'Rachel Louise Carson' (
May 27,
1907 —
April 14,
1964) was an
American marine biologist and
nature writer whose landmark book, ''
Silent Spring'', is often credited with having launched the global
environmental movement. ''Silent Spring'' had an immense effect in the
United States, where it spurred a reversal in national
pesticide policy.
[1]
Carson started her career as a scientist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and transitioned to a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely-praised 1951 bestseller ''
The Sea Around Us'' won her financial security and recognition as an extremely gifted writer.
[2] Her next book, ''The Edge of the Sea'', and the republished version of her first book, ''Under the Sea Wind'', were also bestsellers.
In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to the environmental problems caused by synthetic pesticides. The result was ''Silent Spring'', which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public. The work led to a nationwide ban on the pesticide
DDT, and the grassroots environmental movement it inspired led the creation of the
Environmental Protection Agency. Carson was posthumously awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Life and work
Early life and education
Rachel Carson was born in
1907 on a small family farm near
Springdale,
Pennsylvania, just up the
Allegheny River from
Pittsburgh. As a child, she spent many hours learning about ponds, fields, and forests from her mother, who taught Rachel and her older brother and sister the lessons of
nature-study. Carson was an avid reader; and, from a remarkably young age, a talented writer. She began writing stories (often involving animals) at age eight, and had her first published story at age eleven. She especially enjoyed the ''
St. Nicholas Magazine'' (which carried her first published stories), the work of
Beatrix Potter, and the novels of
Gene Stratton Porter, and in her teen years,
Herman Melville,
Joseph Conrad and
Robert Louis Stevenson. Carson attended Springdale's small school through tenth grade, then completed high school in nearby
Parnassus, Pennsylvania, graduating in 1925 at the top of her class of forty-four students.
[3]
At the Pennsylvania College for Women (today known as
Chatham University), as in high school, Carson was somewhat of a loner. She originally studied English, but switched her major to biology in January 1928, though she continued contributing to the school's student newspaper and literary supplement. Though admitted to graduate standing at
Johns Hopkins University in 1928, she was forced to remain at the Pennsylvania College for Women for her senior year due to financial difficulties; she graduated in
1929 with
magna cum laude honors. After a summer course at the
Marine Biological Laboratory, she continued her studies in zoology and genetics at Johns Hopkins University in the Fall of 1929.
[4]
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 project on the embryonic development of the
pronephros in fish. She earned a master's degree in
zoology in June 1932. Though she had intended to continue for a doctorate, in 1934 Carson was forced to leave
Johns Hopkins to search for a full-time teaching position to help support her family. In
1935, her father died suddenly, leaving Carson to care for her aging mother and making the financial situation even more critical. At the urging of her undergraduate biology mentor Mary Scott Skinker, she settled for a temporary position with the
U.S. Bureau of Fisheries writing radio copy for a series of educational broadcasts entitled "Romance Under the Waters". Based on the research for the series, she also began submitting articles to newspapers and magazines.
[5]
Carson's supervisor, pleased with the success of the radio programs, asked her to produce an introductory brochure on fisheries bureau; he also worked to secure for her the first full-time position that became available. Sitting for the
Civil Service exam, she outscored all other applicants on the exam and in
1936 became only the second woman to be hired by the Bureau of Fisheries for a full-time, professional position, as a junior aquatic biologist.
[6]
Early career and publications
At the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, Carson's main responsibilities were to analyze and report on field data on fish populations, and to write brochures and other literature for the public. Using her research and consultations with marine biologists as a jumping off point, she also 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 breadwinner for her mother and two nieces.
[7]
In July 1937, the ''
Atlantic Monthly'' accepted a revised version of an essay, "The World of Waters", that she had originally written 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 book form. 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—including features in ''Sun Magazine'', ''
Nature'', and in 1944, an article in ''
Collier's'' on the similarity between bat
echolocation and the new wartime technology of
radar.
[8]
Carson attempted to leave the Bureau (by then transformed into the
Fish and Wildlife Service) in 1945, but few jobs for naturalists were available as 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" in the wake of the
atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki) that was only beginning to undergo tests for safety and ecological effects. DDT was but one of Carson's many writing projects at the time, and editors found the subject unappealing; she published nothing on DDT until 1962.
