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RACHEL CARSON'S SILENT SPRING
1950's America -- prosperity, a booming economy and "Better Living Through Chemistry" -- a world made safe by
the war won by science and technology. In that war a new chemical, DDT, sprayed on troops and civilians alike -- clobbered
malaria and typhus, which in most wars killed more people than bullets. Radar, airplanes, missiles and ultimately the atomic
bomb brought the "evil empires" to their knees. Dr. Salk's vaccine destroyed the dreaded polio. GIs went to college.
Sputnik took us where man had ever gone before. And American families flocked to the suburbs where their worst enemy was --
crabgrass.
But there was trouble in paradise. Dead birds appeared on golf courses and campuses. Dying fish clogged streams and lakes.
Babies were born deformed. In a new war to make the world safe from insects and weeds, the stockpile of DDT was sprayed from
airplanes on farms and cities. Seizing the opportunity, chemical companies began to brew up more powerful, more profitable
pesticides. By the 60's prosperous post-war America would be shocked to its roots to find that science and technology were
not infallible and that "progress" had a price.
One woman stood poised in a unique position to reveal that "The Emperor's New Clothes" were not what they seemed.
She was a scientist and a good one, but also an internationally famous author. Her 1952 book "The Sea Around Us"
was on the national bestseller list for 86 straight weeks (39 in first place). Her previous book "Under the Sea Wind"
joined it, and for a while she had two books on the bestseller list. With critical acclaim, she left her obscure civil service
position to write a third bestseller ocean biography, "The Edge of the Sea". There was hardly an award she did
not receive.
With a unique collaboration of right and left brain skills, she was able take dull scientific fact and translate it into
lyric prose that enchanted the public. She understood the jargon of science. She simply didn't use it. She wrote not only
so the general public could comprehend, but so that they could "feel" and "wonder". Serialized in magazines
and selected for Reader's Digest Book of the Month Club, her "science" books captured the hearts of both the literary
elite and the general reader.
Rachel Carson grew up a shy girl in a rural home without indoor plumbing but surrounded by nature. More comfortable with
dogs and birds than with people, she was just 11 when her first story was published. She always knew she would be a writer.
And, always, she was poor. For college, her mother sold the family china; the school loaned the rest. Graduating magna cum
laude in biology in 1929 at the on set of the Depression, there were no jobs for female scientists. She earned a full graduate
scholarship to John Hopkins in zoology, and eked out a living as a teaching assistant supporting her parents, an ailing sister
and two nieces.
In 1935 the death of her father destroyed any hope of a doctorate. At 28 and sole support of a family of 5, she took
a job with the US Bureau of Fisheries writing radio scripts about fish. One of the first two women hired by the Bureau in
a professional capacity, she eventually became editor of all bureau publications. To supplement her civil servant's salary,
she turned the marine biology research she did by day into newspaper feature stories by night. For 17 years she worked in
obscurity honing her skills writing government brochures explaining complex biology to the consumer.
As early as 1945 she had been aware of the devastating effects of chemical pesticides on wildlife. For a decade while
over a half million tons of pesticides were sprayed on American farms, cities, suburbs and forests, she tried unsuccessfully
to find someone to alert the public. Reluctantly, in 1958 she resigned to spend four years of her all too short life researching
and writing, not of the beauties and wonders of nature she loved, but what she would call her "poison book".
It was a frightening task. She would be taking on the powerful affluent chemical industry. She had no financial backing,
only book royalties. She had no university research facilities, only personal contacts. She had no computer, just thousands
of hand-written 3 x 5 cards.
She was a woman alone caring for an elderly mother and an orphaned grandnephew. She physically suffered with arthritis,
ulcers, periodic blindness and cancer, to which she succumbed 18 months after the publication of Silent Spring. Yet it was
this lone woman who accepted the gauntlet.
