“Let Science Speak,” a six-part short documentary series about the importance of science in the ever-evolving world, premiered in September at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and featured a segment with Provost Alan Townsend. The documentary, shown on the festival’s opening night, tells the personal stories of six environmental scientists who not only are well known in their fields, but also have a personal connection with science.

Since then, The Weather Channel has conducted two interviews with Townsend about the film, with the most recent airing two days before the election in which Townsend notes that election results aside, science is not a partisan issue. “The smart thing we can do as a country is pay attention to the evidence, then make the difficult decisions that need to be made.”

Townsend and the other scientists in the documentary project also co-authored an article in the October issue of Scientific American titled “The Bad News We Need.” The article, subtitled “The PICC’s scary new report could finally stir us to take action on climate change,” notes that “our planet doesn’t care if we’re conservative or liberal. Earth continues to warm as a result of our actions.”

The “Let Science Speak” project is aimed at building a groundswell of bipartisan support for scientists on the front lines of solving the planet’s gravest challenges. “Chipping away at America’s solid scientific foundation means we risk losing much of what we hold dear,” says Townsend. “ ‘Let Science Speak’ is a window into the fundamental humanity of science — and why we all should care about its future.”