[9]
Carson rose within the Fish and Wildlife Service, supervising a small writing staff by 1945 and becoming chief editor of publications in 1949. Though her position provided increasing opportunities for fieldwork and freedom in choosing her writing projects, it also entailed increasingly tedious administrative responsibilities. By 1948, Carson was working on material for a second book and had made the conscious decision to begin a transition to writing full-time. That year, she took on a literary agent,
Marie Rodell—a close professional relationship that would last the rest of Carson's career.
[10]
Oxford University Press expressed interest in the project, spurring Carson to complete the manuscript of what would become ''
The Sea Around Us'' by early 1950.
[11] Chapters appeared in ''
Science Digest'' and the ''
Yale Review''—the latter chapter, "The Birth of an Island", winning the
American Association for the Advancement of Science's George Westinghouse Science Writing Prize—and nine chapters were serialized in ''
The New Yorker'' . ''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 and the
Burroughs Medal, and resulted in Carson being awarded two honorary doctorates. It was also made into an Oscar-winning documentary film. The book's success led to the republication of ''Under the Sea-Wind'', which also became a best-seller.
[12]
With success came financial security, and Carson was able to give up her job in 1952 to concentrate on writing full time. She moved with her mother to
Southport Island, Maine in 1953, and in July of that year met
Dorothy Freeman—the beginning an extremely close relationship that would last the rest of Carson's life. In addition to speaking engagements, correspondence regarding ''The Sea Around Us'' and work on the documentary script, she began library and field research on the ecology and organisms of the Atlantic shore.
[13] She completed the third volume of her sea trilogy, ''
The Edge of the Sea'', in 1955; it appeared in ''The New Yorker'' in two condensed installments shortly before the October 26 book release.
[14] Through 1956 and 1957, Carson worked on a number of 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, but the publication of Julian Huxley's ''Evolution in Action''—and her own difficulty in finding a clear and compelling approach to the topic—led that project to be abandoned. Instead, her interests were turning to conservation.
[15]
Family tragedy struck a third time when one of the nieces she had cared for in the 1940s died at the age of 36, leaving a five-year-old orphan son, Roger Christie. Carson took on that responsibility, adopting the boy, alongside continuing to care for her aging mother; this took a considerable toll on Carson
[16]
By fall 1957, Carson was closely following federal proposals for widespread pesticide spraying; the
USDA planned to eradicate
fire ants, and other spraying programs involving
chlorinated hydrocarbons and
organophosphates were on the rise.
[17] For the rest of her life, Carson's main professional focus would be the dangers of pesticide overuse.
''Silent Spring''
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, it was the USDA's 1957 fire ant eradication program that prompted Carson to devote her research—and her next book—to pesticides and environmental poisons. The fire ant program involved aerial spraying of
DDT and other pesticides (mixed with
fuel oil), including the spraying of private land. Landowners in Long Island filed a suit to have the spraying stopped, and many in other affected regions followed the case closely. Washington, D.C.
Audubon Society also actively opposed such spraying programs, and recruited Carson to help make public the government's exact spraying practices and the related research.
[18]
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: essayist
E. B. White, and a number of 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''.)
[19]
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 personal 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 considered alternate methods such as
biological pest control.
[20]
By 1959, the USDA's Agricultural Research Service responded to the criticism of Carson and others with a public service film, ''Fire Ants 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 decline in bird populations—in her words, the "silencing of birds"—that season to pesticide overuse.
[21] 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 ensuing 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 bulk the scientific literature she had been studying. She also wondered about the possible "financial inducements behind certain pesticide programs".
[22]
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 of the controversial work of
William Hueber, 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, as well as the principal researchers in the field, the evidence for the toxicity of a wide array of synthetic pesticides was clear-cut.
[23]
By 1960, Carson's writing was progressing rapidly. In addition to the thorough literature search, she had investigated hundreds of individual pesticide exposure incidents and resulting human sickness or ecological damage. However, a prolonged health crisis slowed her work and greatly delayed the completion of ''Silent Spring''. In January, a duodenal ulcer followed by several infections kept her bedridden for weeks. As she was nearing full recovery in March (just as she was completely 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 she had been misled; the tumor was in fact
malignant and the cancer had
metastasized.
