Kennedy announced the formation of a special government group to investigate the use and control of pesticides under the direction of the President's Science Advisory Committee (Rachel pp). The book caused a firestorm of public outrage and sold more than a quarter million copies by the end of 1962 (Rachel pp). United State Supreme Court Justice William Douglas called it "the most important chronicle of this century for the human race" and Loren Eisely of the University of Pennsylvania described it as a "devastating, heavily documented, relentless attack upon human carelessness, greed and irresponsibility"(Rachel pp). The fervor of the favorable reviews were matched by the intense attacks of the chemical industry and those it influenced, such as the president of the Montrose Chemical Corporation, the nation's largest producer of DDT, who asserted that Carson had written not "as a scientist but rather as a fanatic defender of the balance of nature" (Rachel pp). Critics labeled her a food-faddist, nature nut, and fish-lover, and despite poor health, Carson responded to these attacks by speaking to organizations, testifying at Congressional hearings, appearing on special televised segments of CBS Reports, and conferring with President Kennedy and his Science Advisory Committee (Rachel pp). On May 15, 1963, the President's Science Advisory Committee made public its report on pesticide use and control, it confirmed every point highlighted in "Silent Spring" (Rachel pp). The very next day, a sub-committee of the Senate Committee on Government Operations met to conduct a two-year investigation of government and industry regulations regarding pesticides (Rachel pp).
Rachel Carson died on April 14, 1964 at the age of fifty-six from breast cancer that had been diagnosed four years earlier (Rachel pp). Before she died she received many honors, including the Schweitzer Medal of the Animal Welfare Institute, the National Wildlife Federation's 'Conservationist of the Year,' and was the first woman to receive a medal from the National Audubon Society (Rachel pp). And in 1980, Carson was posthumously awarded the highest civilian decoration in the nation, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, accompanied with the words:
Never silent herself in the face of destructive trends,
Rachel Carson fed a spring of awareness across America and beyond. A biologist with a gentle, clear voice, she welcomed her audiences to her love of the sea, while with an equally clear voice she warned
Americans of the dangers human beings themselves pose for their own environment. Always concerned, always eloquent, she created a tide of environmental consciousness that has not ebbed" (Rachel pp).
Much of the criticism sparked by "Silent Spring" seems laughable today, such as a California man's letter to the New Yorker:
Miss Rachel Carson's reference to the selfishness of insecticide manufacturers probably reflects...
As the eel gets closer to the ocean, the water of course becomes salty and there are new dangers (fishing nets) and unfamiliar eels in the water. But true to her style of providing readers with sidebar stories, the eel passes a clay cliff where "the first eels had come in from the sea eons ago" (p. 228). But Carson doesn't just stop there; there are "teeth, bones, and shells"
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, 8 years before the birth of the Environmental Protection Agency and more than 50 years before the writing of this essay. At that time, there was little common knowledge about the sometimes terrible effects of chemicals on the environment, plants, animals and humans. Carson's unflinching, educated examination and explanation of these effects helped create a dramatic cultural movement
Silent Spring Rachel Carson's 1962 book Silent Spring is filled with a "hodgepodge of science and junk science," creating a "Disneyfied version of Eden," according to some modern reviewers (Tierney 2007). Such an embittered reaction to one of the most important works in ecology is unwarranted: especially in light of the fact that DDT is the chemical evil that Carson claims it to be and has been banned in most civilized
Rachel Carson's claim "for time is the essential ingredient; but in the modern world there is no time" (Carson 6) is meant to emphasize the fact that humanity has the tendency to ignore factors like the future and their general well-being. People in the contemporary society are obsessed with progress and some are willing to do everything in their power in order to make things happen faster. As a consequence,
Johnny Carson's primacy in the history of television cannot be understated. Carson's thirty-year stint as the host of NBC's Tonight Show from 1962 to 1992 remains the measuring-stick against which success in the American media must be measured. As Bill Carter -- a New York Times journalist who wrote the substantial history of the machinations and fiascos that ensued when Carson announced his retirement, and the effort to replace Carson
Sea around Us Rachel Carson was a scientist and author who took a topic which had hitherto been only of interest to fellow scientists and opened it up to the masses. During her lifetime, she took up many causes in support of wildlife and the protection of species and protecting the natural landscape from potential molestation from developers and others who would destroy indigenous habitats. Among her many missions was
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