By Ian Roden
Protesters marched through the streets of Manhattan in response to Trump’s budget cuts. (Courtesy of Ian Roden)
This past Saturday, thousands of individuals gathered for Earth Day’s March for Science in Manhattan. Families, students, organizations and scientists marched from West 72nd Street, passed Trump Tower at Columbus Circle and finished on West 52nd Street.
Like many other marches happening around the world on this day, New York City’s March for Science was a response to President Donald J. Trump’s recently proposed budget cuts and political appointments to scientific organizations such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Protestors came equipped with signs that said things like: “Science is not a liberal conspiracy,” “Science is nonpartisan,” “Like black lives, science matters” and “Climate change is real.”
In addition to the signs, protestors directed their chance at the current White House administration. Protestors chanted “Ho ho hey hey, don’t destroy the EPA” while passing Trump Tower.
Among the students in the march was Udit Modi, a student studying at New York University. He said he was in attendance to support science advocacy.
“Politics should not interfere with scientific research or scientific inquiry,” he said.
Furthermore, he said Trump is a threat to advancements in combating climate change.
“I think he is definitely a threat to climate change. He is attempting to dissolve the EPA, he is weakening the stance NASA and of planetary science, he is attempting to curtail a lot of the regulations put in place,” he said.
Modi also said people who deny climate change do so because they are misinformed and swayed by propaganda. He said science education needs to improve.
One of the organizations participating in the march was refusefascism.org. Members of this group wore shirts and carried signs that said “No!” as a call to protest the Trump administration, which they feel is a fascist regime.
“We are oriented around organizing as many Americans as we can, we want to get millions in the street, we want to keep a constant drum beat of pressure to get this fascist regime out of power,” said Jay Walker of refusefascism.org. “We sincerely believe that everything Donald Trump has shown in his campaign and in his presidency to date has shown that this is a fascist regime.”
Walker also said that Trump is a threat to the climate change movement.
“He is going to ruin us when it comes to climate change,” he said. “He is ignoring all science reality and all facts.”
Samantha Mathews, mother of two and New York native, was also participating in the march.
“I’m here to support the scientific community because I feel it is being attacked under this administration,” she said. “Climate change is real and it is time we do something about it.”
Experts are urging Trump not to back out of the Paris Climate Agreement of 2015, an accord in which nearly every nation around the world pledged to reduce their carbon footprint by large amounts, according to the New York Times. While Trump’s decision has not been made yet, he has directed the newly appointed head of the EPA, Scott Pruitt, to begin a deconstruction of the Clean Power Plan, a plan designed to help reduce carbon emissions.
The effectiveness, or lack thereof, of these protests will be revealed at the Group of 7 meeting of the world’s leading economies in May, according to the New York Times.
The Fordham Ram 
