Rachel Carson Born May 27 1907 in Springdale

Rachel Carson Born: May 27, 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania Died: April 14, 1964 in Silver Spring, Maryland “One species – man– has acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world”

Writer, scientist, and ecologist One of the 20 th Century’s most important people. “(1960 -1980): Conservation and environmental movement took off; fueled by a number of books and essays: Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson”

Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania May 27, 1907 This is the house that Rachel and her family lived in.

What was Rachel Carson’s life like?

Her family

1917 -- Rachel's first story was published in St. Nicholas Magazine

1929 Rachel saw the ocean for the first time The stock market crashed and the Great Depression began.

She loved the Sea, and nature

Educated as a Scientist 1929 -- Rachel attends Pennsylvania College for Women 1932 -- MA in zoology from Johns Hopkins Universit Biology or writing?

Her career

Combining Writing & Science U. S. Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts during the Depression. Wrote feature articles on natural history for the Baltimore Sun. 1936 Federal service as a scientist and editor Later became Editor-in-Chief of all publications for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Writing + Science = Books

1941 -- Rachel's first book Under the Sea Wind is published Pearl Harbor, Hawaii is bombed

“Eventually it dawned on me that by becoming a biologist I would be giving myself something to write about. " 1950 -- The Sea Around Us is published 1951 -- The Sea Around Us receives the National Book Award 1952 -- Under the Sea Wind and The Sea Around Us become bestsellers (her favorite book) 1955 -- The Edge of the Sea is published

Widespread Use of Pesticides

Rachel become alarmed by government abuse of new chemical pesticides such as DDT, in particular the "predator" and "pest" control programs, which were broadcasting poisons with little regard for the welfare of other creatures. Chemical companies made other pesticides: dieldrin, parathion, heptachlor, malathion and other compounds many times stronger than DDT The government planned to distribute these poisons through the Department of Agriculture for public use and commercial manufacture.

1962 -- Silent Spring was published “The book that launched the environmental movement”

Chemical Industry uproar She was immediately assailed by threats of lawsuits and derision, including suggestions that this meticulous scientist was a "hysterical woman" unqualified to write such a book.

Courageously speaking out Testifying before Congress in 1963, Carson called for new policies to protect human health and the environment.

a cry in the wilderness 1964 -- Rachel dies of cancer “ [Rachel Carson ] brought us back to a fundamental idea lost to an amazing degree in modern civilization: the interconnection of human beings and the natural environment. “ … Al Gore

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring

Chapter 1. A Fable for Tomorrow "There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings. The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of prosperous farms, with fields of grains and hillsides of orchards where, in spring, white clouds of bloom drifted above the green fields …. The countryside was, in fact, famous for the abundance and variety of its bird life, and when the flood of migrants was pouring through in spring and fall people travel from great distances to observe them.

. . . Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. . . There was a strange stillness. . . The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices. On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus of scores of bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the fields and woods and marsh. Even the streams were now lifeless. . .

On the farms the hens brooded, but no chicks hatched. The farmers complained that they were unable to raise any pigs—the litters were small and the young survived only a few days. The apple trees were coming into bloom but no bees droned among the blossoms, so there was no pollination and there would be no fruit.

In the gutters under the eaves and between the shingles of the roofs, a white granular powder still showed a few patches; some weeks before it had fallen like snow upon the roofs and the lawns, the field and the streams. No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1962), pp. 2 -3

Resources Rachel Carson Biography http: //www. rachelcarson. org/index. cfm? fuseaction=bio Interesting Facts about Rachel Carson http: //www. eiu. edu/~wow/carsfacts. html 1994 Introduction to Silent Spring by Al Gore http: //www. uneco. org/ssalgoreintro. html