Rachel Louise Carson was born on May 27, 1907 in Springdale Pennsylvania.1 As a young child, Carson had already exhibited signs of great intelligence and a deep adoration of the ocean and nature. She made the decision to pursue her lifelong love of the ocean and became a Marine Biology student at the Pennsylvania College for Women, where she graduated in 1929. But it was not until the 1940’s when Carson was working as a scientist and editor for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Fisheries Bureau, that her passion and literary work would take her to a level of popularity she had never known before. By 1958, Carson had become very popular as a writer and environmentalist. When she found out about the United States tampering with the creation of synthetic chemical insecticides, namely the new and incredibly harmful chemical DDT (dichloride-diphenyl-trichloro-ethane) and its indiscriminate usage on insects, she knew she had to take action. Carson strongly believed that humans were dangerously working against nature with their heinous misuse of these pesticides and decided to take a strand by combining her knowledge on government research and her profound love for nature to create literary works of art that would be read by millions. The difference Rachel Carson made in ecology and environmental conservation with the publication of her most famous novel, Silent Spring, would be one of the major important outcomes of the 20th century.
Carson graduated from college knowing she wanted to be an author. Her first novel, Under the Sea-Wind, received positive reviews but was released a month before the attack on Pearl Harbor.3 The country went to war and Carson’s novel did not receive as much attention as she had hoped. “The world rec...
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Doyle, Jack. “Power in the Pen, Silent Spring: 1962,”
PopHistoryDig.com, 21 February 2012. Available from http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=rachel-carson-senate-hearings Accessed 8 November 2013
Lear, Linda. “Rachel Carson and the Awakening of Environmental Consciousness.” National Humanities Center, June 2002. Available from http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nattrans/ntwilderness/essays/carson.htm Accessed 6 November 2013
McKie, Robin. “Rachel Carson and the legacy of Silent Spring” The Guardian, May 2012. Available from http://www.theguardian.com/science/2012/may/27/rachel-carson-silent-spring-anniversary Accessed on 8 November 2013
No Author. “Rachel Carson and Silent Spring” Indiana University Class webs, Available from http://classwebs.spea.indiana.edu/bakerr/v600/rachel_carson_and_silent_spring.htm Accessed on 8 November 2013
In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s short story “The Birth-Mark,” Aylmer, a married scientist, believes himself to be above nature. Acting on these beliefs, he prepares
Many people assume that science is persistently correct in numerous ways because of its research and innovation provided in today’s society. However, in the stories The Harvest and Going written by Amy Hempel, the author compares the distraught characters to scorpion like tendencies to attest that humans resemble animals, unreasonably more than science text books have lead us to believe. Conversely, it has become common today to dismiss this argument due to Hempel’s intricate writing style.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
In 1962, the publication of Silent Spring Rachel Carson captivated the American public. Carson wrote about the harmful effects of chemical pesticides in the environment, and her writing was very reflective of the events occurring at the time. There is a strong connection between Carson’s writing and the Cold War. In fact, if it were not for the war, the American public may not have responded in the same way to Carson’s writing. Carson used tone and content as methods of getting her point across to the public. Silent Spring shined a light on the damage done to the environment as a result of the Cold War, and this issue was finally being recognized by American public.
The Conservation movement was a driving force at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was a time during which Americans were coming to terms with their wasteful ways, and learning to conserve what they quickly realized to be limited resources. In the article from the Ladies’ Home Journal, the author points out that in times past, Americans took advantage of what they thought of as inexhaustible resources. For example, "if they wanted lumber for their houses, rails for their fences, fuel for their stoves, they would cut down half a forest at a time; and whatever they could not use or sell they would leave to rot on the ground. They never bothered their heads to inquire where more wood was coming from when this was gone" (33). The twentieth century opened with a vision towards the future, towards preserving the land that had previously been taken for granted. The Conservation movement came along around the same time as one of the first major waves of the feminist movement. With the two struggles going on: one for the freedom of nature and the other for the freedom of women, it stands to follow that they coincided. As homemakers, activists, and citizens of the United States of America, women have had an important role in Conservation.