[24] 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.
[25] Most of the research and writing was done by the fall of 1960, except for the discussion of recent research on
biological controls and investigations of a handful of new pesticides. However, further health troubles slowed the final revisions in 1961 and early 1962.
[26]
It was difficult finding a title for the book; "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, rather than a literal chapter title.
[27] With Carson's approval, editor Paul Brooks at
Houghton Mifflin arranged for illustrations by Louis and Lois Darling; the Darlings also designed the cover. The final writing was the first chapter, "A Fable for Tomorrow", which was intended to provide a gentler introduction to what might otherwise be a forbiddingly serious topic. By mid-1962, Brooks and Carson had largely finished the editing, and were laying the groundwork for promoting the book by sending the manuscript out to select individuals for final suggestions.
[28]
Carson's argument
As biographer Mark Hamilton Lytle writes, Carson "quite self-consciously decided to write a book calling into question the paradigm of scientific progress that defined postwar American culture." The overriding theme of ''Silent Spring'' is the powerful—and often negative—effect humans have on the natural world.
[29]
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 as well—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, but four chapters also detail cases of human pesticide poisoning, cancer, and other illnesses attributed to pesticides.
[30] About DDT and cancer, the subject of so much subsequent debate, Carson says only a little:
In laboratory tests on animal subjects, DDT has produced suspicious liver tumors. Scientists of the Food and Drug Administration who reported the discovery of these tumors were uncertain how to classify them, but felt there was some "justification for considering them low grade hepatic cell carcinomas." Dr. Hueper [author of ''Occupational Tumors and Allied Diseases''] now gives DDT the definite rating of a "chemical carcinogen."[31]
Carson predicts increased consequences in the future, especially as targeted pests develop resistance to pesticides while 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.
[32]
Promotion and reception
Carson and the others involved with 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.
[33]
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 Justice
William O. Douglas, a long-time 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).
[34]
Though ''Silent Spring'' had generated a fairly high level of interest based on pre-publication promotion, this became much more intense with the serialization in ''The New Yorker'', which began in the
June 16,
1962 issue. This brought the book to the attention of the chemical industry and its lobbyists, as well as a wide swath of the American populace. Around that time she also learned that ''Silent Spring'' had been selected as the
Book-of-the-Month for October; as Carson 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''."
[35] 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 United Sates.
[36]
In the weeks leading up to the September 27 publication there was strong opposition to ''Silent Spring''.
DuPont (a main manufacturer of DDT and
2,4-D) and
Velsicol Chemical Company (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, as well as ''The New Yorker'' and ''Audubon Magazine'' 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).
[38]
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.
[39] 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."
[40] Others went further, attacking Carson's scientific credentials (because her training was in marine biology rather than biochemistry) and her personal character. White-Stevens labeled her "a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of nature",
[41] while former Secretary of Agriculture
Ezra Taft Benson—in a letter to
Dwight D. Eisenhower—reportedly concluded that because she was unmarried despite being physically attractive, she was "probably a Communist".
[42]
In addition, many critics repeatedly asserted that she was calling for the elimination of all pesticides despite the fact that 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 "Practical advice should be 'Spray as little as you possibly can' rather than 'Spray to the limit of your capacity.'"
[43]
The academic community—including prominent defenders such as
H. J. Muller,
Loren Eisley,
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 largely 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 a number of 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."
[44] 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.
[45] Within a year or so of publication, the attacks on the book and on Carson had largely lost momentum.
[46]
In one of her last public appearances, Carson had testified before President Kennedy's Science Advisory Committee. The committee issued its report on
May 15 1963, largely backing Carson's scientific claims.
[47] Following the report's release, she also testified before a Senate subcommittee to make policy recommendations. Though Carson received hundreds of other speaking invitations, she was unable to 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
Paul Bartsch Award (from the
Audubon Naturalist Society), the
Audubon Medal (from the
American Geographical Society), and induction into the
American Academy of Arts and Letters.
