Anyone know anything about Rachel Carson?

Question

I'm trying to find something out about Rachel Carson, the author of "Silent Spring."

I need to know what was the political climate during the years Rachel Carson was writing her book?

Answer 1

She wrote the book before there was cultural consciousness of environmentalism. Her book contributed to the start of an effective movement.

Aloha

Answer 2

The political climate was primarily driven by the TET offensive during the Viet Nam War - 1968 -an apparent victory for the North Vietnamese. Although, in fact, it was a devastating military defeat for them - it turned out to be a tremendous psychological win for them in the US because of the numerous recent political speeches on how successful the war was going and how the North Vietnamese was pretty much beaten down. So much for that rhetoric!

The climate was driven by this escalating anti-war movement - and no significant attention was being paid to the ecology or the environment.

Rachel Carson's book alerted one and all to the dangers of the widespread and callous use of pesticides and other environmental pollutants. It really woke people up to the very real concerns facing our environment and led to a new priority of cleaning ol' Mother Earth up before we destroyed it.

This book was proof of the power of the pen.

Answer 3

I don't know what kind of political climate was present during the time that she was writing her book but I do know that her book had a major impact on the way the country looked at the environment and use of insecticides/pesticides.

Answer 4

Sorry Jay S... DDT is NOT safe at all...are you high?? Maybe been sniffing a little too much DDT? The environment TODAY is still being affected by DDT. I just studied Bald Eagles last year on Catalina Island that CANNOT reproduce because of DDT. Their egg shells are STILL too thin due to DDT use on the island 40 some odd years ago, and if they sit on them...they crack! They have to be collected from the nest, put fake eggs in for the adults to incubate, and ship the eggs to San Francisco to be incubated there, then chicks shipped back to be replaced in the nest when they hatch. This is JUST ONE SMALL example of ONE small island of ONE species...there are countless more examples of the damage DDT has done.

Answer 5

Rachel Carson is responsible for the deaths of millions of children, due to Malaria. Although well meaning, her book led not only to the ban of DDT in the United States, but a policy that prevents the U.S. from spending Foreign Aid dollars on it's use overseas. the ugly truth is, DDT is probably the safest insecticide ever invented.

She is of course revered today as a hero. Too bad, because she's probably responsible for more deaths than Pol Pot.

Answer 6

Rachel Carson (1907-1964), American marine biologist, author of widely read books on ecological themes. Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and educated at the former Pennsylvania College for Women and Johns Hopkins University, she taught zoology at the University of Maryland from 1931 to 1936. She was aquatic biologist at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and its successor, the Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1936 to 1952. Her books on the sea, Under the Sea Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951), for which she was awarded the 1952 National Book Award in nonfiction, and The Edge of the Sea (1955), are praised for beauty of language as well as scientific accuracy. In Silent Spring (1962), she questioned the use of chemical pesticides and was responsible for arousing worldwide concern for the preservation of the environment.
RELATED ARTICLES:
Americans’ concern about the natural environment has a long history, but only in the late 1960s when so many Americans had become politically active did a mass movement emerge that focused on protecting the environment. Biologist Rachel Carson contributed to this awakening with her best-selling book, Silent Spring (1962). She detailed the use of chemical insecticides that killed birds, fish, and animals and endangered the human species. Dozens of other books followed Carson’s, warning of impending ecological disasters. Televised coverage of environmental disasters, like the 1969 oil spill off the coast of southern California, further spread the alarm. In the late 1960s, environmental activists used this information to enlist an already politicized citizenry in a new mass movement.

In 1970 some 20 million Americans gathered for what organizers called Earth Day to protest abuse of the environment. Borrowing a tactic from the anti-Vietnam War movement, students and teachers at over 1500 colleges and universities and at over 10,000 schools held teach-ins on the environment. Hundreds of thousands of other Americans staged protests and rallies around the nation. In another clear sign of a new environmental consciousness, millions of citizens joined environmental groups like the Audubon Society, whose membership grew from 41,000 in 1962 to 400,000 in 1980.

In response to growing citizen protests, Congress passed the National Environmental Act in 1970. The act created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to regulate environmental health hazards and the use of natural resources. All told, in the 1970s Congress passed 18 new laws to protect the natural environment, including the Clean Air Act and the Clean Water Act, which established national air- and water-quality standards. At both a local and a national level, citizens joined forces to conserve natural resources, use and develop alternative, cleaner forms of energy, demand strict regulation of toxins, and promote a general awareness of the interconnectedness and interdependency of all life. By the late 1970s, much of the environmental movement’s agenda had entered mainstream politics.

IV. EVALUATION

A majority of Americans disapproved of each of these social change movements when they emerged. The activists’ reliance on protest tactics that disrupted business as usual angered many, as did their demands that Americans change their long-standing beliefs and practices. In the 1960s, the civil rights movement, the student movement, and the antiwar movement faced serious harassment and even persecution by local police forces, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and other government agencies. The student movement, the anti-Vietnam War movement, and the gay rights movement never succeeded in winning the approval of a majority of Americans, at least as measured by public opinion polls and surveys. Over time, however, the civil rights movement, the environmental movement, and, more controversially, the women’s movement, did convert a majority of Americans to many of their views.

All of the protest movements of the 1960s captured public attention and raised questions that were important to the nation. The civil rights movement, the women’s movement, and the gay rights movement demanded that Americans consider equality for all citizens in the United States. The student movement probed the meaning of freedom in the United States. The anti-Vietnam War movement asked Americans to consider the use of national power and the appropriateness of their government’s foreign policy. Environmentalists asked what good America’s economic growth was if it resulted in the destruction of the planet.

In an often confrontational manner, movement activists asked difficult questions that many Americans would rather have ignored. In answering these questions, Americans changed dramatically. Equal opportunity and equal rights became the law of the land for American citizens regardless of their race, ethnicity, or gender. The veil of secrecy that surrounded much of American foreign policy was, at least partially, removed. The health of the nation’s environment became a national priority. Democratic activism at the local and national levels and citizen oversight of government officials became accepted activities.

The above are just excerpts from this source. Please send me an e-mail message if you want additional material.

Glad to be of assistance.