======================================================================
= Rachel_Carson =
======================================================================
Introduction
======================================================================
Rachel Louise Carson (May 27, 1907 - April 14, 1964) was an American
marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose sea trilogy
(1941-1955) and book 'Silent Spring' (1962) are credited with
advancing marine conservation and the global environmental movement.
Carson began her career as an aquatic biologist in the U.S. Bureau of
Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her
widely praised 1951 bestseller 'The Sea Around Us' won her a U.S.
National Book Award, recognition as a gifted writer, and financial
security. Its success prompted the republication of her first book,
'Under the Sea Wind' (1941), in 1952, which was followed by 'The Edge
of the Sea 'in 1955 -- both were also bestsellers. This sea trilogy
explores the whole of ocean life from the shores to the depths.
Late in the 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation,
especially some problems she believed were caused by synthetic
pesticides. The result was the book 'Silent Spring' (1962), which
brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented share of the
American people. Although 'Silent Spring' was met with fierce
opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national
pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other
pesticides. It also inspired a grassroots environmental movement that
led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by
President Jimmy Carter.
Early life and education
======================================================================
Carson was born on May 27, 1907, on a family farm near Springdale,
Pennsylvania, located by the Allegheny River near Pittsburgh. She was
the daughter of Maria Frazier (McLean) and Robert Warden Carson, an
insurance salesman. She spent a lot of time exploring around her
family's 65 acre farm. An avid reader, she began writing stories,
often involving animals, at age eight. At age ten, she had her first
story published. She enjoyed reading 'St. Nicholas Magazine', which
carried her first published stories, the works of Beatrix Potter, the
novels of Gene Stratton-Porter, and in her teen years, Herman
Melville, Joseph Conrad, and Robert Louis Stevenson. The natural
world, particularly that of the ocean, was the common thread of her
favorite literature. Carson attended Springdale's small school through
tenth grade, and then completed high school in nearby Parnassus,
Pennsylvania, graduating in 1925 at the top of her class of 44
students. In high school, Carson was said to have been somewhat of a
loner.
Carson gained admission to Pennsylvania College for Women, now Chatham
University, in Pittsburgh, where she originally studied English but
switched her major to biology in January 1928. She continued
contributing to the school's student newspaper and literary
supplement.
She was admitted to graduate school at Johns Hopkins University in
Baltimore in 1928, but was forced to remain at the Pennsylvania
College for Women for her senior year due to financial difficulties;
she graduated 'magna cum laude' in 1929. After a summer course at the
Marine Biological Laboratory, she continued her studies in zoology and
genetics at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 1929. After her first year of
graduate school, Carson became a part-time student, taking an
assistantship in Raymond Pearl's laboratory, where she worked with
rats and 'Drosophila', to earn money for tuition. After false starts
with pit vipers and squirrels, she completed a dissertation on the
embryonic development of the pronephros in fish.
In June 1932, she earned a master's degree in zoology. She had
intended to continue for a doctorate, however in 1934 Carson was
forced to leave Johns Hopkins to search for a full-time teaching
position to help support her family during the Great Depression. In
1935, Carson's father died suddenly, worsening their already critical
financial situation and leaving Carson to care for her aging mother.
Career
======================================================================
At the urging of her undergraduate biology mentor Mary Scott Skinker,
Carson secured a temporary position with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries,
where she wrote radio copy for a series of weekly educational
broadcasts called 'Romance Under the Waters'. The series of 52
seven-minute programs focused on aquatic life and was intended to
generate public interest in fish biology and the bureau's work, a task
that several writers before Carson had not managed. Carson also began
submitting articles on marine life in the Chesapeake Bay, based on her
research for the series, to local newspapers and magazines. Carson
earned extra money as a lecturer at the University of Maryland's
Dental and Pharmacy Schools and Johns Hopkins University.
Carson's supervisor, pleased with the success of the radio series,
asked her to write the introduction to a public brochure about the
fisheries bureau; he also worked to secure her the first full-time
position that became available. Sitting for the civil service exam,
she outscored all other applicants and, in 1936, became the second
woman hired by the Bureau of Fisheries for a full-time professional
position, as a junior aquatic biologist.
Using her research and consultations with marine biologists as
starting points, she wrote a steady stream of articles for 'The
Baltimore Sun' and other newspapers. However, her family
responsibilities further increased in January 1937 when her older
sister died, leaving Carson as the sole breadwinner for her mother and
two nieces.
In July 1937, the 'Atlantic Monthly' accepted a revised version of an
essay, 'The World of Waters', that she originally wrote for her first
fisheries bureau brochure. Her supervisor had deemed it too good for
that purpose. The essay, published as 'Undersea', was a vivid
narrative of a journey along the ocean floor. It marked a major
turning point in Carson's writing career. Publishing house Simon &
Schuster, impressed by 'Undersea', contacted Carson and suggested that
she expand it into a book. Several years of writing resulted in 'Under
the Sea Wind' (1941), which received excellent reviews but sold
poorly. In the meantime, Carson's article-writing success continued
with her features appearing in 'Sun Magazine', 'Nature', and
'Collier's'. Carson attempted to leave the Bureau (by then transformed
into the United States Fish and Wildlife Service) in 1945. However,
few jobs for naturalists were available, since most money for science
was focused on technical fields in the wake of the Manhattan Project.
