my care2
make a difference
share your passions, stories, inspirations, and more
Message: Rachel Carson  



Rachel Carson
1907 - 1964

Rachel Carson grew up on a small Pennsylvania farm, where she spent hours exploring the outdoors. She always loved books, and when she was young thought she would be a writer. Her first publication was at age 10, in a children's magazine.

She went to the Pennsylvania College for Women. A required course in biology made her change assumptions about her career: She majored in zoology, and then went to Johns Hopkins for a masters degree in genetics. After completing her degrees in 1932, she wrote science articles for newspapers and worked at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. After her father's sudden death in 1935, she needed to find more regular work to help support her family. She was hired by the Bureau of Fisheries (later the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service) in Washington, D.C. Her sister died in 1936, and Carson and her mother raised her two orphaned children. While working as a scientist-bureaucrat for the government, Carson continued writing. In 1941, she published Under the Sea-Wind, her first book. She was a quiet, private person, fascinated with the workings of nature from a scientific and aesthetic point of view.

Carson went on to write The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea, and finally Silent Spring in 1962. Her science and nature writing was serialized in magazines, and she had a devoted following. The Sea Around Us won the National Book Award in 1951, and that year she received a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship. She was able to retire in 1952, living off her writing. Her books brought her considerable fame, which she disliked but about which she maintained some humor. The fame was both positive and negative. In the wake of Silent Spring, which described the dangers of pesticides such as DDT and other chlorinated hydorcarbons, she was attacked personally and as a scientist by many -- such as chemical company representatives -- who had reason to fear her critiques. She mostly did not reply, but let the book speak for itself. In one interview, however, she was asked by someone making the link between pesticides and agricultural output, "Miss Carson, what do you eat?" And she replied, "Chlorinated hydrocarbons like everyone else."

Despite innumerable personal tragedies while she was working on Silent Spring -- she was seriously ill, a niece died and left a young son whom she adopted, her mother died, and she learned she had cancer -- Carson produced a book that would take on a life of its own. It was a best-seller for a year and was translated into many languages. As Esquire magazine wrote, "The book that her efforts resulted in was about the spraying and what it did to the birds and other creatures. But that does not begin to describe its scope or account for its impact. One might just as well say that Darwin wrote about turtles and the Pacific islands where they were found."

Carson died two years after Silent Spring was published, at age 56.

"Those who dwell, as scientists or laymen, among the beauties of the earth are never alone or weary in life. . . . Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." (from Sense of Wonder)   "

Silent Spring"is published
1962"

Over increasingly large areas of the United States spring now comes unheralded by the return of birds, and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song."
(from Silent Spring)

Rachel Carson received a letter from a friend in Massachusetts in the summer of 1957. Her friend wrote that an airplane hired by the state had flown back and forth over her two acres of woods, spraying DDT to control mosquitos. The next day, there were dead songbirds in her yard. She contacted Carson, a biologist and author working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, to find out what could be done to stop another spraying. Carson looked into the problem and was shocked by how extensive the pesticide situation was. She decided to write about it and let people know.

DDT came into common use around 1939 (though invented in 1874), especially for insect control for the army during World War II. Two of Carson's colleagues had written of the dangers of DDT in the mid-1940s, but in scientific papers. Carson herself queried Reader's Digest at the time to see if they would run a story on the issue. They declined and Carson put the idea on the back burner. Until her friend's letter arrived.

Carson spent much of 1958 to 1962 researching and writing the book that would be Silent Spring. She brought a rare trio of assets to this work: scientific training, dedication to research, and literary flair. The book starts with a fable of a lovely rural town that suddenly suffers blight, sickness, and death. Its people finally realize they had unwittingly poisoned themselves. Carson then presented scientific evidence that this was happening all over the country. She explained in plain terms how the strongest bugs survive, making stronger pesticides necessary, and that DDT, though scarce in the water, becomes concentrated as it works its way up the food chain -- from plankton to fish to birds and so on. Her message that humans cannot totally control nature, or eradicate species we don't like -- at least not without harmful side effectsÑcame through clearly. She advocated integrated management: using a minimum of chemicals combined with biological and cultural controls.

One chemical company tried to stop publication of the book before it went to press, threatening a law suit over facts. The publisher went ahead. The company did not sue, and in fact was found later to be one of the worst offenders in using and producing toxic chemicals.

As Esquire magazine wrote, Silent Spring "made people think about the environment in a way they never had before. . . . Rachel Carson introduced to the general imagination the idea of ecology." Her book is often cited as the kick-off of the modern environmental movement. The year after its publication, President Kennedy set up an advisory committee on environmental matters. In 1969, Congress passed the National Environmental Policy Act and the National Cancer Institute announced its findings that DDT could produce cancer. By then, individual states had started to ban DDT use. In 1972, a federal ban was placed on the pesticide.   

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aso/ontheedge/ecology/


http://www.rachelcarson.org/      

Posted: Monday April 16, 2007, 10:48 pm
Visibility: Everyone
      

Tags: hero animalsnatureenviromental
add/edit tags

Group Discussions start a discussion
Comments add comment
Compose your comment and submit:

Whoever IAm (168) 		Tuesday April 17, 2007, 5:20 am
Thanks for posting this share, and cross posting at Project Pangaia! Silent Spring was my first introduction to environmentalism back in the late 70's...and I know if Rachel Carson were still alive she'd be in the front lines, advocating against chemicals, toxins, genetically modified crops - and standing at the forefront of issues related to global warming.

