Sonoma State University Environmental Studies and Planning (ENSP) Professor Daniel Soto was one of five speakers at the March for Science in Santa Rosa Saturday, April 22. The event saw more than 2,000 people marching from Julliard Park to City Hall to protest President Trump's dismissal of climate change and the cuts in funding to research programs proposed by his administration.
"Science cannot support us if we do not continue to support it," he told the crowd of enthusiastic supporters. "Thank you for marching today."
The Santa Rosa event was one of more than 500 March for Science events held around the world, including one in San Francisco that drew a reported 50,000 people.
Several other Sonoma State faculty and students were at the march as well, which culminated in the city's Earth Day festivities near City Hall.
About ENSP
Since 1972, Sonoma State University's Environmental Studies and Planning Department has offered a distinctive undergraduate program of interdisciplinary study aimed at the analysis, management, and solution of environmental problems and issues. Specifically, the program combines a core education in ecology, physical science, social sciences, and the humanities with targeted coursework in an area of expertise, including energy, conservation, water, education, and planning. This involves integrating knowledge from multiple disciplines to understand the functioning of ecological systems and the nature of human impact upon these systems at local, regional, and global scales. The department's two goals are to prepare students for careers in the environmental professions, graduate studies, and positive action in their own lives, and to broadly promote ecological literacy in order to help maintain and enhance the quality of human and natural environments.