I wasn't going to post anything today, but when I came to the computer and Google reminded me that it was a day to celebrate someone who has influenced me since the 1960's I had to put my two cents in. That person was Rachel Carson. Rachel wrote a book entitled "Silent Spring" in 1964. I read the book and it was the first time I had heard the word ecology. I hadn't paid much attention to things affecting our natural world until then. She literally woke up the world....and made people think about the beauty around them and what was happening even in our own backyards.She was responsible for studies on water pollution, pesticides, recycling etc. Her studies were responsible for the banning of some pesticides...including DDT. Many people were finding out that the beautiful song birds were dying from the spraying of DDT from planes. Streams, rivers and ponds were affected by overhead spraying.Pollution....what a powerful word. Her book made us mindful of pollution in our cities, states and country. I owe her a debt of gratitude for becoming the person that I am today. My love of nature and trying to do my part to take care of our precious earth is to her credit. Her "Silent Spring" is a book to reread again and again.
What a treasure she was and still is.
Balisha
She had quite radical ideas for back then...and she was correct in all her findings!
ReplyDeleteRachel Carson woke me up too. I read Silent Spring when the city was spraying elm trees (to save them from Dutch elm disease) with DDT and the orioles and robins were dying.
ReplyDeleteIt was not just feminists & hippies who felt the call to a
ReplyDeletemore responsible relationship with the natural world. Due in part to Rachel Carson
and her writings, a new sensitivity for this topic began to permeate parts of the
societal mainstream as well. The “Earth Day” for example, which took place for the
first time in 1970, was attended by up to ten million people. The same year, the
increasing pressure on politicians led to the founding of the American Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA). Its first big success, following seemingly endless legal
battles, was the 1972 ban on the use of DDT in the United States.
We will find that women will have more and more influence in our world. We seem to be more aware of such things. Men just seem to blunder along without making sure chemicals don't poison us. Look at the levels of pollution and look at the effects of cigarette smoke on our health. Just recently I heard that tests done on the effects on bodies of meds are mostly done on men and women suffer a lot different side effects. I look forward to the first woman president..whoever she may be. Maybe our world will be safer. Women will think twice before sending our children into war too. After all, we bare them.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing. So much has changed. So much needs to change.
ReplyDeleteThis is a timely reminder of what one person can accomplish. She couldn't know what an impact her writing would have; her passion moved her to write a book that changed the world.
ReplyDeleteIt really is a good reminder, and thank you for sharing this. :)
ReplyDeleteI have never read her book but I can imagine it was an eye opener back then and was likely scuffed at by many. Well she proved she was on the cutting edge of ecology and was right in her ideas and passion.
ReplyDeleteBalisha, I think it should be required reading in English classes in high school. Sometimes I wonder if we don't learn it in school...that many will never learn it. If our planet dies.. I think we are in trouble. I didn't remember her book or even her name but I did remember her lesson and when it all began to come to our attention that there was no place else we can live. Survive..perhaps...but not LIVE.
ReplyDeleteLove,
Mona
Thank you for sharing. I would love to read this book.
ReplyDelete