[48]
Weakened from cancer and her treatment regimen, Carson became ill with a respiratory virus in January 1964. Her condition worsened from there: in February, doctors found that she had severe anemia from her radiation treatments, and in March they discovered that the cancer had reached her liver. She died of a coronary heart attack on
14 April 1964, at the age of 56.
[49]
Carson's legacy
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 fledging 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 uncritcally."
[50] 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 the
ecofeminism and on many feminist scientists.
[51]
Carson's most direct legacy in the environmental movement was the campaign to ban the use of 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 President's Science Advisory Committee, the 1967 formation of the
Environmental Defense Fund was the first major 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).
[52]
The creation, in 1970, of the
Environmental Protection Agency 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. 15 years after it's creation, one journalist described the EPA as "the extended shadow of ''Silent Spring''". Much of the agency's early work, such as enforcement of the 1972
Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act, was directly related to Carson's work.
[53]
Relationship with Dorothy Freeman
The nature of the relationship between Rachel Carson and
Dorothy Freeman (1898–1978) has been the subject of much interest and speculation. It is probably best described as a
romantic friendship. In July, 1953, Carson met Freeman, a summer resident of the island along with her husband, after Freeman had written to Carson to welcome her. She had read ''The Sea Around Us'', a gift from her son, and was excited to have the prominent author as a neighbor. Carson's biographer Linda 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."
[54] She found this in Freeman. The two women had a number of common interests, nature chief among them, and began exchanging letters regularly while apart. They would continue to share every summer for the remainder of Carson's life, and meet whenever else their schedules would permit.
[55]
Though Lear does not explicitly describe the relationship as romantic or
lesbian, others (such as the encyclopedia ''glbtq''
[56]) have done so. Carson and Freeman knew that their letters could be interpreted as such, though they would not have described it that way, since "the expression of their love was limited almost wholly to letters and very occasional farewell kisses or holding of hands."
[57] Freeman shared parts of Carson's letters with her husband, to help him understand their relationship, but much of their correspondence was carefully guarded.
[58] Shortly before Carson's death, they 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 Freeman's granddaughter. 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'".
[59]
The Rachel Carson Papers
Carson bequested her manuscripts and papers to
Yale University, to take advantage of the new state-of-the-art preservations facilities of the
Beinecke Rare Book and 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 of would be submitted to the archive.
[60]
Rachel Carson Centennial
2007 is the centennial of Rachel Carson's birth. The
Rachel Carson Homestead Association is planning four major events throughout the year including a May 27 birthday party and sustainable feast at her birthplace and home in
Springdale, Pennsylvania. The Cape Cod Museum of Natural History in Brewster, Massachusetts, in collaboration with the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service and the Ward Museum of Wildfowl Art in Salisbury, Maryland, is hosting the exhibit "Awakening Nature's Voice", a national Carson centennial event from May to November 30, 2007.
On
April 22,
2007 (
Earth Day), ''Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activists Celebrate the Life and Writing of Rachel Carson'' was released as "a centennial appreciation of Rachel Carson's brave life and transformative writing." Editor
Peter Matthiessen assembled 13 essays by environmental writers and scientists, including John Elder,
Al Gore, John Hay, Freeman House, Linda Lear, Jim Lynch,
Robert Michael Pyle,
Janisse Ray,
Sandra Steingraber,
Terry Tempest Williams, and
E. O. Wilson.
[61]
Sen.
Benjamin L. Cardin (D)
Maryland had intended to submit a resolution celebrating Carson author for her "legacy of scientific rigor coupled with poetic sensibility," on the 100th anniversary of her birth. The resolution was blocked by Sen.
Tom Coburn (R)
Oklahoma,
[62] who is quoted on his website saying that "The junk science and stigma surrounding DDT—the cheapest and most effective insecticide on the planet—have finally been jettisoned."
[63]
Posthumous honors
On
June 9,
1980, Carson was awarded the
Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States.
[64]
The
United States Environmental Protection Agency and state environmental agencies have named facilities after Carson: the premier conference room in the headquarters of the was named "The Rachel Carson Room", and the Rachel Carson State Office Building in
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania is home to the Commonwealth's Department of Environmental Protection and Department of Conservation and Natural Resources.
Between 1964 and 1990, 650 acres (260 hectares) 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.
