Scientists Really Do Have the Best Protest Signs

As a group, scientists aren’t generally known for their political activism. They’re too busy using their intellect to discover new things that advance civilization, and when needed, to protect us from ourselves.

So watch out when you make them angry. Saturday’s global March for Science, taking place on every continent in the world on Earth Day, has turned out to be an impassioned, intelligent, and defiant day of activism that proves there just may be hope for humanity. Of the many poignant messages, one of the most important has been that despite the science-deniers in power, there are a lot more people who believe in reality than those who don’t. And they showed up en masse with arguments that are hard to refute. Like any good scientist would.

Speaking at Washington’s March for Science, James Balog, founder of Extreme Ice Survey, reclaimed the misguided belief being pushed by conservatives in power that by denying climate change and promoting individual rights (read: corporate rights to destroy and pollute) over human rights to clean drinking water and a stable planet, those in power somehow have adopted the mantle of patriotism.

“I’m a patriot,” Balog said, “because nature isn’t natural anymore…Empowered by evidence, we shall fight for spacious skies, we shall fight for amber waves of grain…[and] we shall never, ever surrender.”

It’s a strange world we’re living in when scientists have to point out, as one demonstrator did with her sign, that they “shouldn’t have to fight for reality.”

Judging by the impressive turnout around the world for the March for Science, it’s going to be really, really hard to argue against them from here on out. And if the facts of their argument aren’t enough to convince you, well, it turns out they’re also very clever at making signs.