Saturday. They'll begin meeting up at 8 a.m. just north of the Washington Monument. Entrances with security checks will be at the intersection of Constitution Avenue NW and 17th Street NW, and 15th Street NW and Madison Drive, according to the March for Science website.

Teach-ins, like the ones that kicked off the first ever Earth Day in 1970, will begin at 9 a.m. in designated teach-in tents. The main programming, including speakers, will begin at 10 a.m.

Who Is Going To The March For Science?:

Millions of people will turn out for the marches across the world. The D.C. march has an impressive lineup of celebrities, activists, scientists, educators and more. A few of the speakers in attendance will include co-host Questlove, Bill Nye (the Science Guy), Mari Copeny (Little Miss Flint), Dan Abrams (global director of Earth Day) and world-renowned scientists and researchers. Rep. Bill Foster, D-Ill., the only member of Congress with a doctorate in physics, will be attending and marching as well. He says he'll be marching as a member of the scientific community, not a member of Congress, the Hill reported. A full list of the speakers attending the Washington march is available here.

March for Science D.C. route:

After the speakers on the main stage conclude the program, the crowd will march up Constitution Avenue toward the Capitol reflecting pool, ending up and dispersing in front of the Capitol on 3rd Street NW.

Should I go to the March for Science?

The march is billed as a nonpartisan event on the March for Science site. The description of the event says: "We unite as a diverse, nonpartisan group to call for science that upholds the common good and for political leaders and policy makers to enact evidence-based policies in the public interest."

Science has been brought into the political conversation on multiple occasions as subjective fact and experts are getting tired of it. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt denied the role of human activity in climate change last month. Trump called climate change a hoax and supported the idea that vaccines are unsafe.

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson uploaded a video to Facebook on Wednesday, urging citizens to believe in science and hold their elected officials accountable for acting on that science. Belief in science that has been studied, tested and proven has become political on certain fronts. The march is to support that idea that science is fact and should be treated as such in politics.

Upcoming marches:

The Washington Park Service had received 197 requests for protest permits as of Wednesday, the Washington Post reported, up by 49 requests compared with this time last year. That statistic doesn't include the smaller pop-up protests D.C. has seen since January. There have been several large protests this year, including the Tax March, the Women's March and this weekend's March for Science. Next weekend D.C. will be overrun with attendees of the People's Climate March. There are more large protests planned for topics like immigration and LGBTQ pride.