[65]
The Rachel Carson Bridge in Pittsburgh
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 non-profit Rachel Carson Homestead Association was created in 1975 to manage it.
[66] In nearby
Pittsburgh, a bridge was also recently renamed in Carson's honor: the
Rachel Carson Bridge.
[67]
There are at least four public schools named after her:
Rachel Carson Elementary School in
Gaithersburg, Maryland, the
Rachel Carson Elementary School in
San Jose, California and the
Rachel Carson Middle School in
Herndon, Virginia. In
Beaverton, Oregon, there is an optional middle school program named after her which is focused on environmental sciences.
The
Rachel Carson Prize was founded in
Stavanger,
Norway in 1991, and is awarded to women who have made a contribution in the field of environmental protection.
''A Sense of Wonder,'' a one-woman play based on the life and works of Rachel Carson—written and performed by stage and screen actress Kaiulani Lee—has toured the U.S., Canada, England and Italy since 1995. The two-act play takes place in Carson's
Maine summer home (act one) and in her
Silver Spring, Maryland home (act two) after the release of her book ''Silent Spring.'' The play has been performed at regional and national conferences, more than one hundred universities, the
Smithsonian Institution in
Washington, D.C., the Albert Sweitzer Conference at the
United Nations, the
Sierra Club Centennial in
San Francisco, and the
Department of the Interior 150th Anniversary Celebration.
[68]
Posthumous criticism
Carson and the
environmental movement were—and continue to be—criticized by some
conservatives, who argue that restrictions placed on pesticides have caused needless deaths and hampered agriculture, and more generally that environmental regulation unnecessarily restricts economic freedom.
[69][70] For example, the conservative magazine ''
Human Events'' gave ''Silent Spring'' an honorable mention for the "Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries".
[71]
Carson's attack on DDT has come under the most intense fire. In the 1980s, the
Reagan administration sought to undue as much of the environmental legacy of the 1960s and 1970s as possible, and Carson's work was one of the obvious targets. Political scientist
Charles Rubin was one of the most vociferous critics in the 1980s and 1990s, though he accused her merely of selective use of source and fanaticism (rather than the more severe criticism Carson received upon ''Silent Spring's release). More recently, critics have claimed that Carson is responsible for millions of
malaria deaths, because of the DDT bans her work prompted. Some have attributed as many as 100 million deaths to Carson's legacy, though biographer Mark Hamilton Lytle finds these estimates very unrealistic, even assuming that Carson can be "blamed" for worldwide DDT policies, and suggests that malaria is much less significant than a number of other widespread preventable public health problems in Africa.
[72] Carson never actually called for an out-right ban on DDT.
[73]
Furthermore, experts have argued that restrictions placed on the agricultural use of DDT (something Carson actually did advocate) have increased its effectiveness as tool for battling malaria. Pro-DDT advocate
Amir Attaran has said, "The outcome of the
treaty [banning DDT's use in agriculture] is arguably better than the status quo…For the first time, there is now an insecticide which is restricted to vector control only, meaning that the selection of resistant mosquitoes will be slower than before."
[74] And even
Roger Bate, director of Africa Fighting Malaria, has said "A lot of people have used Carson to push their own agendas. We just have to be a little careful when you're talking about someone who died in 1964."
[75]
Some environmentalists consider the recent criticism of Carson and push for DDT to be an industry sponsored strategy to discredit the environmental movement. Monica Moore of Pesticide Action Network has written that "Renewed promotion of DDT and attacks on those who would limit its use isn’t about malaria, or even DDT. It is a cynical “better living through chemistry” campaign intended to discredit the environmental health movement, with support from the Bush administration and others who seek nothing less than the dismantling of health and environmental protections."
