Rachel Carson =]

Posted in Uncategorized on June 7th, 2009 by elast101

Mitchel Musso -Reuse Reduce Recycle

 

So as we all know the environment…. not doing so well.  Is it not one of the main focuses of the 21st century to go green?  Everywhere you look girls have those new tote bags that say go green, kids are being taught the three r’s song about reusing reducing and recycling and no one can ignore those save the polar bear commercials.  It is obvious that the world society is taking any measures they can to help. Just look at Oakland Mills…. We have our own environmental club and class, have recycle bins for both cans and paper in every classroom, and we use the most energy efficient lights we can.  I mean Mr.Smart said it himself one day that our generation could be classified as the generation of saving the environment.  But do we know where the environmental movement started?…

It all began with an incredible woman named Rachel Carson.  Rachel Carson was born May 27, 1907 and grew up in Springdale, Pennsylvania (which is a city by a major river) being taught to love and value nature. Carson wrote a lot as a child and began college as an english major, but later changed her major to biology. She began working as a marine biologist and wrote books on the side. Eventually she took a job at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries as a writer. During her time there she published many marine biology books which expressed “the view that human beings were but one part of nature distinguished primarily by their power to alter it, in some cases irreversibly.” (Rachel Carson Homestead) Rachel Carson then turned her main focus to protecting nature as a whole. 

Now you’re thinking …Okay so what… she wrote books promoting the environment right? Well yeah but Rachel Carson’s books not only provided the start for a great movement (that is a major issue today) but also caused the controversial switch to non-harmful pesticides and she has received many honors. 

Out of all her works her most famous and influential book was Silent Spring.  In this book she argued that popular pesticides at the time were harming both the environment and humans.  Although she got attacked by many pesticide agencies and chemical plants, Carson ignored all that and fully supported her stance.  Carson even went to Congress to testify on the issue of the pesticides.  Although Carson did not directly go out and protest the pesticides and other issues, her books and support on issues caused many largely impacting changes.  Many argued that DDT was helpful in killing malaria carrying mosquitos but Carson’s support that they were also harmful to humans and other creatures ended in the government banning of DDT (the most used pesticide, but also one of most harmful at the time).  Prior to this the government did not really care too much about the good of the environment and was more focused on winning the World Wars and winning the Arms Race in the Cold War. Through Carson’s efforts the government became quite involved in the environment.  The government began passing many laws that stopped harming and began helping the environment and eventually created the Environmental Protection Agency.  The Environmental Protection Agency has been a major contributer to the movement and so necessary to gain any ground with the movement.  Even today many political icons such as Al Gore are continuing the fight to preserve the environment. 

 So I don’t know about you all but I think that Rachel Carson was pretty cool (and by that I mean great). I am not the only one who thinks she is so great.  Her books have received many honors including John Burroughs Medal, the National Book Award,  and the Schweitzer Medal of Animal Welfare.  Not just her books have been recognized but how impacting and amazing she was has been widely renowned.  Even the President of the United States gave her the Presidential Medal of Freedom!!!! (For those of you that do not know what that medal is it is the highest degree of honor an American civilian can receive for anything period)  Even Time Magazine has acknowledged her as one of the top 100 people of all history.  They even credited her with being “the cornerstone of new environmentalism”.  Translation: Time Magazine, the most well respected magazines ever, has contributed the environment movement to her.  (How cool is that?)

Okay let’s review… Rachel Carson started the environment movement, single-handedly caused the controversy that led to the banning of DDT, brought the government into the whole saving the environment thing, and has received countless awards for her books and for her… being her.

Greatest person in history?…

We know that even Presidents and Time Magazine think she is one of them but what about common knowledge? Dictionary.com defines great as…

  • wonderful; pretty good (pretty cool person…check)
  • important; highly consequential (um…starting environment movement…check)
  • having unusual merit (Medal of Freedom…check)
  • enthusiastic about something (the whole loving and saving nature thing…check)

From the highest degree of honor achieveable to common dictionary beliefs Rachel Carson is not only one of the greatest individuals in history but also one of the most influential even after 100 years of her birth.

Bibliography

7 Comments »