Super Eco

Photo credit: public domain image

Rachel Louise Carson was a marine biologist and writer known chiefly for her ground-breaking book, Silent Spring, in which she wrote about the devastating effects of pesticides on the environment. Her early work, writing radio copy for a series of educational broadcasts for the U.S. Department of Fisheries, led to her three books about the sea published in the 1950s; The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, and Under the Sea Wind (her first book, that was republished after her second and third became popular and brought her public acclaim).

While she had long been concerned about the indiscriminate use of chemical pesticides, it was not until 1957, when the USDA began a fire ant eradication program, that Carson began devoting research to pesticides and environmental poisons. The title Silent Spring had its source in a 1959 letter published in the Washington Post in which Carson accused pesticide overuse of reducing bird populations, or "silencing birds." Her literary agent would later suggest this as a metaphorical title for the suggestion of "a bleak future for the whole natural world."

She died in April, 1964, of a heart attack likely caused by her advanced-stage breast cancer.

Notable Eco Activity

Rachel Carson's influence on the global use of pesticides is enormous and unknowable. The publication of Silent Spring was the first time a writer with mainstream influence had openly and eloquently criticized the uncontrolled use of pesticides and illuminated their impact on animals, especially birds, humans, and the environment at large. Her book exposed her to threats of lawsuits and public attacks by the USDA, Monsanto, American Cyanamid, and the rest of the American chemical industry. She was named one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th Century by Time magazine, which wrote that Silent Spring is "regarded as the cornerstone of the new environmentalism."

• Rachel Carson Details

  • Birth Date

    May 27, 1907

  • Born In

    United States

  • Home Page

    http://www.rachelcarson.org/

  • Lives In

    United States

  • Organizations

    Unavailable

  • Occupation

    Writer and marine biologist