Portland Press cites researchers about March of Science
Four University of Maine scientists — Paul Mayewski, Jacquelyn Gill, David Hart and George Jacobson — were referenced in a Portland Press Herald article about the March for Science on April 22.
Mayewski, director of the Climate Change Institute, says for the scientific community, this is a wake-up call to be more involved in how people perceive science. “That means they need to be able to engage with everything and everyone from the public to other scientists,” says Mayewski, who is teaming with Lumenarrt! for an event April 22 that will merge science and art by projecting messages in Congress Square.
Jacobson, former CCI director, says he has opinions but doesn’t talk about them because he wants people to understand the science as objectively as possible. “My goal is not to advocate a particular policy or political position but to have people understand the issues. There are a lot of competing interests that are legitimate. I don’t think scientists telling people what to do is very helpful. Helping them understand the science is the best thing we can do.”
A couple of Gill’s tweets are referenced in the article, including one in which she writes that science “has never, ever been apolitical, because it is inherently a human endeavor.” Gill is an assistant professor of paleoecology and plant ecology.
Hart, director of the Senator George J. Mitchell Center for Sustainability Solutions, says some wonderful, committed scientists won’t be marching. “But they aren’t saying, ‘We need to hide out and hunker down.’ We need to get out and speak in local settings where science is one of the things that can lead to a better future,” he says.