Rachel Carson's contribution to the environmental movement

Rachel Carson, known as the "nun of nature", was a strong, intelligent woman that made a big impact on the environmental movement in the 19th century. In her book, Silent Spring, she emphasized the use of synthetic pesticides, known as DDT and how they could be a danger to the society. Carson pointed out that yes, pesticides do kill bugs but that they also harmed the birds and fish population, which in return could harm the children and the human population. Carson's publishing of Silent Spring played a major impact on public policy by leading to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency in 1970. In return, the EPA banned most domestic uses of DDT in 1972.

When Carson had published her book, she was often criticized by people in the chemistry industry. Supporters of pesticides felt that Carson was showing an incomplete picture of pesticides and that she was showing the more harmful side instead of the beneficial side. An executive of the American Cyanamide Company complained, "if man were to faithfully follow the teachings of Miss Carson, we would return to the Dark Ages, and the insects and diseases and vermin would once again inherit the earth."

Rachel Carson was known as a conservationist, an environmentalist, and an author. Along with Silent Spring she wrote Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around Us and The Edge of the Sea. She had a hard life growing up but she still was determined to make an impact on the environment. She not only had to fight the critics on her research on pesticides but she also was battling breast cancer as well which led her to her death at the age of 56. Silent Spring and Rachel Carson definitely played a major part on the modern environmental health movement. As Al Gore explains, Silent Spring "brought environmental issues to the attention not just of industry and government; it brought them to the public, and put our democracy itself on the side of saving the Earth".




Benjamin, Beth. "Rachel Carson: Giving a Voice to the Silent Spring."
http://www.students.haverford.edu/wmbweb/medbios/bbcarson.html. 1996

Gore, Al. Introduction to Silent Spring.
http://www.greenwichnj.org/WWWProjects/Silent%20Spring/Silent%20Spring%20text/Al%20Gore.html. 1994.