[76]
Writings by Rachel Carson
★ ''Under the Sea Wind'', 1941, Simon & Schuster, Penguin Group, 1996, ISBN 0-14-025380-7
★ ''The Sea Around Us'', 1951, Oxford University Press, 1991, ISBN 0-19-506997-8
★ ''The Edge of the Sea'', 1955, Mariner Books, 1998, ISBN 0-395-92496-0
★ ''Silent Spring'', Houghton Mifflin, 1962, Mariner Books, 2002, ISBN 0-618-24906-0
★
★ ''Silent Spring'' initially appeared serialized in three parts in the
16 June,
23 June, and
30 June 1962 issues of ''
The New Yorker'' magazine
★ ''The Sense of Wonder'', 1965, HarperCollins, 1998: ISBN 0-06-757520-X published posthumously
★ ''Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman 1952–1964 An Intimate Portrait of a Remarkable Friendship'', Beacon Press, 1995, ISBN 0-8070-7010-6 edited by Martha Freeman (granddaughter of Dorothy Freeman)
★ ''Lost Woods: The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson'', Beacon Press, 1998, ISBN 0-8070-8547-2
References
★ Hynes, H. Patricia. ''The Recurring Silent Spring''. Pergamon Press, New Yrok, 1989. ISBN 0-08-037117-5
★ Lear, Linda. ''Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature''. Henry Holt, New York, 1997, Owl Books paperback 1998: ISBN 0-8050-3428-5
★ Lytle, Mark Hamilton. ''The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement''. Oxford University Press, New York, 2007 ISBN 0-19-517246-9
Further reading
★ ''Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activists Celebrate the Life and Writing of Rachel Carson'', edited by Peter Matthiessen. Mariner Books, 2007. ISBN 0618872760
★ ''Rachel Carson: Biologist and Author'', by
Marty Jezer. Chelsea House Publications, 1988. ISBN 155546646X
★ ''Rachel Carson: A Biography'', by Arlene Quaratiello. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2004. ISBN 0-313-32388-7
★ ''What a Book Can Do: The Publication and Reception of Silent Spring'', Priscilla Coit Murphy, Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press 2005: ISBN 978-1-55849-582-1
Notes
1. On the legacy of ''Silent Spring'', see:
★ Priscilla Coit Murphy, 'What a Book Can Do: The Publication and Reception of Silent Spring', Amherst, University of Massachusetts Press 2005
★ Hynes, ''The Recurring Silent Spring'', chapters 2-4
★ Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', chapter 4 and epilogue
2. On Carson's nature writing and the praise it received, see:
★ Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', especially chapters 8-10 regarding ''The Sea Around Us''
★ Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', especially chapter 2
3. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 7–24
4. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 27–62
5. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 63–79
6. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 79–82
7. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 82–85
8. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 85–113
9. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 114–120
10. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 121–160
11. An apocryphal story holds that the book was rejected from over twenty publishers before Oxford University Press. In fact, it may have only been sent to one other publisher before being accepted, though Rodell and Carson worked extensively to place chapters and excerpts in periodicals. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 163–164
12. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 164–241
13. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 223–244
14. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 261-276
15. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 276-300
16. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 300-309
17. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 305-313
18. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 312-317
19. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 317-327
20. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 327-336
21. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 342-346
22. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 358-361
23. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 355-358
24. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 360-368
25. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 372-373. The photo essay, "The Sea", was published in ''Johns Hopkins Magazine'', May/June 1961; Carson provided the captions for Hartmann's photographs.
26. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 376-377,
27. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 375, 377-378, 386-387, p. 389
28. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 390-397
29. Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', pp. 166-167
30. Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', pp. 166-172
31. Carson, ''Silent Spring'', p. 225
32. Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', pp. 169, 173
33. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 397-400
34. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 375, 377, 400-407. Douglas's dissenting opinion on the rejection of the case, ''Robert Cushman Murphy et al., v. Butler et al., from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, is from March 28, 1960.
35. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 407-408. Quotation (p. 408) from a June 13, 1962 letter from Carson to Dorothy Freeman.
36. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 409-413
37. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 416, 419
38. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 412-420
39. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 433-434
40. Fooling with nature: special reports: Silent Spring revisited:
41. Quoted in Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', p. 434
42. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 429-430. Benson's supposed comments were widely repeated at the time, but have not been directly confirmed.
43. Introduction to Environmental Science 12:008/159:008 Spring 2002
44. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 437-449; quotation from p. 449.
45. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 449-450
46. The Time 100: Scientists and Thinkers; Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', p. 461
47. 2003 National Women's History Month Honorees: Rachel Carlson
48. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 451-461, 469-473
49. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 476-480
50. Hynes, ''The Recurring Silent Spring'', p. 3
51. Hynes, ''The Recurring Silent Spring'', pp. 8-9
52. Hynes, ''The Recurring Silent Spring'', pp. 46-47
53. Hynes, ''The Recurring Silent Spring'', pp. 47-48, 148-163
54. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', p. 248
55. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 244-288
56. Caryn E. Neumann, "Carson, Rachel (1907-1964)", ''glbtq: an encyclopedia of gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, & queer culture''. Accessed July 31, 2007
57. Janet Montefiore, "'The fact that possesses my imagination': Rachel Carson, Science and Writing", ''Women: A Cultural Review'', Vol. 12, No. 1 (2001), p. 48
58. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 255-256
59. Sarah F. Tjossem, Review of ''Always Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952–1964'', ''Isis'', Vol. 86, No. 4 (1995), pp. 687-688, quoting from: Carolyn Heilbrun, ''Writing a Woman's Life'' [Ballantine, 1988], p. 108.
60. Lear, ''Rachel Carson'', pp. 467-468, 477, 482-483
61. Houghton Mifflin Trade and Reference Divsion, ''Courage for the Earth'' release information
62. Washington Post "Bill to honor Rachel Carson Blocked"
63. Stephen Moore, ''The Wall Street Journal,'' "Doctor Tom's DDT Victory"
64. Presidential Medal of Freedom Recipient Rachel Carson, accessed August 24, 2007
65. MNCPPC: Rachel Carson Conservation Park, accessed August 26, 2007
66. Rachel Carson Homestead, accessed September 7, 2007]]
67. Environmentalist Rachel Carson's legacy remembered on Earth Day
68.
★ Kaiulani Lee's ''Sense of Wonder'' site
69. Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', pp. 217
70. Examples of recent criticism include:
(a) Rich Karlgaard, ''Forbes.com'', "But Her Heart Was Good", May 18, 2007
(b) Keith Lockitch, ''Capitalism Magazine,'' "Rachel Carson's Genocide," May 23, 2007, accessed May 24, 2007
(c) David Roberts, "My one and only post on the Rachel Carson nonsense," Grist.com, May 24th, 2007.
(d) Paul Driessen, ''The Washington Times,'' "Forty Years of Perverse 'Responsibility,'" April 29, 2007, accessed May 30, 2007
(e) Iain Murray, ''National Review,'' "''Silent'' Alarmism: A Centennial We Could Do Without," May 31, 2007, accessed May 31, 2007
71. Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries, accessed August 24, 2007
72. Lytle, ''The Gentle Subversive'', pp. 217-228
73. She instead argued in ''Silent Spring'' that:
No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored. The question that has now urgently presented itself is whether it is either wise or responsible to attack the problem by methods that are rapidly making it worse. The world has heard much of the triumphant war against disease through the control of insect vectors of infection, but it has heard little of the other side of the story - the defeats, the short-lived triumphs that now strongly support the alarming view that the insect enemy has been made actually stronger by our efforts. Even worse, we may have destroyed our very means of fighting. (p. 266)
She noted that "Malaria programmes are threatened by resistance among mosquitoes" (p. 267) and emphasized the advice given by the directer 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." (p. 275)
74. MFI second page
75. Okla. Sen. Blocks Bill to Honor Rachel Carson, Express.com, May 23, 2007.
76. Monica Moore, ''First Words'', PAN Magazine, Fall 2006.
External links
Biographical resources
★
Rachel Carson papers - Yale University Library finding aid for Carson's papers
★
''New York Times'' obituary
★
RachelCarson.org - website by Carson biographer Linda Lear
★
Time magazine's "100 most important people" article on Carson
Carson-related organizations
★
Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge homepage
★
U.S. Fish and Wildlife's Rachel Carson National Wildlife webpage
★
The Rachel Carson Council
★
The Rachel Carson Homestead
★
Silent Spring Institute
Criticism
★
Rachel Was Wrong - an anti-Carson website by the
Competitive Enterprise Institute
★
''Silent Spring'' at 40: Rachel Carson’s classic is not aging well ''Reason Online'',
12 June 2002
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