In mid-1945, Carson first encountered the subject of DDT, a
revolutionary new pesticide--lauded as the "insect bomb" after the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki--that was only beginning to
undergo tests for safety and ecological effects. DDT was one of
Carson's many writing interests at the time, but editors found the
subject unappealing; she published nothing on DDT until 1962.
Carson rose within the Fish and Wildlife Service, and in 1945 was
supervising a small writing staff. In 1949, she was appointed chief
editor of publications, which allowed her increased opportunities for
fieldwork and freedom in choosing her writing projects; however, it
also entailed increasingly tedious administrative responsibilities. By
1948, Carson was working on material for a second book and decided to
begin a transition to writing full-time. That year, she took on a
literary agent, Marie Rodell; they formed a close professional
relationship that would last the rest of Carson's career.
Oxford University Press expressed interest in Carson's book proposal
for a life history of the ocean, spurring her to complete by early
1950 the manuscript of what would become 'The Sea Around Us'.• An
apocryphal story holds that over twenty publishers rejected the book
before Oxford University Press. In fact, it may have only been sent to
one other publisher before being accepted. However, Rodell and Carson
worked extensively to place chapters and excerpts in periodicals.
Chapters appeared in 'Science Digest' and 'The Yale Review', which
published a chapter, "The Birth of an Island," which won the American
Association for the Advancement of Science's George Westinghouse
Science Writing Prize. Beginning in June 1951, nine chapters were
serialized in 'The New Yorker'.
On July 2, 1951, the book was published by Oxford University Press.
'The Sea Around Us' remained on 'The New York Times' Bestseller List
for 86 weeks, was abridged by 'Reader's Digest', won the 1952 National
Book Award for Nonfiction and the John Burroughs Medal, and resulted
in Carson being awarded two honorary doctorates. She licensed a
documentary film based on it, 'The Sea', whose success led to
republication of 'Under the Sea Wind', which became a bestseller. With
success, came financial security; in 1952, Carson was able to give up
her job in order to concentrate on writing full-time.
Carson was inundated with requests for speaking engagements, fan mail
and other correspondence regarding 'The Sea Around Us', along with
work on the script that she had secured the right to review. She was
very unhappy with the final version of the script by writer, director,
and producer Irwin Allen; she found it untrue to the atmosphere of the
book and scientifically embarrassing, describing it as "a cross
between a believe-it-or-not and a breezy travelogue." However, she
discovered that her right to review the script did not extend to any
control over its content. This led to many scientific inconsistencies
inside the film. Despite Carson's requests to resolve these problems,
Allen went forward with the script. He succeeded in producing a very
successful documentary. It went on to win the 1953 Academy Award for
Best Documentary Feature. However, Carson was so embittered by the
experience that she never again sold film rights to her work.
Relationship with Dorothy Freeman
===================================
Carson met Dorothy M. Freeman in the summer of 1953 on Southport
Island, Maine. Freeman had written to Carson welcoming her to the area
when she had heard that the famous author was to become her neighbor.
It was the beginning of a devoted friendship that lasted the rest of
Carson's life. Their relationship was conducted mainly through letters
and during summers spent together in Maine. Over 12 years, they
exchanged around 900 letters. Many of these were published in the book
'Always, Rachel', published in 1995 by Beacon Press.
Carson's biographer, Linda J. Lear, writes that "Carson sorely needed
a devoted friend and kindred spirit who would listen to her without
advising and accept her wholly, the writer as well as the woman." She
found this in Freeman. The two women had common interests, nature
chief among them, and began exchanging letters regularly while apart.
They shared summers for the remainder of Carson's life and met
whenever else their schedules permitted.
Concerning the depth of their relationship, commentators have said:
"the expression of their love was limited almost wholly to letters and
very occasional farewell kisses or holding of hands". Freeman shared
parts of Carson's letters with her husband to help him understand the
relationship, but much of their correspondence was carefully guarded.
Some believe Freeman and Carson's relationship was romantic in nature.
One of the letters from Carson to Freeman reads: "But, oh darling, I
want to be with you so terribly that it hurts!", while in another,
Freeman writes: "I love you beyond expression... My love is boundless
as the Sea." Carson's last letter to Freeman before her death ends
with: "Never forget, dear one, how deeply I have loved you all these
years."
Shortly before Carson's death, she and Freeman destroyed hundreds of
letters. The surviving correspondence was published in 1995 as
'Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman,
1952-1964: An Intimate Portrait of a Remarkable Friendship', edited by
Martha Freeman, Dorothy's granddaughter, who wrote at publication: "A
few comments in early letters indicate that Rachel and Dorothy were
initially cautious about the romantic tone and terminology of their
correspondence. I believe this caution prompted their destruction of
some letters within the first two years of their friendship..."
According to one reviewer, the pair "fit Carolyn Heilbrun's
characterization of a strong female friendship, where what matters is
'not whether friends are homosexual or heterosexual, lovers or not,
but whether they share the wonderful energy of work in the public
sphere.'"