Carson's poetic expose of the indiscriminant use of pesticides was vehemently attacked by the whole chemical industry
Monsanto, Velsico, American Cyanamid -- and the Department of Agriculture. But the more the industry spent on discrediting
Rachel Carson, the more Silent Spring was read. In an incredible new wave of American citizen outrage, the more she was
attacked, the more the nation rallied to her cause.
The chemical companies poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into a marketing campaign against her, including free distribution
of a parody "The Desolate Year" to the general public, and to the scientific community, a line-by-line instruction
guide to answer Silent Spring. Carson jokingly asked her publisher if she could sue them for plagarism.
Silent Spring was written as airtight as a lawyer's brief with 55 pages of notes and a list of experts who had read and
approved it. When the chemical companies couldn't fault her research, they resorted to name calling -- hysterical woman,
bird lover, -- a communist whose extreme views and junk science threatened the health and welfare of the nation. Their attempt
at personal assassination catapulted her book to stardom.
Some books when written mark the time when nothing will ever be the same again "Uncle Tom's Cabin", "Common
Sense"; -- and Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring". Once it was published, our planet would never be seen in
the same light again.
"Silent Spring" is said to have been the genesis of the environmental movement. It entered the words "ecology",
"reverence for life"; and "balance of nature" into our common language. It awoke a nation to beware the
marketing of science for profit and taught to us question: "Who speaks? And why"?
To many of us, its author was Joan of Arc, Mother Teresa and Lois Lane all rolled into one. For the young women of
the 60's, Rachel Carson was our first hero.
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QUOTATIONS FROM RACHEL CARSON
It is impossible to understand man without understanding his environment and the forces that molded him physically and
mentally.
Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.
If there is poetry in my book about the seas, it is not because I deliberately put it there, but because no one could
write truthfully about the sea and leave out the poetry.
If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that
her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life.
Anyone who has really read the book knows that I do not advocate the complete abandonment of chemical control, that I
criticize modern chemical control, not because it controls harmful insects but because it controls them badly and inefficiently.
. . We really are capable of much greater sophistication in our solution to this problem.
The "control of nature" is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and . . .
the convenience of man.
The human race is challenged more than ever before to demonstrate our mastery - not over nature but of ourselves.
SUGGESTED READING
About Rachel Carson
Lytle, Mark Hamilton. The Gentle Subversive, Rachel Carson, "Silent Spring" and the Rise of the Environmental
Movement. Oxford University Press, April 2007. A new, short biography that uses Carson's life as a story to show how Rachel
Carson and Silent Spring inspired the "age of ecology" and remain controversial today. It's a fast and interesting
read and if you have time for just one book, try this one.
Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson, Witness for Nature. Henry Holt & Co. 1997 A full spectrum, multidimensional biography
that Linda Lear spent ten years researching. As Mark Lytle said -- there is little we are every likely to discover about
Carson that Lear has not already found. Magnificently written, it is a biography you can wrap yourself up in and savor.
Brooks, Paul. The House of Life. Houghton Mifflin Co, 1972. The first Rachel Carson biography by her editor who adopted
her grandnephew Roger after her death. Not wanting to invade the privacy of this very private person, Brooks focuses on biographical
details that reveal Carson's approach as a writer. There are numerous excerpts from books and articles.
Matthiessen, Peter, ed. Courage for the Earth: Writers, Scientists, and Activist Celebrate the Life and Writing of Rachel
Carson. Mariner Books, April 22, 2007. Contributors include John Elder, Al Gore, John Hay, Freeman House, Linda Lear, Robert
Michael Pyle, Janisse Ray, Sandra Steingraber, Terry Tempest Williams, and E. O. Wilson. Relates Rachel Carson to current
environmental issues.
By Rachel Carson
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring (40th anniversary edition). Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co. 2002. Introduction by Linda
Lear and afterward by E.O. Wilson. 1994 edition has introduction by Al Gore. First published 1962.
