An Earthday Science event was held Fullerton city hall. Matt Truxaw’s dinosaur costume warned of species extinction and Alan Williamson’s flag celebrated the planet. in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

Elliott Hommes is concerned about endangered species. His favorite endangered animal is the vulture. The Fullerton March for Science featured speakers and a march in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Leo Nguyen said he will be a scientist in the future. in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

More than 1,000 demonstrators attended the Science March in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

Jennifer Irani was one of the demonstrators at the Science March in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)



More than 1,000 demonstrators attended the Science March in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

More than 1,000 demonstrators attended the Science March in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

More than 1,000 demonstrators attended the Science March in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

Many of the signs at the Science March were critical of president Donald Trump in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

Phil Janowicz was one of the demostrators at the Science March. in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)



Leo Nguyen said he will be a scientist in the future. in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

An Earthday Science event was held Fullerton city hall. Matt Truxaw’s dinosaur costume warned of species extinction and Alan Williamson’s flag celebrated the planet. in Fullerton, CA on Friday, April 21, 2017. (Photo by Bill Alkofer,Orange County Register/SCNG)

An estimated 500 people rallied in Fullerton. Marches were held around the nation on Saturday. (Photo by Shane Newell, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of scientists and supporters hit the streets in Southern California and elsewhere around the U.S. and the world on Saturday for the March for Science, intended to promote science and defend it from attacks and proposed budget cuts.

Related Articles March for Science: Trump’s environmental policies turn scientists to political activists Scientists involved in the march say they’re anxious about political and public rejection of established science such as climate change and the safety of vaccines.

The march also comes on the 47th anniversary of Earth Day, an annual

observance focusing on environmental and climate literacy that is celebrated

in nearly 200 countries.

Like many of those who spoke out Saturday, Jet Propulsion Laboratory electrical engineer Christophe Basset of Altadena said he was concerned about the health of the sciences under President Donald Trump.

“We’re all worried with the new administration,” said Bassett, who attended the Pasadena rally with his wife, fellow JPL scientist Kari Lewis, and their children Eric, 6, and Marie, 8. “They’re proposing to cut earth science, and this whole ‘alternative facts’ thing.”

Christophe Bassett’s sign, adorned with the electrical symbols for resistors and transformers, stated, “We are not resistors. We are transformers.”

In an Earth Day statement, President Donald Trump said that his administration is “committed to keeping our air and water clean, to preserving our forests, lakes and open spaces and to protecting endangered species.”

But that won’t be done, he said, in a way that harms “working families” and he said the government is “reducing unnecessary burdens on American workers and American companies, while being mindful that our actions must also protect the environment.”

In Pasadena, home to prestigious institutions such as Caltech and the Huntington Medical Research Institute in addition to NASA’s JPL, science has a special place in people’s hearts, Mayor Terry Tornek said following the 1.5-mile march.

Pasadena is “a city of science,” the mayor said to cheers. “Science is really baked into the culture of this city.”

“Science everywhere promotes the search for object truth, and in a contentious world with lots of divergent points of view, we desperately need that truth,” Tornek said.

In Orange County, about 1,000 people marched in downtown Fullerton. Some held signs saying “Dump Trump” and “Make Science Great Again.” Protestors shouted “Science not silence” as they made their way along the march route.

Steve Besneatte, an AT&T engineer, carried a sign that read “Make America Smart Again. Read.”

“It’s time to make politicians and everyday people aware of the science in our lives and the crisis we’re facing,” he said.

“We want to see change. This is what makes things change: being visible,” said Gill Kanel of Fullerton, who has a machine shop specializing in aerospace and medical products.

Kanel held a sign that read “In science we trust.” He stood on the corner of Commonwealth and Highland, soliciting honks from passing motorists.

Led by two electric massive electric Hummers, several thousand people marched in downtown Los Angeles. They chanted “Money for science and education, not for wars and climate alteration” and carried signs that read: “There is no Planet B” and “The Earth does not belong to man.”

“We’ve gone through a time where we used to look up to intelligence and aspire to learn more and do more with that and intellectual curiosity … And now we’ve got a government that is saying that climate change is a Chinese hoax,” said Danny Leserman, 26, who was carrying a sign showing a sad polar bear wishing for more ice.

Hundreds of people turned out in downtown Riverside, where the chants included, “What do we want? Science. When do we want it? After peer review.”

Engineers, chemists and a doctor dressed like Captain Planet took a break from the weekend-long party at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival Saturday to rally for science, as well.

Carrying signs that championed science for creating alcohol (“Science made beer, I love beer”) and planet-saving awareness (“There is no Planet B”), the group moved through the campground passing our custom made posters and calling for others to join in.

On the east coast, thousands of people stood outside the Washington Monument amid bouts of downpours, listening to a mix of speeches and music.

This was the first protest for Jeannette Villabon and her son Nikko Chey of Stanhope, New Jersey. So Villabon went all out, donning a Tyrannosaurus rex costume and holding a sign that said: “Hey tiny hands fund EPA study. Quit being cretaceous.”

Trump’s “archaic thinking is going to ruin us all,” Villabon said.

Other signs were only slightly less pointed, such as “edit genes not the truth,” ”data not dogma” and “global warming is real. Trump is the hoax.”

Former Orange County Republican Party chairman Scott Baugh said earlier this week he regards the March for Science and People’s Climate March scheduled for next weekend as simply thinly veiled excuses to attack the president’s policies.

The March for Science attracted several thousand people in Berlin, with supporters walking from one of the city’s universities to the Brandenburg Gate.

Germany’s foreign minister, Sigmar Gabriel, endorsed March for Science events across Germany. “Free research and teaching are the supporting pillars of an open and modern society,” Gabriel said.

The Associated Press, City News Service and Timothy Guy contributed to this report.