Welcome to our class!

We are an environmental science course at St. Benedict's Prep in Newark, NJ, taught by Mrs. T. We'll be blogging about environmental issues all term, so please stay tuned!

Sunday, February 2, 2020

Rachel Carson

Luke Amoakoh

Image result for rachel carsonRachel Carson was a biologist and writer who became widely regarded as the mother of environmentalism. She was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania on May 27, 1907 and grew up on a farm, exposed very early to animal life. She entered Pennsylvania College for Women and did graduate work at Johns Hopkins University. She started to work for a doctoral degree but quit in 1934 to obtain a better paying job that could support her family because of the Great Depression. After becoming an aquatic biologist, she became a writer and wrote many of which would become bestsellers. "Silent Spring," the book she is best known for, talked about the harmful effects that pesticides and fertilizers had on those that consumed them. Bird populations were the main ones being affected, including bald eagles. Carson's views on the use of pesticide was harshly criticized by many scientists. She was told that what she was stating was scientifically inaccurate. However, she was backed by President John F. Kennedy and her books sold were great successes. After she died of breast cancer on April 14, 1964, she was eventually recognized nationally as being right about her claims. The use of DDT (the main pesticide she talked about in "Silent Spring") was eventually banned. The Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act were passed. What she started launched the modern environmental movement. She made it clear to all scientists to not completely rely on the man-made inventions of the time.

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