According to her biographer, Linda Lear, there was a disagreement
about the final arrangements for Rachel. Her brother, Robert Carson,
insisted that her cremated remains be buried beside their mother in
Maryland. This was against her wishes to be buried in Maine. In the
end, a compromise was reached. Carson's wishes were carried out by an
organizing committee, including her agent (Marie Rodell), her editor
(Paul Brooks), and Dorothy Freeman. In the spring of 1964, Dorothy
received half of Rachel's ashes in the mail sent to her by Robert
Carson. In the summer of that year, Dorothy carried out Rachel's final
wishes, scattering her ashes along the rocky shores of Sheepscot Bay
in Maine.
=== 'The Edge of the Sea' and transition to conservation work ===
Early in 1953, Carson began library and field research on the ecology
and organisms of the Atlantic shore. In 1955, she completed the third
volume of her sea trilogy, 'The Edge of the Sea', which focuses on
life in coastal ecosystems, particularly along the Eastern Seaboard.
It appeared in 'The New Yorker' in two condensed installments shortly
before its October 26 book release by Houghton Mifflin (again a new
publisher). By this time, Carson's reputation for clear and poetical
prose was well established; 'The Edge of the Sea' received highly
favorable reviews, if not quite as enthusiastic as for 'The Sea Around
Us'.
Through 1955 and 1956, Carson worked on several projects--including
the script for an 'Omnibus' episode, "Something About the Sky"--and
wrote articles for popular magazines. Her plan for the next book was
to address evolution. However, the publication of Julian Huxley's
'Evolution in Action'--and her own difficulty in finding a clear and
compelling approach to the topic--led her to abandon the project.
Instead, her interests were turning to conservation. She considered an
environment-themed book project tentatively titled 'Remembrance of the
Earth' and became involved with The Nature Conservancy and other
conservation groups. She also made plans to buy and preserve from
development an area in Maine she and Freeman called the "Lost Woods."
In early 1957, a family tragedy struck for the third time when one of
her nieces she had cared for since the 1940s died at the age of 31,
leaving her 5-year-old son, Roger Christie, an orphan. Carson took on
the responsibility for Roger when she adopted him, along with caring
for her aging mother. Carson moved to Silver Spring, Maryland to care
for Roger and spent much of 1957 putting together a new living
situation and studying specific environmental threats.
By late 1957, Carson was closely following federal proposals for
widespread pesticide spraying; the United States Department of
Agriculture (USDA) planned to eradicate fire ants. Other spraying
programs involving chlorinated hydrocarbons and organophosphates were
on the rise. For the rest of her life, Carson's main professional
focus would be the dangers of pesticide overuse.
''Silent Spring''
===================
'Silent Spring', Carson's most influential book, was published by
Houghton Mifflin on September 27, 1962. The book described the harmful
effects of pesticides on the environment, and is widely credited with
helping launch the environmental movement. Carson was not the first or
the only person to raise concern about DDT, but her combination of
"scientific knowledge and poetic writing" reached a broad audience and
helped to focus opposition to DDT use. The book's publication as a
mass-market paperback by Fawcett Crest in January 1964 spread Carson's
message to a wider audience. In 1994, an edition of 'Silent Spring'
was published with an introduction written by Vice President Al Gore.
In 2012 'Silent Spring 'was designated a National Historic Chemical
Landmark by the American Chemical Society for its role in the
development of the modern environmental movement.
Research and writing
======================
Starting in the mid-1940s, Carson had become concerned about the use
of synthetic pesticides, many of which had been developed through the
military funding of science since World War II. However, the United
States federal government's 1957 gypsy moth, now called spongy moth,
eradication program prompted Carson to devote her research and her
next book to pesticides and environmental poisons. The gypsy moth
program involved aerial spraying of DDT and other pesticides mixed
with fuel oil, including the spraying of private land. Landowners on
Long Island filed a lawsuit to have the spraying stopped, and many in
affected regions followed the case closely. Though the suit was lost,
the Supreme Court granted petitioners the right to gain injunctions
against potential environmental damage in the future; this laid the
basis for later successful environmental actions.
The Audubon Naturalist Society also actively opposed such spraying
programs and recruited Carson to help make public the government's
exact spraying practices and the related research. Carson began the
four-year project of what would become 'Silent Spring' by gathering
examples of environmental damage attributed to DDT. She also attempted
to enlist others to join the cause, such as essayist E. B. White and
several journalists and scientists. By 1958, Carson had arranged a
book deal, with plans to co-write with 'Newsweek' science journalist
Edwin Diamond. However, when 'The New Yorker' commissioned a long and
well-paid article on the topic from Carson, she began considering
writing more than simply the introduction and conclusion as planned;
soon, it was a solo project. (Diamond would later write one of the
harshest critiques of 'Silent Spring').
As her research progressed, Carson found a sizable community of
scientists who were documenting the physiological and environmental
effects of pesticides. She also took advantage of her connections with
many government scientists, who supplied her with confidential
information. From reading the scientific literature and interviewing
scientists, Carson found two scientific camps when it came to
pesticides: those who dismissed the possible danger of pesticide
spraying barring conclusive proof, and those who were open to the
possibility of harm and willing to consider alternative methods such
as biological pest control.
She also found significant support and extensive evidence from a group
of biodynamic agriculture organic market gardeners, their adviser, Dr.
