In celebration of Earth Day, citizens from all over Orange County peacefully gathered for the March for Science to draw awareness to climate change and the importance of science in society on Saturday, April 22.
Participants marched down a route that reached the cross streets of Harbor and Chapman starting in front of Fullerton City Hall.
The March for Science was created to show support for science and to engage and educate the public about the value of science to the community and the nation.
The march took place not only in Fullerton, but across the nation and even across continents such as Europe and South America, with the main stage at the National Mall in Washington D.C.
Cal State Fullerton student Jeff Daniel Rosenblum hosted the Fullerton march along side Mark H. Shapiro.
Shapiro is a physics professor at Cal State Fullerton and served as chair of the physics department for over 10 years.
Before the marching took place, multiple speeches were given in front of city hall by science professors and political figures to the hundreds of participants.
“We will fight discrimination, exploitation, and inequity in the scientific community,” proclaimed Rosenblum.
Science advocates protested that current administration is controlled by the climate change naysayers who outright deny it’s existence.
“Let’s make America smart again. Let’s make America kind again,” said Assemblywoman Sharon Quirk-Silva who rallied the crowd.
Past presidents have had an increase in funding for the National Institute of Health while Trump’s administration is proposing plans that will lead to an 18 percent decrease. Due to this budget cut, over a thousand research projects in the science fields will be forced to cease efforts.
Also, this cut will affect hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students who are currently studying in specific fields.
“We are not here for political purposes, but to make it clear that science is a way of knowing that helps us understand the world we live in and has served the world well,” said Steve Murray, biology professor at Cal State Fullerton.
Although politics impact great environmental decisions in society, science and education is the main factors that brought participants together.
“The thing about science is that it’s true no matter if you believe in it or not,” continued Murray.
“We are not here for a one day fight. We need to fight for our scientists and the way we do that is through the system of politics. Republicans and Democrats must come together to make a change,” said Joe Dunn, former California State Senator who represented California’s 34th Senate District in central Orange County.
“There’s a reason why we support science, even controversial science and it’s because we want our lives to be better. When mankind makes decisions based off our scientists, life gets better” said Dunn.