It is generally agreed that modern environmentalism begins with ‘A Fable for Tomorrow’, the first chapter in Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). The fairytale-like opening to the book begins with the words, ‘There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings’, painting a classic pastoral picture where she describes civilization far from modern ills coexisting with nature yet away from the perceived danger of the wild. However pastoral peace swiftly gives way to destruction- 'Then a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change. Some evil spell had settled on the community: mysterious maladies swept the flocks of chickens; the cattle and sheep
He delves into the history of the word “environmental” as well as the history of environmental activism. He pinpoints the beginning of the movement to Rachel Carson. According to Quammen, she began the revolution by publishing her book Silent Spring. He says the negative connotations of the word began with her book, pairing “environment” and “the survival of humankind” as if they go hand in hand. This played a major role in the distortion of the word and the intentions of environmentalists.
Just as Georgiana died when the hand that nature gave her was severed from her being, so too will we suffer if we sever ourselves too far from nature. At this moment in history, with climate change, pollution and population on an exponential rise, Hawthorne’s story is as relevant as ever. It reminds us that while science can serve us as a tool, it can neither bring us perfection nor sever us from the nature to which we belong and of which we are a part.
"Charles Darwin: The Father of Evolution." Darwin1. University of Missouri, n.d. Web. 04 May 2014.
Henry Thoreau’s relationship to nature underwent many changes throughout the course of his life. He especially made a much discussed shift from Emersonian Transcendentalism, to scientific data collection. Thoreau followed varied paths on his quest to understand the world in which he lived. As he grew older he managed to amass a huge collection of information about the plants and animals in the Concord region of Massachusetts. But his greatest contribution to the world is not his scientific research; rather it is the example of respect and thoughtfulness with which he approached nature. This individualistic and spiritual approach to nature differentiates him from modern day ecologists. Thoreau’s quest was to understand better and appreciate nature as a whole and the greater role it plays in connection to all things. Not only did he succeed in doing so, but he has also inspired his readers to question, observe, and appreciate the natural world. His thoughts on nature are recognized today as precursors of the conservation movement and also inspiration for the creation of national parks. Thoreau’s approach to nature varied throughout his life, but his purpose did not. His myriad approach to his work is exactly what brought about his success, and sets him apart from other nature writers and ecologists who share his quest.
Nathaniel Hawthorne wrote a time of great change in America. In the mid-nineteenth century, Americans began to experience a shift in focus from the once stringent religious outlook to a more scientific view of the world and its natural wonders. Americans, however, did look at these new scientific discoveries with much hesitation, questioning their long-term effects on society as a whole. Hawthorne’ s work, “The Birth Mark echoes these sentiments and combine natural faith with a confidence in science to make a very interesting tale. This tale and its morality convey a message to the reader that there is a price for tampering with the natural order of things.
In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson seeks to persuade the readers to open their eyes to a serious problem: the careless spraying of poison. Her purpose in writing the book is to protect plants, animals, and humans from poisons that never had to be sprayed. Carson uses invective, the ad hominem argument, and punctuation to attack the people responsible for the sprayings and yield an emotional reaction from the reader. Through the use of those strategies, her argument becomes stronger and more effective at revealing the horrors of species control.
Gersdorf, Catrin and Mayer, Sylvia. Nature in Literary and Cultural Studies: Transatlantic Conversations on Ecocriticism. Rodopi, 2006. Print
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring revolutionized the American point of view concerning the environment. It rejected the notion that pesticides and chemicals are the right choice for “controlling” various animals that are seen as an inconvenience. Carson writes about the dangers of pesticides, not only to nature but man himself.
Withgott, J., & Brennan, S. (2011). Environment: the science behind the stories (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Pearson Benjamin Cummings.