Ehrenfried Pfeiffer, other contacts, and their suite of legal actions
(1957-1960) against the U.S. Government. According to recent research
by Paull (2013), this may have been the primary and (for strategic
reasons) uncredited source for Carson's book. Marjorie Spock and Mary
T. Richards of Long Island, New York, contested the aerial spraying of
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT). They compiled their evidence
and shared it with Carson, who used it, their extensive contacts, and
the trial transcripts as a primary input for 'Silent Spring'. Carson
wrote of the content as "a gold mine of information" and says, "I feel
guilty about the mass of your material I have here" and makes multiple
references to Pfeiffer and his correspondence.
By 1959, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service responded to the
criticism by Carson and others with a public service film, 'Fire Ant
on Trial'; Carson characterized it as "flagrant propaganda" that
ignored the dangers that spraying pesticides (especially dieldrin and
heptachlor) posed to humans and wildlife. That spring, Carson wrote a
letter, published in 'The Washington Post', that attributed the recent
decline in bird populations--in her words, the "silencing of
birds"--to pesticide overuse. That was also the year of the "Great
Cranberry Scandal": the 1957, 1958, and 1959 crops of U.S. cranberries
were found to contain high levels of the herbicide aminotriazole
(which caused cancer in laboratory rats), and the sale of all
cranberry products was halted. Carson attended the subsequent FDA
hearings on revising pesticide regulations; she came away discouraged
by the aggressive tactics of the chemical industry representatives,
which included expert testimony that was firmly contradicted by the
bulk of the scientific literature she had been studying. She also
wondered about the possible "financial inducements behind certain
pesticide programs."
Research at the Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of
Health brought Carson into contact with medical researchers
investigating the gamut of cancer-causing chemicals. Of particular
significance was the work of National Cancer Institute researcher and
environmental cancer section founding director Wilhelm Hueper, who
classified many pesticides as carcinogens. Carson and her research
assistant Jeanne Davis, with the help of NIH librarian Dorothy Algire,
found evidence to support the pesticide-cancer connection; to Carson,
the evidence for the toxicity of a wide array of synthetic pesticides
was clear-cut, though such conclusions were very controversial beyond
the small community of scientists studying pesticide carcinogenesis.
By 1960, Carson had more than enough research material, and the
writing was progressing rapidly. In addition to the thorough
literature search, she had investigated hundreds of individual
incidents of pesticide exposure and the human sickness and ecological
damage that resulted. However, in January, a duodenal ulcer followed
by several infections kept her bedridden for weeks, greatly delaying
the completion of 'Silent Spring'. As she was nearing full recovery in
March (just as she was completing drafts of the two cancer chapters of
her book), she discovered cysts in her left breast, one of which
necessitated a mastectomy. Though her doctor described the procedure
as precautionary and recommended no further treatment, by December,
Carson discovered that the tumor was malignant and the cancer had
metastasized. Her research was also delayed by revision work for a new
edition of 'The Sea Around Us' and by a collaborative photo essay with
Erich Hartmann. Most of the research and writing was done by the fall
of 1960, except for the discussion of recent research on biological
pest controls and investigations of a handful of new pesticides.
However, further health troubles slowed the final revisions in 1961
and early 1962. While writing the book, Carson chose to hide her
illness so that the pesticide companies could not use it against her
(she worried that if the companies knew, they would use it as
ammunition to make her book look untrustworthy and biased).
Finding a title for the book proved difficult; "Silent Spring" was
initially suggested as a title for the chapter on birds. By August
1961, Carson finally agreed to the suggestion of her literary agent
Marie Rodell: 'Silent Spring' would be a metaphorical title for the
entire book, suggesting a bleak future for the whole natural world,
rather than a single chapter title about the literal absence of
birdsong. With Carson's approval, editor Paul Brooks at Houghton
Mifflin arranged for illustrations by Louis and Lois Darling, who also
designed the cover. The final writing was the first chapter, 'A Fable
for Tomorrow', which Carson intended as a gentle introduction to what
might otherwise be a forbiddingly serious topic. By mid-1962, Brooks
and Carson had essentially finished the editing and were laying the
groundwork for promoting the book by sending the manuscript out to
select individuals for final suggestions.
Content
=========
Biographer Mark Hamilton Lytle writes that Carson "quite
self-consciously decided to write a book calling into question the
paradigm of scientific progress that defined post-war American
culture." The overriding theme of 'Silent Spring' is the powerful--and
often adverse--effect humans have on the natural world.
Carson's main argument is that pesticides have detrimental effects on
the environment; they are more properly termed 'biocides', she argues,
because their effects are rarely limited to the target pests. DDT is a
prime example, but other synthetic pesticides come under scrutiny,
many of which are subject to bioaccumulation. Carson also accuses the
chemical industry of intentionally spreading disinformation and public
officials of accepting industry claims uncritically. Most of the book
is devoted to pesticides' effects on natural ecosystems. However, four
chapters also detail cases of human pesticide poisoning, cancer, and
other illnesses attributed to pesticides. Regarding DDT and cancer,
the subject of so much subsequent debate, Carson only briefly mentions
the topic:
Carson predicted increased consequences in the future, especially as
targeted pests develop pesticide resistance. At the same time,
weakened ecosystems fall prey to unanticipated invasive species. The
book closes with a call for a biotic approach to pest control as an
alternative to chemical pesticides.
