Published in 1962, Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, sent shock waves through communities because it exposed the dangers of unregulated pesticide use. After the insecticidal properties of DDT (dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane) were discovered in 1939, it was used with little restraint to protect crops and gardens and to wipe out insect pests. The heavy use of DDT and other pesticides produced increases in crop output and helped to control insect-borne diseases, such as malaria, but their negative side effects were overlooked. Carson played a pivotal role in focusing attention on these effects.
Born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and raised in a rural setting, Carson was steeped in the natural world of fields, woods, and streams. After entering the Pennsylvania College for Women, she dropped her early inclinations to pursue writing and then switched her major to zoology after a required course in biology piqued her interest in the study of wildlife and the environment. By 1929 Carson graduated magna cum laude with a B.A. and was granted a fellowship to study at the Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Massachusetts. She later earned a M.A. in zoology at Johns Hopkins University. After the death of her sister, Carson and her mother took on the responsibility of raising her children.
The need for additional income led Carson to apply for a position as an aquatic biologist with the United States Bureau of Fisheries. Carson scored the highest on the government's qualifying test, and, despite being the only woman to apply for the position, was hired. By this time, Carson was combining her two greatest interests: writing and zoology. She prepared a series of radio broadcasts about underwater life, and she continued for the next couple of years to utilize her strong communication skills in serving the Bureau of Fisheries. Carson was encouraged to continue writing. In 1941, just before the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, her first book, Under the Sea, was published. Her second work, The Sea Around Us, was published in 1951 and won the National Book Award, securing Carson financial success and fame.
When a friend who owned a private bird sanctuary wrote Carson about the devastating mortality that DDT spraying caused among birds, Carson turned her attention to wildlife-pesticide interactions. Although Reader's Digest magazine rejected her proposal to write about pesticide problems, Carson persuaded the Houghton Mifflin Company to publish Silent Spring. Despite criticisms from some sectors of government and business, Carson's arguments gained influence as the dangerous effects of pesticides became more obvious. She never argued that all pesticides should be banned, but that their use should be carefully regulated and monitored. By the end of 1962, state legislators had introduced over 40 bills calling for pesticide regulation, and in 1972, the government finally banned DDT use. Carson's Silent Spring not only uncovered the hazards of excessive reliance on pesticides, but helped spark an environmental movement that continues to shape our way of thinking today.
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