The passions of Rachel Carson

insect problem. As a result, many incidences of wildlife and even human death were documented, but the public remained largely uninformed about the widespread use of dangerous sprays. And on occasion when protests were raised, the authorities usually responded with apathy and dismissal. It was a case of negligence for profit.

Carson understood the offical and public resistance she would encounter by writing about this problem, and she had no ambition to become an environmental prophet, but her conscience provoked her. She began Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 1962) with this acknowledgement:

In a letter written in January 1958, Olga Owens Huckins told me of her own bitter experience of a small world made lifeless, and so brought my attention sharply back to a problem with which I had long been concerned. I then realized I must write this book.

Time of trial

When Silent Spring was published, it was ridiculed by department officials, who dismissed her as hysterical. But Carson had been scrupulous in her research and courageous in pointing where the responsibility lay. She had two bestselling books to her name, so this one won a quick and anxious reading from the public.

Ironically, by the time it was published in 1962, Carson was gravely ill with breast cancer, a disease which has been connected with exposure to toxic substances. That year she underwent a radical mastectomy. Early in 1963 she believed her time would be short, and on January 24 wrote to Freeman: "What I want to write of is the joy and fun and gladness we have shared—for these are the things I want you to remember—I want to live on in your memories of happiness."

Birth of a movement

However Carson's work was not done. President John F. Kennedy had read her book and was concerned about the issues raised. She was called to testify before Congress that year. It marked the beginning of environmental policy in the U.S. government. Carson's book also sparked the beginning of the first grassroots environmental organizations.

A reading of Silent Spring is surprising not only for its writer's foresight, but also for the vast social and political change it has wrought. In the United States, Canada and many other countries, chemicals can no longer be sprayed without adequate testing or without impunity for destructive consequences. Many of the changes Carson called for have been put into effect. She advocated moderate measures for insect control, practised with respect for natural

Go To Page: 1 2 3 4

Articles in this Topic    Discussions in this Topic