Regarding DDT, Carson never called for an outright ban. Part of the
argument she made in 'Silent Spring' was that even if DDT and other
insecticides had no environmental side effects, their indiscriminate
overuse was counter-productive because it would create insect
resistance, making them useless in eliminating the target insect
populations:
Carson further noted that "Malaria programmes are threatened by
resistance among mosquitoes" and emphasized the advice given by the
director of Holland's Plant Protection Service: "Practical advice
should be 'Spray as little as you possibly can' rather than 'Spray to
the limit of your capacity' ... Pressure on the pest population should
always be as slight as possible."
Promotion and reception
=========================
Carson and the others involved with the publication of 'Silent Spring'
expected fierce criticism. They were particularly concerned about the
possibility of being sued for libel. Carson was also undergoing
radiation therapy to combat her spreading cancer and expected to have
little energy to devote to defending her work and responding to
critics. In preparation for the anticipated attacks, Carson and her
agent attempted to amass as many prominent supporters as possible
before the book's release.
Most of the book's scientific chapters were reviewed by scientists
with relevant expertise, among whom Carson found strong support.
Carson attended the White House Conference on Conservation in May
1962; Houghton Mifflin distributed proof copies of 'Silent Spring' to
many of the delegates and promoted the upcoming 'New Yorker'
serialization. Among many others, Carson also sent a proof copy to
Supreme Court Associate Justice William O. Douglas, a longtime
environmental advocate who had argued against the court's rejection of
the Long Island pesticide spraying case (and who had provided Carson
with some of the material included in her chapter on herbicides).
Though 'Silent Spring' had generated a relatively high level of
interest based on pre-publication promotion, this became much more
intense with the serialization in 'The New Yorker', which began on
June 16, 1962, issue. This brought the book to the attention of the
chemical industry and its lobbyists and a wide swath of the American
populace. Around that time, Carson also learned that 'Silent Spring'
had been selected as the Book of the Month for October; as she put it,
this would "carry it to farms and hamlets all over that country that
don't know what a bookstore looks like--much less 'The New Yorker'."
Other publicity included a positive editorial in 'The New York Times'
and excerpts of the serialized version in 'Audubon' magazine, with
another round of publicity in July and August as chemical companies
responded. The story of the birth defect-causing drug thalidomide
broke just before the book's publication as well, inviting comparisons
between Carson and Frances Oldham Kelsey, the Food and Drug
Administration reviewer who had blocked the drug's sale in the United
States.
Following the publication of 'Silent Spring', Carson as a woman in
science faced personal attacks. Linda Lear, Carson's biographer,
describes in the Introduction to 'Silent Spring' how critics sought to
undermine Carson's arguments by calling her a "bird and bunny lover."
In the eyes of the chemical industry, Carson was a "woman out of
control," going outside the bounds of her gender by making claims
about an industry within the scientific community.
In the weeks leading up to the September 27, 1962, publication, there
was strong opposition to 'Silent Spring' from the chemical industry.
DuPont (a high market-share manufacturer of DDT and 2,4-D) and
Velsicol Chemical Corporation (exclusive manufacturer of chlordane and
heptachlor) were among the first to respond. DuPont compiled an
extensive report on the book's press coverage and estimated impact on
public opinion. Velsicol threatened legal action against Houghton
Mifflin and 'The New Yorker' and 'Audubon' unless the planned 'Silent
Spring' features were canceled. Chemical industry representatives and
lobbyists also lodged a range of non-specific complaints, some
anonymously. Chemical companies and associated organizations produced
a number of their own brochures and articles promoting and defending
pesticide use. However, Carson's and the publishers' lawyers were
confident in the vetting process 'Silent Spring' had undergone. The
magazine and book publications proceeded as planned, as did the large
Book-of-the-Month printing (which included a pamphlet endorsing the
book by William O. Douglas).
American Cyanamid biochemist Robert White-Stevens and former Cyanamid
chemist Thomas Jukes were among the most aggressive critics,
especially of Carson's analysis of DDT. According to White-Stevens,
"If man were to 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." Others went further, attacking Carson's
scientific credentials (because her training was in marine biology
rather than biochemistry) and her character. White-Stevens labeled her
"...a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of nature," while
former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson, in a letter to
former President Dwight D. Eisenhower, reportedly concluded that
because she was unmarried despite being physically attractive, she was
"probably a Communist."
Many critics repeatedly asserted that she was calling for the
elimination of all pesticides. However, Carson had made it clear she
was not advocating the banning or complete withdrawal of helpful
pesticides but was instead encouraging responsible and carefully
managed use with an awareness of the chemicals' impact on the entire
ecosystem. In fact, she concludes her section on DDT in 'Silent
Spring' not by urging a total ban but with advice for spraying as
little as possible to limit the development of resistance.
The academic community, including prominent defenders such as H. J.
Muller, Loren Eiseley, Clarence Cottam, and Frank Egler, by and large,
backed the book's scientific claims; public opinion soon turned
Carson's way as well. The chemical industry campaign backfired, as the
controversy greatly increased public awareness of potential pesticide
dangers, as well as 'Silent Spring' book sales. Pesticide use became a
major public issue, especially after the 'CBS Reports' TV special 'The
Silent Spring of Rachel Carson' that aired April 3, 1963. The program
included segments of Carson reading from 'Silent Spring' and
interviews with several other experts, mostly critics (including
White-Stevens); according to biographer Linda Lear, "in juxtaposition
to the wild-eyed, loud-voiced Dr. Robert White-Stevens in white lab
coat, Carson appeared anything but the hysterical alarmist that her
critics contended." Reactions from the estimated audience of ten to
fifteen million were overwhelmingly positive, and the program spurred
a congressional review of pesticide dangers and the public release of
a pesticide report by the President's Science Advisory Committee.
