On this day in 2017, Earth Day, hundreds of thousands of people participate in coordinated marches across the U.S. and the world, advocating for science-based public policy and in defense of government-funded scientific research. Demonstrators, generally skeptical of the President Trump’s agenda, call for government transparency, increases in research funding, and protection of environmental and public health regulations.

The administration dismisses the demonstrators as a cult. As of this day in 2026, after being re-elected in 2024, the Trump administration has cancelled over 7000 research grants, fired and forced resignations of tens of thousands of scientists, and proposed 35% reductions in non-defense science-related department budgets.