I watched the bald eagle with awe. Circling endlessly above my head, looking for her next meal, she effortlessly moved with the wind, eventually perching in a nearby tree for a closer look at the lake below. A few minutes later, she was back in the sky.
Like all wild animals, birds are free. It’s not a coincidence that the bald eagle is our national symbol. Bald eagles not only look regal when perching, but the way they soar reminds us what it means to be an American.
Freedom.
Stand up for Science protests use our freedom of speech to promote freedom of science (Photo courtesy of Living Better Through Chemistry/Wikimedia))
Put that eagle or any other wild bird in a cage, and see what happens. They freak out, hitting the walls of this new world, not understanding how they could be trapped by their surroundings.
Humans are no different. People who enjoy and appreciate our freedoms realize right away when they are taken away, when we are put in a cage — either literally or figuratively – just like an eagle.
Like the bald eagle, science is a national symbol we can be proud of and is part of the freedom that we enjoy. For over a century, America has led scientific innovation and discovery, and our science is one of the reasons that many nations aspire to be more like us. It is also the motivation for the many students from other countries who attempt to join the laboratories of American scientists. Our science is a national treasure, and should be embraced and honored, not constrained and tied down like a caged eagle.
When a government limits science, it is limiting our freedom. When a government fears certain kinds of science, or retaliates again science for speaking the truth, we should be worried. Will it try to take away other things that it and the corporations that feed its leaders want next?
We are not that different than birds. As Americans with inherent rights that we fought wars over, our freedoms matter to us. When they are taken away, we act like an eagle being forced into a cage. We don’t take to it well. We protest. We rebel. That is what makes us Americans. We love our freedoms, even if sometimes we take them for granted.
Unsurprisingly, the new administration has begun to put science in a cage, and particularly the health and climate-related science that it has chosen to use as a political cudgel. I am sure there are bright minds within the current administration that know very well how important vaccines, climate change, and having a diverse scientific workforce are to our nation’s future. But for now, they have chosen to politicize science and suggest that we don’t need so much of it, and particularly the kinds that fit with their current narrative. That is not only caging science, but it is taking away some of your freedom as well.
Consider the freedom of being disease free. Remember the pandemic and how bad it was? Now consider how bad it could have been without science. Science helped us understand the pandemic and respond as quickly as we did, even if the administration at the time (which is obviously the same as the current administration) mishandled the crisis. Now we have the same people in charge, and yet they have decided to take away some of the most critical tools that they, yes they, previously used to save lives. Does that make sense to anyone? Do you feel more free, or more caged, because of it?
Ask yourself this: is caging our science making America a better, or worse place? Are we a better America with vaccines, or without? With a space program or without? With climate science or without? With energy research or without? With green chemistry or without? With advanced mathematics or without? With a diverse scientific workforce or with all white males in lab coats? Now ask yourself, what do you think other countries would say, looking at us caging our science? Would they think we are making America stronger and more free by doing it?
Scientists certainly feel less free, and they have protested vehemently, including the recent Stand Up For Science rallies that happened throughout the nation just a few days ago. It’s not just their careers on the line; it is the future of our country, and our ability to deal with the problems that we already have, such as cancer, climate change, and energy production, and the ones that we are trying to prevent, like the next pandemic.
Like a bird in a cage, however, scientists can’t do it alone. Scientists don’t have the power to open up their own cage; all they can do is fly at the bars and protest.
Only you have the power to open the door, and allow science to fly free.
Scientists need your help, now more than ever, to write and call your representatives and tell them that this is not what you asked for.
You never asked for them to start caging our scientific eagles, the people that have kept our scientific and technological infrastructure and innovation progressing for centuries. You never expected them to take away critical research in medicine, environmental science, and technology, as well as a diverse workforce, things that have saved lives, increased our standard of living, and fueled our economy for decades. Please let them know that enough is enough, and it is time to reverse course and let our science eagles out of the cage, so they can fly back to their labs and get back to work.
Our national symbol is an amazing creature, and watching a bald eagle soar above a lake is both exhilarating and inspiring. Watching our scientists do their work is similarly inspirational, even if we observe them in a different way.
Our country is a better place when both of these national symbols are free to soar, just as they should be, as we wait for that next exciting moment in their flight.
Dr. Howard Whiteman is the Commonwealth Endowed Chair of Environmental Studies and professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Murray State University.