Within a year or so of publication, the attacks on the book and Carson
had largely lost momentum.
In one of her last public appearances, Carson testified before
President John F. Kennedy's Science Advisory Committee. The committee
issued its report on May 15, 1963, largely backing Carson's scientific
claims. Following the report's release, she also testified before a
United States Senate subcommittee to make policy recommendations.
Though Carson received hundreds of other speaking invitations, she
could not accept the great majority of them. Her health was steadily
declining as her cancer outpaced the radiation therapy, with only
brief periods of remission. She spoke as much as she was physically
able, however, including a notable appearance on 'The Today Show' and
speeches at several dinners held in her honor. In late 1963, she
received a flurry of awards and honors: the Audubon Medal (from the
National Audubon Society), the Cullum Geographical Medal (from the
American Geographical Society), and induction into the American
Academy of Arts and Letters.
Death
======================================================================
Weakened from breast cancer and her treatment regimen, Carson became
ill with a respiratory virus in January 1964. Her condition worsened,
and in February, doctors found that she had severe anemia from her
radiation treatments. In March, they discovered that the cancer had
reached her liver. She died of a heart attack on April 14, 1964, in
her home in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Her body was cremated, and some of her ashes were buried beside her
mother at Parklawn Memorial Gardens in Rockville, Maryland. The rest
were scattered along the coast of Squirrel Island near Sheepscot River
in Maine.
Collected papers and posthumous publications
==============================================
Carson bequeathed her manuscripts and papers to Yale University to
take advantage of the new state-of-the-art preservations facilities of
the Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library. Her longtime agent
and literary executor Marie Rodell spent nearly two years organizing
and cataloging Carson's papers and correspondence, distributing all
the letters to their senders so that only what each correspondent
approved would be submitted to the archive.
In 1965, Rodell arranged for the publication of an essay Carson had
intended to expand into a book: 'The Sense of Wonder'. The essay,
which was combined with photographs by Charles Pratt and others,
exhorts parents to help their children experience the "...lasting
pleasures of contact with the natural world ... available to anyone
who will place himself under the influence of earth, sea, and sky and
their amazing life."
In addition to the letters in 'Always Rachel', in 1998, a volume of
Carson's previously unpublished work was published as 'Lost Woods: The
Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson', edited by Linda Lear. All of
Carson's books remain in print.
Grassroots environmentalism and the EPA
=========================================
Carson's work had a powerful impact on the environmental movement.
'Silent Spring', in particular, was a rallying point for the fledgling
social movement in the 1960s. According to environmental engineer and
Carson scholar H. Patricia Hynes, "'Silent Spring' altered the balance
of power in the world. No one since would be able to sell pollution as
the necessary underside of progress so easily or uncritically."
Carson's work, and the activism it inspired, are at least partly
responsible for the deep ecology movement and the overall strength of
the grassroots environmental movement since the 1960s. It was also
influential on the rise of ecofeminism and on many feminist
scientists.
While there remains no evidence that Carson was openly a women's
rights activist, her work and its subsequent criticisms have left an
iconic legacy for the ecofeminist movement. Attacks on Carson's
credibility included criticism of her credentials in which she was
labeled an "amateur." It was said that her writing was too
"emotional." Ecofeminist scholars argue that not only was the
dissenting rhetoric gendered to paint Carson as hysterical but was
done because her arguments challenged the capitalist production of
large agri-business corporations. Others, such as Yaakov Garb, suggest
that in addition to not being a women's rights activist, Carson also
had no anti-capitalist agenda and that such attacks were unwarranted.
Additionally, the way photos of Carson were used to portray her are
often questioned because of few representations of her engaging in
work typical of a scientist, but instead of her leisure activities.
Carson's most direct legacy in the environmental movement was the
campaign to ban DDT in the United States (and related efforts to ban
or limit its use throughout the world). Though environmental concerns
about DDT had been considered by government agencies as early as
Carson's testimony before the President's Science Advisory Committee,
the 1967 formation of the Environmental Defense Fund was the first
significant milestone in the campaign against DDT. The organization
brought lawsuits against the government to "establish a citizen's
right to a clean environment," and the arguments employed against DDT
largely mirrored Carson's. By 1972, the Environmental Defense Fund and
other activist groups had succeeded in securing a phase-out of DDT use
in the United States (except in emergency cases).
The creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) by the Nixon
Administration in 1970 addressed another concern that Carson had
brought to light. Until then, the same agency (the USDA) was
responsible both for regulating pesticides and promoting the concerns
of the agriculture industry; Carson saw this as a conflict of interest
since the agency was not responsible for effects on wildlife or other
environmental concerns beyond farm policy. Fifteen years after its
creation, one journalist described the EPA as "the extended shadow of
'Silent Spring'." Much of the agency's early work, such as enforcing
the 1972 Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, was
directly related to Carson's work.
In the 1980s, the policies of the Reagan Administration emphasized
economic growth, rolling back many of the environmental policies
adopted in response to Carson and her work.
