Elisha Anderson

Detroit Free Press

First-grader Gracie Stansell wore goggles and a white shirt resembling a scientist’s lab coat as she carried a homemade sign that read: “future scientist."

The 7-year-old from Livonia said her favorite subject is science and she “likes to make stuff.”

She was among a crowd of thousands participating today in the March for Science Detroit at Hart Plaza.

The event in downtown Detroit on Earth Day coincided with the March for Science in Washington, D.C., and was one of the more than 600 marches that took place in cities worldwide, including about 15 that were planned in Michigan.

“We have to stand up and make sure that our rights to scientific information are protected,” said Jodie Weiler, March for Science Detroit co-organizer. “Not just for us but for the future ... Our children will live here when we’re long gone.”

She organized the event with her husband, William Weiler, and estimated about 3,000 people attended. Many of those people pushed back against policies they perceived as weakening environmental protection, scientific research and funding from the administration of President Donald Trump.

“We’re going backward in terms of scientific research, scientific funding, scientific education,” William Weiler of West Bloomfield said.

Many participants see the Trump administration, which has expressed skepticism about humans' role in climate change and has eased regulations on coal and oil production, as a threat to science. Proposed budget cuts for the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Energy's Office of Science are major concerns.

The proposed federal budget calls for eliminating the $300 million annually spent on the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, a program that improves water quality and restores wetlands and wildlife habitat, as well as reduces pollution.

Planning for the Detroit march, billed as bipartisan, got under way in February, shortly after the national effort started.

The crowd — including, scientists, engineers, educators, students and retirees — carried signs that said “Keep our lakes great! Save the EPA!" "I like big brains and I cannot lie” and “Got polio? Me neither. Thx, science!”

As they marched up Woodward Avenue, some chanted “Science not silence,” “Love your world, support science” and “Make the Earth great again!”

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Mary O’Brien, 55 of Marine City attended with her husband Pat O’Brien, 68. They held signs in the plaza and many cars honked as they drove by, showing their support.

Pat O’Brien's sign said “To infinity & beyond!” That’s the message they text their youngest son as a goodnight greeting. He attends the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is studying to be an astrophysicist, they said.

Pat O’Brien said science is important to everyday life in medicine, the climate, environment and technology.

“Most anything you can think of … science is involved,” he said.

Alexandria Hett, 22, an Eastern Michigan University student who plans to participate in the Mortuary Science Program at Wayne State University, said she wants to work in a morgue one day. She carried a sign in the shape of a beaker that said: “We are part of the solution.”

“It takes a big group of people to make a change … as a whole we’re a part of the solution,” she said.

Contact Elisha Anderson: eanderson@freepress.com or 313-222-5144. USA TODAY and staff writer Todd Spangler contributed to this report.