The legacy of Rachel Carson
Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature by Linda Lear (image courtesy Henry Holt and Company, Owl Books.)
The year 2007 marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Rachel Carson, considered by many as the woman who launched the environmental movement.
Carson is best known for her book Silent Spring – about the harmful effects of the overuse of DDT on the interconnected web of life.
Environmental historian Linda Lear wrote a biography of Carson, called Witness For Nature. More recently, Lear contributed to a collection of essays celebrating the life and writing of Rachel Carson.
Linda Lear: Rachel Carson was against our misuse of the Earth, and in particular, our misuse of chemical pesticides immediately “after World War II, when pesticides became used domestically in agriculture, and overused.
In those days, pesticides such as DDT seemed miraculous in their ability to eradicate the insect–borne diseases malaria and typhus. Few suspected that their overuse could cause problems.
Linda Lear: And she was concerned that people would forget that they were actually toxins. Her legacy is one of activism, the fact that we care enough about the Earth to create new communities and to do something about the devastation that has occurred.
This devastation, Lear added, is both to ecosystems and to human health.
Witness For Nature
A biography of Rachel Carson by Linda Lear
The Story of Silent Spring from the National Resources Defense Council
There’s Poison All Around Us Now, a 1962 review of Carson’s book Silent Spring in the New York Review of Books.
Excerpts from the writing of Rachel Carson
On the shoulders of giants, an article about Carson and her work from NASA’s Earth Observatory
Our thanks to:
Linda Lear
Biographer of Rachel Carson
A balanced view of Rachel Carson needs to take into account her lies about the dangers of DDT. These are spelled out in entomologist Gordon Edwards’s article posted on our website. Edwards was, like Carson, a naturalist, and looked forward to reading her book in 1962. But he was troubled by some of the studies she quoted, and when he checked the original research, he discovered that she had misreported the results to make DDT look bad. The article address is http://www.21stcenturysciencetech.com/articles/summ02/Carson.html
DDT was banned for political reasons in 1972. The Environmental Protection Agency held seven months of hearings on DDT, producing 9,000 pages of testimony. The EPA hearing examiner, Edmund Sweeney, ruled at the end that on the basis of the scientific evidence, DDT should NOT be banned, and that it was not harmful to human beings or animals. The EPA Administrator William Ruckelshaus ignored the EPA hearings and banned it anyway, for what he admitted were political reasons.
The politics behind the ban had to do with population control. As Club of Rome founder Alexander King frankly admitted: he supported the use of DDT as a lifesaver during the war, but later regretted this because by stopping the spread of malaria, DDT was allowing population growth in the developing sector.
As a result of the Carson propaganda, DDT was stopped in Africa, Asia, and South America, and millions of people have died from malaria. Last year the WHO rose above this propaganda and permitted the use of DDT for indoor house spraying, which is the most effective weapon against the spread of malaria. This is because DDT repels mosquitoes as well as killing them on contact. No other pesticide does that.
In the interest of science, I think that Earth & Sky should tell the full story of DDT and Rachel Carson.
Dear Marjorie Hecht,
Thanks for your comment. Rachel Carson was not perfect, for sure. Despite her mistakes, I have come to appreciate her remarkable life and valuable work.
Do you plan to tell a bit more of “the full story…..... of Rachel Carson,” as you put it?
It may be worth noting here that some people believe Rachel Carson is to the environmental movement what Rosa Parks is to the racial equality movement.
Sincerely,
Steve
Ahhh, Steven…. a true voice of reason. I would have to agree that saving millions of humans from nature with a chemical that was “proven” to be harmless is probably not a good idea anyways. Being from Pittsburgh, I’ve been hearing a lot about Rachel Carson, especially since a good friend of mine helped to organize her centennial celebration. I do have to say that regardless of what you believe about DDT, the good that has resulted, either directly or indirectly, from her convictions and her example of activism far outweighs any bad some people consider her to have done.
Dear Jenny Crawford,
Thanks.
There is still much more to communicate about the life and work of one of the greatest and bravest scientists of the 20th century. I have difficulty imagining the contemporary environmental movement without her abiding presence and lasting contributions to science.
Where are we to find scientists with her rare and remarkable personal attributes? One of my deepest fears is that we shall not the likes of her again…... at a time when thousands of people for whom she could be an exemplar are needed for the work of this day: saving the Earth and life as we know it.
As a way of acknowledging this great lady’s value, I would like to recommend that May 27, 2007 be made a national holiday.