Posthumous honors
===================
Various groups ranging from government institutions to environmental
and conservation organizations to scholarly societies have celebrated
Carson's life and work since her death. Perhaps most significantly, on
June 9, 1980, Carson was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom,
the highest civilian honor in the United States. A 17¢ Great Americans
series postage stamp was issued in her honor the following year;
several other countries have since issued Carson postage as well. In
1973, Carson was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame.
The University of California, Santa Cruz, named one of its colleges,
formerly known as College Eight, Rachel Carson College in 2016. Rachel
Carson College is the first college at the university to bear a
woman's name.
Munich's Rachel Carson Center for Environment and Society was founded
in 2009. An international, interdisciplinary center for research and
education in the environmental humanities and social sciences, it was
established as a joint initiative of Munich's
Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität and the Deutsches Museum, with the
support of the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.
Carson's birthplace and childhood home in Springdale, Pennsylvania,
now known as the Rachel Carson Homestead, became a National Register
of Historic Places site and the nonprofit Rachel Carson Homestead
Association was created in 1975 to manage it. Her home in Colesville,
Maryland, where she wrote 'Silent Spring', was named a National
Historic Landmark in 1991. Near Pittsburgh, a 46.1 mi hiking trail,
the Rachel Carson Trail and maintained by the Rachel Carson Trails
Conservancy, was dedicated to Carson in 1975. A Pittsburgh bridge was
renamed in Carson's honor as the Rachel Carson Bridge. The
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection State Office
Building in Harrisburg is named in her honor.
Elementary schools in Gaithersburg, Maryland, Sammamish, Washington
and San Jose, California middle schools in Beaverton, Oregon Queens,
New York City, Rachel Carson Intermediate School, in Herndon,
Virginia, Rachel Carson Middle School, and a high school in Brooklyn,
New York City were all named in her honor.
Two research vessels have sailed in the United States bearing the name
R/V 'Rachel Carson'. One is on the west coast, owned by Monterey Bay
Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI), and the other is on the east
coast, operated by the University of Maryland Center for Environmental
Science. Another vessel of the name, now scrapped, was a former naval
vessel obtained and converted by the United States EPA. It operated on
the Great Lakes. The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary also
operates a mooring buoy maintenance vessel named the Rachel Carson.
The ceremonial auditorium on the third floor of EPA headquarters, the
William Jefferson Clinton Federal Building, is named after Carson. The
Rachel Carson Room is close to the EPA Administrator's office. It has
been the site of numerous important announcements, including the Clean
Air Interstate Rule.
A number of conservation areas have been named for Carson as well.
Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (263 ha) near Brookeville in
Montgomery County, Maryland were acquired and set aside as the Rachel
Carson Conservation Park, administered by the Maryland-National
Capital Park and Planning Commission. In 1969, the Coastal Maine
National Wildlife Refuge became the Rachel Carson National Wildlife
Refuge; expansions will bring the size of the refuge to about 9,125
acres (3,693 ha). In 1985, North Carolina renamed one of its estuarine
reserves in honor of Carson, in Beaufort.
[
http://www.ncnerr.org Rachel Carson Estuarine Research Reserve] .
Retrieved October 12, 2007.
Carson is also a frequent namesake for prizes awarded by
philanthropic, educational and scholarly institutions. The Rachel
Carson Prize, founded in Stavanger, Norway in 1991, is awarded to
women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental
protection. The American Society for Environmental History has awarded
the Rachel Carson Prize for Best Dissertation since 1993. Since 1998,
the Society for Social Studies of Science has awarded an annual Rachel
Carson Book Prize for "a book length work of social or political
relevance in the area of science and technology studies." The Society
of Environmental Journalists gives an annual award and two honourable
mentions for books on environmental issues in Carson's name, such as
was awarded to Joe Roman's 'Listed: Dispatches from America's
Endangered Species Act' in 2012. The Sierra Club and its foundation
recognize donors who have provided for the club in their estate plans
as the Rachel Carson Society. The Rachel Carson Center for Environment
and Society at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München (Germany) awards
post-doctoral fellowships in the area of the environment and society.
The 'Rachel Carson' sculpture in Woods Hole, Massachusetts was
unveiled on July 14, 2013. Google created a Google Doodle for Carson's
107th birthday on May 27, 2014. Carson was featured during the
"HerStory" video tribute to notable women on U2's tour in 2017 for the
30th anniversary of 'The Joshua Tree' during a performance of
"Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" from the band's 1991 album 'Achtung
Baby'.
Centennial events
===================
The centennial of Carson's birth occurred in 2007. On Earth Day (April
22), 'Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activists
Celebrate the Life and Writing of Rachel Carson' released as "a
centennial appreciation of Rachel Carson's brave life and
transformative writing." It included 13 essays by environmental
writers and scientists.
Democratic Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland had intended to
submit a resolution celebrating Carson for her "legacy of scientific
rigor coupled with poetic sensibility" on the 100th anniversary of her
birth. The resolution was blocked by Republican Senator Tom Coburn of
Oklahoma.
On May 27, 2007, the Rachel Carson Homestead Association held a
birthday party and sustainable feast at her birthplace and home in
Springdale, Pennsylvania, and the first Rachel Carson Legacy
Conference in Pittsburgh with E. O. Wilson as keynote speaker. Both
Rachel's Sustainable Feast and the conference continue as annual
events.
