Rachel Carson is the author of “Silent Springâ€, her 1962 prizewinning expose of the harm being done to the environment by chemicals. Having worked as a scientist and editor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, she had already published numerous pamphlets, scripts and articles on the conservation of natural resources, as well as three books about the sea. It was her anxiety about the increasing use of synthetic pesticides after World War II that caused her to turn her attention in that direction, and Silent Spring was the result. Vilified by corporate chemists, agriculturists and even government agencies, she held firm to her convictions, and the book was a runaway success. Rachel Carson died in 1964, but her legacy is an astounding one – no less than a 180 degree turnaround in how we, the human creatures “in charge†of this great planet, are beginning to think about and act toward the world we live in. She can truly be lauded as “The Mother of Environmentalismâ€.