Always,
Steve
Please find a link just below to an article, THE IDOLS OF ENVIRONMENTALISM, by Curtis White that appears to be a fitting tribute to the exemplary life and work of the stand-alone scientist, Rachel Carson.
http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/233
All,
Linda Lear – who was interviewed on the Earth & Sky radio show that started this thread – has kindly agreed to write a guest post about Rachel Carson for our all-new EarthSky Blogs. Watch for it!
And by the way you are all invited to check out the new blog and comment there, too …
Deborah
Thanks Deborah,
If women are going to lead the way to sustainability, and I believe they will, then I can think of no finer exemplar for how to proceed than living “in the way” Rachel Carson did. Few individuals stand up to the powerbrokers of economic globalization, the megalomaniacal heads of endlessly expanding multinational corporations, the bought-and-paid-for politicians and their minions in the mass media. Rachel Carson was one who stood up, spoke loudly and comprehensively about the challenges posed to humanity by unbridled human enterprise now overspreading the surface of Earth.
Sincerely,
Steve
Another tribute to Rachel Carson that takes its shape as an…....................
OPEN LETTER To the LEADERS of The G-8 in advance of their meetings this week:
Humanity needs something else.
Eight de facto leaders of the world are called upon to consider that their relentless effort to steer humanity toward fulfillment of the goal of economic globalization is a fool’s errand, a formerly great but soon to become unsustainable work…… like a work of Ozymandias, king of kings.
You are implored NOT to follow in the path of Ozymandias as you are doing now by choosing to adamantly endorse the current scale and growth rate of the unbridled expansion of the world economy because such UNLIMITED GROWTH will result in a “colossal wreck,” one with profound implications for the future of life as we know it and for the integrity of Earth and its environment.
Your great work of growing the world economy has been a good thing until recently, at least for the millions of people you represent. Unfortunately, billions of human beings are not and will not become beneficiaries of economic globalization because the infinite growth of the ever enlarging scale of business activities now overspreading the surface of the Earth is patently unsustainable.
Please, leaders, a more reality-based business paradigm, something different from a colossal pyramid scheme, is needed as a 21st century model for global economic activity because the endgame of big business conglomeration, that we have today, will result ultimately in an incomprehensible calamity, the likes of which only the once vainglorious and now wrecked Ozymandias has seen.
Sincerely,
Steve
Open Letter to Rachel Carson,
Thankfully, the meaning of your great life is not lost among the chatter about the rich and powerful, modern day heirs of Ozymandias, king of kings.
Let’s hope the current G-8 leaders, or else their immediate successors, will share an understanding of the words on the pedestal of the sculpture of Ozymandias:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.”
Because time does not appear to be on our side, perhaps our leaders will learn the lesson of Ozymandias before it is too late by proclaiming necessary changes in the way human beings relate to one another, to other species, and to the Earth.
Without any doubt, at least in my mind, masters of the universe leading a G-8 Summit will come to see the parallels you cpi;d see, even in the 1950s between unbridled economic globalization and the colossal wreckage of which Ozymandias speaks.
If only we could know WHEN our leaders will exhibit the vision, courage and political will to remake the world.
Sooner is better than later, I suppose.
Always, with thanks to you,
Steve
Banning DDT has resulted in the deaths of millions of Africans. Anopheles carries malaria and was prolifigate here in the United States prior to our bombing the southern swamps with DDT. In the north, like around Rochester, NY, the swamps were filled in to rid the area of malaria.
By the way, humans ate DDT for years, in tests, with no ill effects. The “thinning egg shell” phenomenom used to aid in banning DDT was subsequently linked to an avian virus.
All that looks bad, ain’t. All that appears virtuous, ain’t.
All that looks bad, ain’t. All that appears virtuous, ain’t.
Agree.
But Rachel Carson did not call for the banning of DDT.
And blaming a book written half a century ago for not having all the same information we have today is downright silly. Personally, in my heart, I believe it’s purely a politically inspired attempt to discredit the environmental movement.
I know you, Ben, and I know you’re too smart to fall for that!
Ugh. This whole “Rachel Carson made DDT go away and killed people with malaria” thing is all over—and it ISN’T TRUE.
If you want to look at some actual scientific evidence, try going here for a summary of multiple sources—Including the National Academy, and peer reviewed articles.
http://membracid.wordpress.com/2007/06/29/ddt-and-attacks-on-rachel-carson-the-cliffsnote-version/