29
RACHEL CARSON INSPIRES THE
MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
MODERN ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT
Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of
poison on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?
They should not be called “insecticides” but “biocides.”
— Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
Sounding a toxic wake-up with the publication of her book Silent Spring in 1962, Rachel Carson
simultaneously alerted a nearly comatose public to the chemical dangers all around them while
incurring the predictable wrath of corporate America. Indeed, an author can be certain about his
or her impact when companies like Monsanto — the good people who brought us Agent Orange
and bovine growth hormone — take aim.
The use and abuse of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, Carson posited, were directly
responsible for myriad health hazards not only for humans, but all life on the planet. While I would
argue that Rachel Carson did not go far enough in her condemnation, there is little debate that
Silent Spring was a much-needed call-to-arms for the budding environmental movement.
“If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons
distributed either by private individuals or by public officials,” she wrote, “it is surely because our
forefathers… could conceive of no such problem.”
poison on the surface of the earth without making it unfit for all life?
They should not be called “insecticides” but “biocides.”
— Rachel Carson (1907–1964)
Sounding a toxic wake-up with the publication of her book Silent Spring in 1962, Rachel Carson
simultaneously alerted a nearly comatose public to the chemical dangers all around them while
incurring the predictable wrath of corporate America. Indeed, an author can be certain about his
or her impact when companies like Monsanto — the good people who brought us Agent Orange
and bovine growth hormone — take aim.
The use and abuse of pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides, Carson posited, were directly
responsible for myriad health hazards not only for humans, but all life on the planet. While I would
argue that Rachel Carson did not go far enough in her condemnation, there is little debate that
Silent Spring was a much-needed call-to-arms for the budding environmental movement.
“If the Bill of Rights contains no guarantee that a citizen shall be secure against lethal poisons
distributed either by private individuals or by public officials,” she wrote, “it is surely because our
forefathers… could conceive of no such problem.”
83
… YOU'RE NOT
SUPPOSED TO KNOW
SUPPOSED TO KNOW