Carson, Rachel. A Sense of Wonder. Harper and Row, 1965
Carson, Rachel. The Edge of the Sea. Houghton Mifflin, 1955
Carson, Rachel. The Sea Around Us. Oxford University Press 1951 most recent 1991
Carson, Rachel. Under the Sea Wind. Simon and Schuster 1941. Penguin Books 1996
Annotated Collections of Writings
Lear, Linda, ed. Lost Woods, The Discovered Writing of Rachel Carson. Beacon Press, 1998. A wide range sampling of
her writing showing: childhood, books, speeches, letters each one flowingly poetic and crystal clear.
Freeman, Martha, ed. Always, Rachel: The Letters of Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman, 1952-1964. Boston, Beacon Press,
1995. Ten years of correspondence detailing an intimate relationship between Rachel Carson and Dorothy Freeman.
RACHEL CARSON ON THE WEB
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The Life and Legacy of Rachel Carson
www.rachelcarson.org
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Rachel Carson Online Book Club
http://rcbookclub.blogspot.com/
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Rachel Carson Council Formerly the Rachel Carson Trust for the Living Environment, the Rachel Carson Council promotes alternative,
environmentally benign pest management strategies to encourage healthier, sustainable living. www.rachelcarsoncouncil.com
website under development. Current site:
http://members.aol.com/rccouncil/ourpage
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Pen against Poison
http://usinfo.state.gov/products/pubs/carson/
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Silent Spring, 1994 edition introduction by Al Gore
http://clinton2.nara.gov/WH/EOP/OVP/24hours/carson.html
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Rachel Carlson Homestead - formed in 1975 to preserve and restore this National Register historic site and to offer education
programs which advance Rachel Carson's environmental ethic. 613 Marion Avenue, Springdale, Pennsylvania. (724) 274-5459.
Rachelcarlsonhomestead.org
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Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Wells Me 207-646-0226 Estabhished in 1966 in cooperation with the State of Maine to
protect valuable salt marshes and estuaries for migratory birds. Scattered along 50 miles of coastline in York and Cumberland
counties, the refuge consists of ten divisions between Kittery and Cape Elizabeth. It will contain approximately 7,600 acres
when land acquisition is complete.
http://www.fws.gov/northeast/rachelcarson
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Rachel Carson Institute, Chatham College
http://www.chatham.edu/RCI
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Home she had built in 1956 and in which she wrote Silent Spring. 11701 Berwick, Road (Quaint Acres neighborhood), Silver
Springs, MD -- just around the corner from home Sen. Margaret Chase Smith rented (1952-1973). Home can be seen by appointment.
RCCouncil@aol.com
RCCouncil@aol.com
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DDT AND MALARIA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Controversial then, and controversial still, Rachel Carson has recently been blamed for millions of deaths in third world
countries because DDT is not used to combat malaria.
Carson never advocated the banning of DDT. She advocated Integrated Pest Management, which uses cultural, physical, biological,
and chemical strategies in an ecologically sound and economically viable program.
Carson encouraged the responsible use of pesticide with an awareness of the chemicals' impact on all living things. In
the context of malaria control, she argued that DDT users should "spray as little as you possibly can" rather than
"spray to the limit of your capacity".
DDT was banned for use in agriculture because it was found to be "...accumulating in the food chain, posing a risk
to public health and the environment." It was never banned for medical emergencies.
Today's malaria-infested Africa is a complex situation with no single solution. I have no idea how Rachel Carson would
respond to it. But I do know, she would research every credible authority. She would make the complex science so simple our
hearts would open. And the message would be crystal clear.
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| Caroline McIntyre as Rachel Carson |
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"Silent Spring" opens with an apocryphal fable, imaginary in whole, but in each small part painfully true.
"There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings . .
. Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community .
. . No witchcraft, no enemy action had silenced the rebirth of new life in this stricken world. The people had done it themselves."
The reader is then led effortlessly through the complex chemistry of chlorinated hydrocarbon pesticides and the contamination
of our waters, soil and food resulting in the death of birds, fish and wildlife and the bioaccumulation of chemicals in human
fatty cells. All in simply elegant prose.
"Silent Spring" ends not with wholesale denigration of all chemicals but with great hope for biological control
and return to a balance of nature.
Written almost 50 years ago, "Silent Spring" has never gone out of print.
TIME LINE
May 29, 1907 Born Springdale, Pennsylvania. At age 11, publishes first magazine
article in St. Nicholas Magazine
1925 - 29 Pennsylvania College for Women graduates Magna Cum Laude with a double major English and Biology
1929 - 35 Full scholarship to John Hopkins. M.S. in Zoology 1932. Teaches Zoology at John Hopkins and University of
Maryland. Summers at Woods Hole Marine Biology Lab in Massachusetts (1929 - 38).
1935 - 40 First hired to write US Bureau of Fisheries radio scripts for Romance Under the Water and then employed by Bureau
of Fisheries as an Aquatic Biologist. Writes 12 independent articles about the sea for the Baltimore Sunday Sun (3/16/36
- 3/26/39)
1940 - 1952 Bureau of Fisheries Dept. of Agriculture merged into Fish and Wildlife (Dept. of Interior). One of first
2 women to be hired by Fish & Wildlife in professional capacity. "Food from the Seas"; Conservation Bulletins
(1943 - 45). "Conservation in Action" 12 pamphlets on national wildlife refuges (1946 - 50). Consistently promoted
until Editor-in-Chief of all publications. In July 1949 deep sea diving in Florida and Bureau's research boat, Albatross
II for deep sea collecting.
1941 Under the Sea Wind: A Naturalist's Picture of Ocean Life published by Simon and Schuster (Nov 1940).
1952 The Sea Around Us published by Oxford University Press (7/2/51). 86 weeks on bestseller list, 39 in first place.
Translated into 30 languages by 1962 and within the year sold more than 200,000 copies in hard cover. First serialized in
New Yorker. Selected for Reader's Digest Book of the Month Club. NY Times Book of the Year. Woman of the Year in Literature,
Cover of Saturday Review of Literature. John Burroughs Medal, the National Book Award, Westinghouse Science Writing award.
Geographical Society of Philadelphia Gold Medal. NY Zoological Society Gold Medal. Garden Club of America Award. Fellow
of England's Royal Society of Literature. Fraternity of Women in Journalism Distinguished Service Award. Gives back Guggenheim
Fellowship.
Under the Sea Wind republished (4/13/52) and for a while Carson had two books on the bestseller list. Also published
as Readers Digest Book of the Month Club.
2/18/52 Grand-nephew Roger Christie born
6/03/52 Resigns from Fish and Wildlife Service
1953 (May) RKO film of The Sea Around Us (Oscar for best documentary)
1955 Edge of the Sea published by Houghton Mifflin. Excepts in New Yorker
1956 Something about the Sky (Clouds). TV program for Omnibus
Help your Child to Wonder. Woman's Home Companion & Reader's Digest.
1962 Silent Spring published by Houghton Mifflin. Excerpts in New Yorker. Albert Schweitzer Medal of Animal Welfare Institute.
National Wildlife Federation -- Conservationist of the Year award. Garden Club of America Commendation. Isaac Walton League
of America aware. Audubon Medal of national Audubon Society. Cullum Medal of American Geographic Society. Elected to American
Academy of Arts and letters (Limited to 50 only 3 women at this time).
1963 April CBS Reports TV special The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson
May 15 President's Science Advisory Committee report endorses Rachel Carson's stand.
June 4 & 6 Carson appears before Senate hearings: Ribicoff Committee and Common Commerce Committee.
April 15, 1964 Rachel Carson dies Silver Spring, MD. at age 56 after a long battle with breast cancer.
1965 The Sense of Wonder published by Harper and Row, posthumously
1999 Time Magazine selects Rachel Carson one of the 100 most important people of the century.
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| Rachel Carson author of Silent Spring |
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