Also in 2007, American author Ginger Wadsworth wrote a biography of
Carson.
List of works
======================================================================
* 'Under the Sea Wind', 1941, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group,
1996,
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* (with Vanez T. Wilson)
* 'The Sea Around Us', Oxford University Press, 1951; Oxford
University Press, 1991,
* 'The Edge of the Sea', Houghton Mifflin 1955; Mariner Books, 1998,
* 'Silent Spring', Houghton Mifflin, 1962; Mariner Books, 2002,
** 'Silent Spring' initially appeared serialized in three parts in the
June 16, June 23, and June 30, 1962, issues of 'The New Yorker'
magazine
* 'The Sense of Wonder', 1965, HarperCollins, 1998: published
posthumously
* 'Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman
1952-1964 An Intimate Portrait of a Remarkable Friendship', Beacon
Press, 1995, edited by Martha Freeman (granddaughter of Dorothy
Freeman)
* 'Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson', Beacon Press,
1998,
* 'Bedrock: Writers on the Wonders of Geology', edited by Lauret E.
Savoy, Eldridge M. Moores, and Judith E. Moores, Trinity University
Press, 2006,
See also
======================================================================
* Air pollution
* Environmentalist
* Environmental history of the United States
* Environmental toxicology
* Rachel Carson Greenway (three trails in Central Maryland)
* Silent Spring Institute
* Women and the environment
Further reading
======================================================================
* Brinkley, Douglas. 'Silent Spring Revolution: John F. Kennedy,
Rachel Carson, Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, and the Great
Environmental Awakening' (2022)
[
https://www.amazon.com/Silent-Spring-Revolution-Environmental-Awakening/dp/0063212919/
excerpt]
* This book is a personal memoir by Carson's Houghton Mifflin editor
and close friend Paul Brooks.
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20140714162055/http://www.walden.org/Library/Special_Collections/Brooks
Brooks' papers] are housed at the Thoreau Institute at Walden Woods
Library.
*
*
*
* Lepore, Jill, "The Shore Bird: Rachel Carson and the rising of the
seas", 'The New Yorker', March 26, 2018, pp. 64-66, 68-72.
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
======================================================================
*
* 'American Experience'
[
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/rachel-carson/
documentary about Rachel Carson]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20100421080258/http://www.pbs.org/asenseofwonder/
A Sense of Wonder] : 2010 PBS Documentary / Interviews with Rachel
Carson
* [
http://hdl.handle.net/10079/fa/beinecke.carson Rachel Carson
Papers]. Yale Collection of American Literature, Beinecke Rare Book
and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
*
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20040803170226/http://www.mindfully.org/Pesticide/Rachel-Carson-Silent-Spring.htm
'New York Times' obituary]
* [
http://www.rachelcarson.org/ RachelCarson.org]--Web site by Carson
biographer Linda J. Lear
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20071016213112/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,990622,00.html
'Time', Mar. 29, 1999, Environmentalist RACHEL CARSON]
* Koehn, Nancy,
[
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/28/business/rachel-carsons-lessons-50-years-after-silent-spring.html?pagewanted=all
"From Calm Leadership, Lasting Change"], 'The New York Times,' October
27, 2012.
* [
https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09212007/profile.html Revisiting
Rachel Carson]--'Bill Moyer's Journal', PBS.org, September 21, 2007
* [
https://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/09212007/profile3.html 'A Sense
of Wonder']--a two-act play about Carson, written and performed by
Kaiulani Lee, based on posthumous work of the same name
*
*
[
https://books.google.com/books?id=diEDAAAAMBAJ&dq=popular+science+1951+why+our+winters&pg=RA1-PA14
"Why Our Winters Are Getting Warmer," November 1951, 'Popular
Science']--early article by Rachel Carson about how the ocean's
currents affect climate (excerpt from her 1951 book, 'The Sea Around
Us').
*
[
http://moviemorlocks.com/2011/02/20/rachel-l-carson-as-interpreted-by-irwin-allen/
(Rachel L. Carson as Interpreted by Irwin Allen--TCM Movie Morlocks on
'The Sea Around Us')]
*
[
https://web.archive.org/web/20130616234117/http://knowledgenetwork.alumni.msu.edu/msu-museum/silentspring.html
'Silent Spring', A Visual History] curated by the Michigan State
University Museum
* Michals, Debra.
[
https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/rachel-carson
"Rachel Carson"]. National Women's History Museum. 2015.
* "For the Birds," episode 6 of '[
https://www.thelastarchive.com/ The
Last Archive]' podcast by Jill Lepore, released July 9, 2020.
*[
https://americanarchive.org/catalog/cpb-aacip_15-4947dkg7
"Roundtable Discussion of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson,"]
1962-00-00, WGBH, American Archive of Public Broadcasting (GBH and the
Library of Congress), Boston, MA and Washington, DC, accessed June 7,
2021.
Carson-related organizations
* [
http://www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org/ The Rachel Carson Homestead]
* [
http://www.silentspring.org/ Silent Spring Institute]
* [
http://www.rachelcarsontrails.org/ Rachel Carson Trails
Conservancy]
* [
http://www.chatham.edu/rci/ Rachel Carson Institute]
License
=========
All content on Gopherpedia comes from Wikipedia, and is licensed under CC-BY-SA
License URL:
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/
Original Article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson
