Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

The book that started the environmental movement as we know it

Many books, be they academic or not, have changed the world as we know it today. These books have had the great impact on masses, and will never be forgotten. Every sphere of life has at least one book that changed the way we think about it, and the environment is no exception. The environmental movement today is very strong, and challenges politicians and corporations to take care of the environment that we all share. But 50 years ago the situation was completely different. No one believed that humans can create something that could harm the "Mother Earth". And then everything changed when, in September of 1962, Silent Spring hit the shelves.

Rachel Carson, the author of Silent Spring, is one of the most important individuals of the movement even today. A scientist with a fine writing touch was the first one to warn the public about the dangers of chemical pesticides. In her book, she wrote extensively about the history and effect of the chemical pesticides that were widely used on American farms and lawns. It mostly focused on the toxic DDT, which she described in tiniest detail, from the the way it was made, over the way it was used, to the way it affected the environment. It raised the biggest citizen reaction over environmental issues as never before.

The book became an instant success, partly due to the serialization in the New Yorker, partly because of the show on CBS about Carson, but mostly because of its amazing content. No other author had attacked chemical industry, and farmers as directly and aggressively as Rachel Carson did. The biggest impact on the citizens in the U.S. made the fact that the synthetic pesticides cannot only endanger our environment, but that they also pose a great threat to our health, and the health of our off-springs. This knowledge directly, in combination with the social turmoil of the time, led to the first Earth Day in 1970, the most massive single  environmental protest in the U.S.

Having been diagnosed with cancer, Rachel Carson has shown to us that what we produce can greatly and very negatively affect the environment. Her book, her attitude, as well as the ideas she endorsed regarding the environment preservation have ignited the environmental movement as we know it today.

BT