Flag as Inappropriate

AUTHOR: ROY C.

male, age 1
committed relationship
Wolf Creek, OR, USA
ROY'S SHARES
Aug 16
Message: Dawn Watch
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — Befriending the Media Some of the greatest Animal Rights activists used to be hunters. Some of the most powerful members of our movement used to work in the meat industry. Most of us used to eat meat. We changed our ways because somebody showed us a... more
Aug 10
Message: Why Paulson Blundered and Intesting Reads
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — http://larouchepac.com/ne ws/2008/08/08/why-paulson -blundered.html     Who elected George W Bush? We did!!:>(   http://www.boycottbush.ne t/     Good Reads:   http://www.opensecrets.or g/index.php   ... more
Aug 3
Message: A Person of Interest
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — http://www.appetiteforpro fit.com/   http://www.prwatch.org/no de/5803   http://www.vegtv.com/Abou tUs/michele.htm   http://fora.tv/2007/07/14 /Michele_Simon_on_Appetit e_For_Profit   http://www.alternet.org/a uthors/6568  ... more
Jul 6
Blog: Animal Friendship
(8 comments  |  discussions ) — Norbert Rosing's striking images of a wild polar bear coming upon tethered sled dogs in the wilds of Canada's Hudson Bay. The photographer was sure that he was going to see the end of his dogs when the polar bear wandered in, but......   ... more


SHARES FROM ROY'S NETWORK
Aug 28
Message: fwd:BOYCOTTAUSTRIA@groups.care2.com by Angel H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — BOYCOTTAUSTRIA@groups.car e2.com Group Name:Boycott Austria This is the Care2 Austria Boycott site! Just one purpose BOYCOTT AUSTRIA until the innocent animal advocates are free! Nothing else, as soon as they are free this site will disapear l... more
Blog: Tyler, Texas - URGENT!! - Senior Dachshund 13 yrs. - Needs home immediately!! - Owner died! by James H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — Tyler, Texas - URGENT!! - Senior Dachshund 13 yrs. - Needs home immediately!! - Owner died!  PLEASE FORWARD & CROSS-POST--HE DESERVES TO LIVE OUT HIS LIFE IN A LOVING & CARING HOME!  THANKS, BRENDADate: Monday, August 25, 2008, 3:... more
Message: fwd: fwd: URGENT PRODUCT SAFETY!! FOUR PAWS DOG TOY by Angel H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — fwd: fwd: URGENT PRODUCT SAFETY!! FOUR PAWS DOG TOY  Original Message:----------------- Original Message:----------------- PLEASE READ AND CROSSPOST THIS ALERT. THE FOUR PAWS DIMPLE DOG BALL IS UNSAFE LEADING TO SEVERE INJURY. http://www.care2... more
Message: fwd: An important news story by Angel H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — An important news story  A news story that I feel is important to note, if you feel the same please do note it. .list_view_w_author .news_item { margin-left: 50px; } .list_view_w_author .response_counts { padding-bottom: 20px; clear: left; ... more
Blog: Sweet Freedom for 1,000+ Puppy Mill Dogs‏ by James H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — Sweet Freedom for 1,000+ Puppy Mill Dogs‏From:Best Friends Animal Society (info@bestfriends.org)Sen t:Mon 8/25/08 6:49 PMTo: jamesheater@hotmail.com To ensure that these emails go to your inbox, add us to your safelist. If you are having tro... more


MORE MESSAGE
Aug 28
Message: fwd:BOYCOTTAUSTRIA@groups.care2.com by Angel H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — BOYCOTTAUSTRIA@groups.car e2.com Group Name:Boycott Austria This is the Care2 Austria Boycott site! Just one purpose BOYCOTT AUSTRIA until the innocent animal advocates are free! Nothing else, as soon as they are free this site will disapear l... more
Message: fwd: fwd: URGENT PRODUCT SAFETY!! FOUR PAWS DOG TOY by Angel H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — fwd: fwd: URGENT PRODUCT SAFETY!! FOUR PAWS DOG TOY  Original Message:----------------- Original Message:----------------- PLEASE READ AND CROSSPOST THIS ALERT. THE FOUR PAWS DIMPLE DOG BALL IS UNSAFE LEADING TO SEVERE INJURY. http://www.care2... more
Message: fwd: An important news story by Angel H.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) — An important news story  A news story that I feel is important to note, if you feel the same please do note it. .list_view_w_author .news_item { margin-left: 50px; } .list_view_w_author .response_counts { padding-bottom: 20px; clear: left; ... more
Message: AARP Advocate 8/08: Electing Better Health Care by JAMES S.
(0 comments  |  discussions ) —   FUN STUFF TRIVIA Q: What famous television commercial couple personified the healthcare campaign of 1993? Ralph and Alice Harry and Louise Thelma and Louise Mike and Carol Click here to see the answer   WE ARE AARP Ro... more
Message: Daily Convention Blog Post Round-Up by JAMES S.
(0 comments  |  0 discussions ) —   James-- Here's your daily blog post round-up from the Democratic National Convention. In this email are Wednesday's Democratic National Convention blog posts from our Sierra Club staffers on the ground in Denver: Carl Pope, Josh Dorner and... more
 
Content and comments expressed here are the opinions of Care2 users and not necessarily that of Care2.com or its affiliates.
Copyright © 2008 Care2.com, inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved