Rcarson - Pen Against Poison

8/6/2019 Rcarson - Pen Against Poison

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hen a strange blight crept over the area and everythingbegan to change. ... Tere was a strange stillness. ... Te

ew birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembledviolently and could not y. It was a spring without voices.

On the mornings that had once throbbed with the dawn chorus o scores o bird voices there was now no sound; only silence lay over the

elds and woods and marsh. Rachel Carson, Silent Spring

able o Contents

A Quiet Woman Whose Book Spoke Loudly By Phyllis McIntosh

A Book Tat Changed a Nation 5By Michael Jay Friedman

A Persistent Controversy, a Still Valid Warning 8By May Berenbaum

Rachel Carsons Legacy A photo essay

Bibliography 4Additional readings and Web pages

Cover photo: Rachel Carson at her microscope,

1951. Above: Baby wrens call for their supper.


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shy, unassuming scientistand ormer civil servant,Rachel Carson seemed anunlikely candidate to be-come one o the most in-uential women in mod-

ern America. But Carsonhad two lielong passionsalove o nature and a love o

writingthat compelled herin 962 to publish SilentSpring, the book that awak-

ened environmental con-sciousness in the Americanpublic and led to an unprec-edented national eort tosaeguard the natural world

rom chemical destruction.

As a trained scientist, Car-son meticulously docu-mented her conclusionsabout the long-term dan-gers o pesticides; as a

skilled writer, she commu-nicated those dangers inlanguage the average readercould understand.

A Born Naturalist

Rachel Carson was born 00 years ago in a smalltown in western Pennsylvania. Even though shegrew up ar rom the seacoast, she recalled thateven as a child she elt absolute ascination or

Renowned author Rachel Carson at her home near

Washington, D.C, March 1963.

By Phyllis McIntosh

A Quiet Woman

Whose Book Spoke Loudly

every thing related to the ocean. She also wasdetermined that one day she would be a writer.

As a student at Pennsylvania College or Women,she majored in English until her junior year, whenshe switched to biologya bold move at a time

when ew women entered the sciences. She wenton to graduate cum lauderom Johns Hopkins Uni-

versity with a masters de-gree in marine biology in932. While teaching zo-

ology at the University oMaryland, Carson spentsummers studying at the

Woods Hole MarineBiological Laboratory in

Massachusetts, where shesaw her beloved sea orthe rst time.

She began her civil ser-vice career writing scienceradio scripts or the U.S.

Bureau o Fisheries and in936 was oered a job asan aquatic biologist, onlythe second women ever

hired by the agency in aproessional position. Car-

son spent 5 years in the ederal government writ-ing educational materials about conservation andnatural resources and editing scientic articles. Bythe time she retired in 952, she had risen to edi-tor-in chie o publications or the U.S. Fish and

Wildlie Service.


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Clockwise from upper left: Rachel Carson as a young girl; sits on her moth-ers lap, circa 1910, next to sister Marian and brother Robert; works on herstudies in Woods Hole, Massachusetts; one of Carsons many drawingsof plants and animals.


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While with the government, Carson continued towrite independently about her love o the sea. In94, she published her rst book, Under the Sea-Wind, a naturalists look at the struggle or liein the sea and along its shores. A second book,

Te Sea Around Us, whichdescribed the processesthat ormed the earthand the oceans, became

a best-seller and won herworldwide acclaim.

Te nancial success oher books made it pos-sible or Carson to retire

rom the government

and build a cottage onthe coast o Maine. Con-tinuing her research onthe sea, she once boardeda trawler and sailed to

the rough waters o theGeorges Banks shinggrounds o the Massa-chusetts coast. Her thirdbook, Te Edge o the Sea,a guide to marine lie, was

published in 955.

A Crusading Scientist

Although most o her writing ocused on the sea,Carson had long been concerned about environ-

mental damage rom overuse o chemical pesti-

cides and as early as 945had tried unsuccessully tosell an article about pes-ticide testing to ReadersDigest magazine. In 958,

with evidence mountingabout the hazards o DDand other pesticides, Car-son was moved by a lettershe received rom riends

on Cape Cod, Massachu-

setts, describing how aer-ial spraying o DD hadkilled numerous birds ontheir private land.

She resolved to alert thepublic to the dangers and,once again unable to sella magazine article on thesubject, set to work on Si-lent Spring. Over the next

our years, she meticulouslyresearched the book and,anticipating sharp criti-cism rom chemical com-panies, compiled 55 pageso sources and an extensive

list o experts who had reviewed her manuscript.

When the rst installment o the book appearedin theNew Yorkermagazine in summer 962, thechemical industry, as expected, decried her as a

hysterical woman. Te book quickly ound a- vor with the public, however, especially ater amajor television network aired a special aboutpesticides that eatured an interview with a calm,reasoned Carson.

In addition to V appearances and interviews,

Carson testied beore several congressional

Above: Carson, shown here in 1950, was already start-ing to be known as an author of popular books aboutsea life. Below: An aircraft sprays DDT to prevent tickson these sheep in Oregon in 1948; years later Carsonwrote her most famous book about the misuse of DDT.


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committees and called or establishment o a

Pesticide Commission or some type o regula-tory agency to protect people and the environ-ment rom chemical hazards.

Lasting Legacy

Seven years later, in 970, Congress created theEnvironmental Protection Agency, a direct resulto the environmental movement sparked bySilentSpring. In 972, the government banned DD,

the pesticide that had helped push Americas na-

tional symbol, the bald eagle, and other birds tothe brink o extinction.

Few people knew at the time that while Rachel

Carson was writing Silent Spring and enduringthe controversy that ollowed its publication, she

was waging a losing battle against breast cancer.In April 964, at age 56, she died at her home inSilver Spring, Maryland, just outside Washing-ton, D.C., never knowing o the landmark legis-

lation that resulted rom her work.

Now I can believe that I have at least helped a lit-tle, she had written modestly to a riend in 962.It would be unrealistic to believe one book couldbring a complete change. She could not have

been more wrong. As Carson biographer LindaLear has noted: In the ace o personal attack,and in spite o being gravely ill, Rachel Carson

provided a compelling example o the power othe single individual to bring about change.

Phyllis McIntosh, a ormer contributing editor o

National Wildlie magazine, requently writes

about health issues.

Carson testies at a 1963 Senate hearing on pesticides, whereshe advocated creating a government regulatory agency for

pesticides.

Photographed in Maine a year before her 1964 death frombreast cancer, Carson did not realize the extent of the move-ment her book started.


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Only a ew works have similarly catalyzed Amer-ican public opinion as a orce or change. Carsons

impact compares with that o Tomas Paine, whose776 pamphlet Common Sense spurred popularsupport or American independence rom GreatBritain. American works o comparable inu-

ence might also include Uncle oms Cabin (852)by Harriet Beecher Stowe, which energized the

struggle against slavery, and Te Jungle(906) byUpton Sinclair, which describedunhealthul meatpacking practicesand sparked the passage o ederalood inspection laws.

Toxic Connections

Rachel Carson had long suspected

that increasingly powerul chemi-cal pesticides were being used

carelessly, and she eared their im-pact on the environment. In 958,Carsons riends Stuart and OlgaHuckins propelled her investiga-tions. Te Huckinses owned a two-acre bird sanctuary near Duxbury,

Massachusetts. Ater the govern-ment doused it with pesticides aspart o a mosquito eradication pro-

gram, many native songbirds per-ished, their nesting places, ponds,and birdbaths contaminated.

For the next our years, Carson consulted with sci-entic experts. Te more I learned about the useo pesticides, the more appalled I became, she lat-er said. I realized that here was the material or a

n 992, a panel o notableAmericans oered their

choices or the single bookpublished during the previ-ous hal century that mostprooundly inuenced the

thoughts and actions o hu-mankind. More panelists cited Rachel CarsonsSilent Springthan any other title.

Silent Springs lasting power toinspire ows less rom Carsonsdiligent researcheven beore

publication, critics attackedsome o her ndingsbutrather rom its elegant prose,eective presentation, and or-

tuitous timing. Silent Springocused the attention o mil-

lions, in America and thenthroughout the world, on anidea they were increasinglyprepared to consider: that theindiscriminate use o pesti-cides threatened prooundly

both the health o mankindand that o the world in whichhe lived.

As Yale University historianDaniel J. Keveles has written:

Carsons book probably did more than any othersingle publication or event to set o the new en-

vironmental movement that emerged in the Six-ties.

A Book Tat Changed aNationBy Michael Jay Friedman

.

A rst edition ofSilent Spring, now val-ued at $500. Its famous Fable for To-morrow is excerpted on a National Park

Service Web page at http://planning.nps.gov/wilderness/idea61.cfm.


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book.

What I dis-covered was thateverything which

meant most to me as a naturalist was

being threatened, and that nothing Icould do would be more important.

Carson concluded that in a natural environment o interconnected species, chemicalsaimed only at insects or other pests were sooningested by other organisms and passed up the

ood chain. Ater the city o Detroit sprayed in-secticide on local elm trees, Carson observed, itsubsequently collected the dead bodies o DD-contaminated robins. Te birds had easted on

earthworms that had in turn ingested allen leavesrom the sprayed trees.

As ew as large earthworms can transer alethal dose o DD to a robin, Carson wrote.And worms orm a small part o a days ra-tions to a bird that eats 0 to 2 earthworms in asmany minutes.

About hal o Carsons manuscript appeared in June 962 over three consecutive issues o the

New Yorkermagazine. Te excerpts ignited a na-tional controversy. Te U.S. Department o Ag-riculture received many letters expressing horror

and amazement that DD and other chemicalelixirs o death were in common use.

Asked whether the U.S. government was investi-gating the use o DD, President John F. Kenne-dy replied, Yes ... particularly since Miss Carsons

book.

Much o the chemical industry sawSilent Springas a threat. Our members are raising hell, onepesticide trade association divulged. Te NewYork imes reported that some chemical concerns

have set their scientists to analyze Miss Carsonswork line by line.

But critics could nd little actual error. Criticismocused instead on how Carson dramatized herconcerns and minimized the real benets o pes-

ticides in assuring plentiul, aordable ood sup-plies. She tries to scare the living daylights out

o us, wrote theNew York imes book reviewer oSilent Spring, and, in large measure, succeeds.

Te publicity stoked public demand or the book.Silent Spring was published in complete bookorm in September 962, chosen as the Book-o-the-Month Clubs October selection, and quicklyemerged as a runaway bestseller. Te CBS televi-sion network broadcast an hour-long documen-tary about the book.

A Larger TruthAs Carsons critics understood, Silent Springpos-sessed an emotional power that overcame objec-tions to specic bits o Carsons argument. Even

as imemagazine argued that many o the scarygeneralizations ... are patently unsound, mostreaders concluded that Carson understood anddepicted accurately a larger truth: that mankindsgrowing reliance on deadly chemicals carried realand not ully understood costs.

Few readers could resist Carsons literary skill.Tere was once a town in the heart o America

where all lie seemed to live in harmony with itssurroundings, she wrote:

Ten a strange blight crept over the area and every-

thing began to change. ... Tere was a strange still-

ness. ... Te ew birds seen anywhere were moribund;

they trembled violently and could not y. It was a

spring without voices. On the mornings that had

once throbbed with the dawn chorus o scores o birdvoices there was now no sound; only silence lay over

the elds and woods and marsh.

In May 963, President Kennedys Science Ad-visory Committee released a 43-page report that

called or limits on the use o pesticides. Ken-nedy immediately ordered implementation o


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its recommendations, which included an end tosome Department o Agriculture spraying pro-

grams and a Food and Drug Administration(FDA) review as rapidly as possible otolerance levels or pesticide residue in the oodsupply. Te report also acknowledged that un-til publication oSilent Springby Rachel Carson,people were generally unaware o the toxicity o

pesticides.

Silent Spring proved a hugely signicant cata-lyst or measures protecting the natural environ-ment in the United States and beyond. In 972,the FDA banned nearly all uses o DD in the

United States (many believe that, properly used,the chemical aords benets in malaria-plaguednations), and new laws limited commercial pes-ticide use to properly trained certied applica-tors.

Rachel Carson lived only one and a hal years be-yond Silent Springs publication, not long enough

to witness its ull contribution to the rebirth oenvironmental consciousness, but enough to know

she had made a dierence. I have elt bound by asolemn obligation to do what I could, she wrotea riend. But now I can believe that I have atleast helped a little.

Michael Jay Friedman is a staf writer with the U.S.

State Departments Bureau o International Inor-

mation Programs.

This wetland marsh is part of the Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, which comprises 10 parcels of land scat-tered across about 80 kilometers of Atlantic coastline near Carsons summer home in Maine.


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robably ew people todayremember the best-selling

nonction book o 962despite the scandal thatsurrounded it. Te book,a diet guide titled Calories

Dont Count, sold more thantwo million copies. Its author, Herman aller, was

spectacularly convicted o mail raud, drug viola-tions, and conspiracy charges ve years later overunsubstantiated claimsregarding the ecacyo safower-oil cap-sules in mitigating the

eects o unetteredcarbohydrate-ree cal-orie intake.

Although it didnt sellnearly as well, another

nonction book pub-lished that year has hada much more lastingimpact; its title, SilentSpring, is recognizabletoday, and its author, al-

ready in 962 a best-selling popular science writ-er, remains a household name 43 years ater her

death. Among the books legacies are heightenedpublic concern about the environmental conse-quences o pesticide abuse, including strength-

ened opposition to one pesticide in particular, thechlorinated hydrocarbon DD, and more broadlya revitalized and empowered environmentalmovement.

Te books core messagethat over-reliance on a

particular pest-control strategy could have adverseenvironmental eectswas hardly novel. In-deed, it was well documented in the entomologi-cal journals o the time. But Carson, an inspiredand gited writer, explained this idea in terms the

general public could comprehend and, more im-portantly, eel. Spraying to eliminate insects orother target species, she explained, also kills birdsand other nontarget organisms, even as the target

species evolves resis-tance to the chemicals.

Although aimed at acrop pest, a pesticidecan inadvertently con-taminate earthworms,

which in turn i eaten

in sucient quantitycan kill robins. With-out birdsong, a silentspring ensues.

Te public took her words to heart. Less

than a year ater SilentSpring rst appeared

serialized in the New Yorkermagazine, morethan 40 bills aimed at controlling use o DD

and other synthetic organic insecticides had beenintroduced in state legislatures across the United

States. In 972, eight years ater Carsons death,the newly established Environmental ProtectionAgency banned the domestic use o DD.

A Persistent Controversy,a Still Valid Warning

By May Berenbaum

Decades ago DDT was used indiscriminately, including in aero-sol cans for spraying against houseies.


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Message Misunderstood

Silent Spring quickly proved a controversialbook. Te pesticide industry and other support-

ers o chemical controls o pests reacted switly

and negatively to its publication. Tey brandedCarson an irresponsible hysteric whose extrem-ist views and selective presentation o scienticevidence threatened the health and welare o the

nation.

Even today Rachel Carsons name is a lightningrod or chemical pesticide supporters. Recent e-orts to reintroduce DD to control disease-car-rying mosquitoes in malaria-ravaged parts o A-

rica have returned Silent Spring to center stage.

Te resulting oten intemperate debate eerilymirrors the controversies o a hal-century ago.Oddly enough, manypeople on both sides

o the debate still dontquite understand thecentral message oSilent Spring. Carson

was no lover o mos-quitoes, or o insects

in general, and in actnever advocated aban-doning chemical con-trol methods. On page2 oSilent Springsheunambiguously writes,

It is not my conten-tion that chemical in-secticides must neverbe used. I do contend that we have put poison-ous and biologically potent chemicals indiscrimi-

nately into the hands o persons largely or wholly ignorant o their potential

or harm.

Indeed, in the context o ma-laria control, she argued thatDD users should spray as

little as you possibly

can rather than sprayto the limit o your ca-pacity.

Silent Springwas no extremist tract ar-

guing or a chemical-ree natural para-dise; it was a compelling plea or sparing,selective and intelligent use o chemicals, asshe wrote less amously in a 963 article in

Audubon magazine.

Tis inormed use approach todayunderlies integrated pest manage-ment (IPM), the prevailing ap-proach or controlling pests o all

descriptions. IPM, as the name suggests, inte-

grates a number o useul strategieschemical,cultural, and biologicalinto an ecologicallysound, socially acceptable, and economically vi-able program.

Carsons message wasone o moderation.It was hardly radi-calindeed its originsdate back to ancientGreecebut it should

resonate today in anydiscussion o environ-mental technology.For that matter, it ap-plies equally well to

ongoing and still con-troversial discussionso calories and weightcontrol.

Research Continues

In the hal-century since Silent Spring rst ap-peared, knowledge o the toxicological and en-

vironmental eects o synthetic organic insecti-cides has grown, much o it acquired in studiesinspired by Carson and those who embraced her

message. DD, the rst and by ar the most in-amous o the chlorinated hydrocarbons, remainsboth newsworthy and controversial.

In recent times pesticides have been used with more discretion,as demonstrated by these Indonesian workers spraying mos-quito repellent after the 2004 tsunami.


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As it turns out, the causative links between DDand cancer asserted by Carson have proved di-cult to conrm, but cancers or which a causative

actor has been denitively documented, such aslung cancer and smoking, remain the exception.

As or ecosystem eects,epidemiological and ani-mal studies have conrmedlinks between DD ex-

posure and reproductivedisorders, although DDis hardly alone in this at-tribute; new, more sophis-ticated analyses have re-

vealed that many synthetic

compounds and naturally

occurring compounds dis-rupt human endocrineunction.

Insect resistance to DD, a

major problem pointed outby Carson, and oten or-gotten in reexaminationso her central thesis, re-mains a problem a hal-cen-tury later, even where DD

has not been used in years. Tis resistance canrender DD use ineectual, as it already did inCarsons era or many dierent insect species. Butthen again, insects have evolved similar resistanceagainst just about every other orm o pest con-

trol, including crop rotation. And some new nd-ings about DD have even sotened its image asthe ultimate environmental pollutant; it degradesmuch more rapidly than expected, or example, inthe warm, moist tropical environments where itsuse to combat malaria is most needed.

One thing about DD that hasnt changed in the

past hal-century is its price; it remains one o thecheapest insecticides available. Its relatively lowthreat o acute toxicity to mammals and its a-

ordability make DD an appealing alternativeor controlling insects that carry human diseases

in desperately impover-ished and disease-plaguedregions o the world.

Its impossible to knowwhat Rachel Carson wouldsay today about the wisdomo re-deploying DD inareas where other pest con-trol measures have ailed

miserably, either due to

cost, improper use, or re-sistance. Its likely, though,that whatever she advo-cated would be based on acareul examination o all

o the evidence publishedsince Silent Spring, consis-tent with her plea or in-telligent use o chemicals.

Whatever her position, itlikely would be presented in

the same elegant, compelling prose that changedhistory.

May Berenbaum is head o the entomology depart-

ment at University o Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Today the informed use of insecticides allows themto be applied to kill or repel malaria-transmittingmosquitoes, as here in Zanzibar.


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Te Legacy o Rachel CarsonA Photo Album

achel Carsons legacy amounts to more

than a ew books and articles, more even

than the U.S. ban on DD. In the 00th

anniversary year o Carsons birth in

May 907, her works are recognized as crucial build-ing blocks or the environmental movement aimed at

preserving the natural environment through sustain-

able use o the earths resources, a movement that has

achieved persistent public support and political clout.

These bald eagle chicks, raised by volunteers, were hatched from eggs retrieved fromwild nests on Santa Catalina Island off the California coast where DDT contaminationstill persists.


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From top: The bald eagle is a species now re-covered from the threat of extinction; Carson

pages through her most famous book; people inPhiladelphia celebrate the rst Earth Day, 1970;President Nixon watches the swearing-in of Wil-liam Ruckelshaus, rst administrator of the Envi-ronmental Protection Administration, in 1970.


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From top: A cedar waxwing catches fruit; inset photo, the heavily polluted Cuyahoga River inCleveland caught on re one day in 1969; nowthe river, shown in 2004, is cleaned up suf-ciently for removal from the endangered riverslist; International Earth Day 2002 is observed inKatmandu, Nepal.


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Web Sites

Excerpts rom Writings o Rachel Carson

http://www.ws.gov/northeast/rachelcarson/ex-

cerpts.html

Frontline: Fooling with Nature

An essay about how Carsons bookSilent Spring

was instrumental in the United States banningDD.http://www-c.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/ront-line//////shows/nature/disrupt/sspring.html

NASA Earth Observatory

A short biography o Carson by Brian Payton.

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Library/Gi-ants/Carson/printall.php

National Humanities Center

Links to Web sites about Carson and SilentSpring.http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/nattrans/ntwil-derness/wildernesslinkscar.htm

Natural Resources Deense Council Te Story o

Silent Spring

An article on the book and chemical companiesattacks on Rachel Carson.

http://.nrdc.org/health/pesticides/hcarson.aspOnline Ethics Center or Engineering and ScienceAn article describing Carson as a moral exem-plar or raising public consciousness about theenvironment. Contains a description o hercampaign, a chronology, and supporting docu-

ments.http://onlineethics.org/moral/carson/index.html

Rachel Carson and the Awakening o Environmen-tal Consciousness

An essay by biographer Linda Lear with teach-

ing materials and links to additional resources.http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us/tserve/nattrans/ntwil-derness/essays/carson.htm

Bibliography

n the 100th anniversary year o her birth, Rachel Carson is being honored online by the U.S. Fish and

Wildlie Service, where she worked or 15 years. Te main Web page, Rachel Carson: A Conservation

Legacy,http://www.ws.gov/rachelcarson, links to a number o eatures:

A short video at http://www.ws.gov/rachelcarson/Rachel Carson384K_Stream.wmvCarsons Conservation in Action series o pamphlets

An online Rachel Carson book club http://rcbookclub.blogspot.comRachel Carson National Wildlie Reuge Web site http://www.ws.gov/northeast/rachelcarsonA discussion o DD http://www.ws.gov/contaminants/Ino/DD.cmA Rachel Carson act sheet http://www.ws.gov/rachelcarson/RC_Conservation_Legacy.pd


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RachelCarson.org

A Web site devoted to Carsons lie and legacy,maintained by biographer Linda Lear. Contains

a biography, links, and many resources or inor-mation about Carson.

http://www.rachelcarson.org

Te IME 100

Beore there was an environmental movement,

there was one brave woman and her very bravebook.http://www.time.com/time/time00/scientist/prole/carson.html

Yale University Beinecke Rare Book and Manu-

script Library

(type Rachel Carson into the Dialog box)Access to photos rom Rachel Carsons personalpapers.http://beinecke.library.yale.edu/dl_crosscollex/deault.htm

Books and ArticlesAnelli, Carol M., Christian H. Krupke and Re-nee Priya Prasad. Proessional Entomology andthe 44 Noisy Years Since Silent Spring. Part

.American Entomologist, vol. 52, no. 4 (Winter2006): pp. 224-235.

Carson, Rachel L. Te Edge o the Sea. Boston,MA: Houghton Mifin Company, 955.

Carson, Rachel L. Te Sea Around Us. New York,NY: Oxord University Press, 95.

Carson, Rachel L. Te Sense o Wonder. NewYork, NY: Harper & Row, 965.

Carson, Rachel L. Silent Spring. Boston, MA:Houghton Mifin Company, 962.

Carson, Rachel L. Under the Sea-Wind. NewYork, NY: Oxord University Press, 94.

Graham, Frank, Jr. Rachel Carson.EPA Journal(November/December 978): pp. n/a.

http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/perspect/car-son.htm

Lear, Linda. Rachel Carson: Witness or Nature,Chapter One. Washington Post, 997.

Te rst chapter o Linda Lears book aboutCarsons lie, describing her childhood.http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/style/longterm/books/chap/rachelcarson.htm

Lear, Linda. Rachel Carsons Silent Spring.

Environmental History Review, vol. 7, (Summer993): pp. 23-48.http://www.history.vt.edu/Barrow/Hist3706/readings/lear.html

Lewis, Jack. Te Birth o EPA.EPA Journal

(November 985): pp. n/a.http://www.epa.gov/history/topics/epa/5c.htm

Milloy, Steven. Rethinking DD. Fox NewsWeb site, June 20, 2002.

http://www.oxnews.com/sto-ry/0,2933,55843,00.html

Rosenberg, ina. What the World Needs NowIs DD. Te New York imes Magazine(April

, 2004): pp. 38-43.http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04//magazine/DD.html?ex=39706000&en=4eb5bab869680&ei=5007&partner=USERLAND

Watson, Bruce. Sounding the Alarm. Smith-sonian, vol. 33, no. 6 (September 2002): p. 5.http://www.smithsonianmag.com/issues/2002/september/presence.php?page=

Weir, Kirsten. Te Exterminator. Current Sci-ence, vol. 90, no. 5 (November 5, 2004): pp. 4-7.http://www.kirstenweir.com/exterminator.html


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Legacy

Nature and Environmental Writers Collegeand University EducatorsA non-prot, environmental education organiza-tion ounded to assist writers and educators en-hance public awareness o environmental issues.http://www.new-cue.org

North Carolina National Estuarine ResearchReserveA wildlie reserve named or Carson.http://www.ncnerr.org/pubsiteino/siteino/rachelcarson/rachel_carson.html

Rachel Carson Conservation ParkA Montgomery County, Maryland, park namedor Carson.http://www.mcparkandplanning.org/parks/park_o_the_day/may/parkday_may2.shtm

Rachel Carson Council, Inc.A clearinghouse and library with inormation onpesticide-related issues.http://members.aol.com/rccouncil/ourpage

Rachel Carson HomesteadBirthplace and historic site.http://www.rachelcarsonhomestead.org/

Rachel Carson Institute, Chatham CollegeFrom Rachel Carsons alma mater, a Web site

with a commemoration page describing theRachel Carson leadership award, a bibliography,and a page o resource links.http://www.chatham.edu/RCI/

Rachel Carson National Wildlife RefugeReuge dedicated by the U.S. Fish and WildlieService to the memory o Rachel Carson that

preserves key points along migration routes owaterowl and other migratory birds, rom Kit-

tery to Cape Elizabeth, Maine.http://www.ws.gov/northeast/rachelcarson/

Rachel Carson Trails ConservancyA nonprot organization that promotes naturetrails in Western Pennsylvania, where Carson

was born.http://www.rachelcarsontrails.org/about

Silent Spring InstituteA nonprot scientic research organization

dedicated to identiying the links between theenvironment and womens health, especiallybreast cancer.http://www.silentspring.org

The U.S. Department of State assumes no re-sponsibility for the content and availability of theresources from other agencies and organizationslisted above. All Internet links were active as ofspring 2007.


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CreditsCredits from left to right are separated by semi-colons; from top to bottom by dashes.

Cover: Yale Collection of American Literature,Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library.Inside cover: AP Images/Bob Jordan. Page1: AP Images/Bob Schultz. 2: Yale Collectionof American Literature, Beinecke Rare Bookand Manuscript Library (4). 3: Yale Collectionof American Literature, Beinecke Rare Bookand Manuscript Library-- AP Images. 4: APImages -- Photo by Alfred Eisenstaedt/Time Life

Pictures/Getty Images. 5: Photograph used bypermission of the The Manhattan Rare BookCompany. 7: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.8: AP Images. 9: AP Images/Wally Santana.10: USAID/Tanzania. 11: AP Images/Ben Mar-got. 12: AP Images/Daily Inter Lake, KarenNichols; AP Images (2) -- NARA. 13: APImages; AP Images/Robert F. Bukaty -- APImages/The Plain Dealer, John Kuntz -- APImages/Binod Joshi. Back cover: AP Images/Keith Srakocic.

Executive Editor: George Clack

Managing Editor: Bruce Odessey

Art Director/Design: Tim Brown

Contributing Editors: Michael Jay Friedman,Chandley McDonald, Mildred Sol Neely,

Anita Green

Photo Research: Ann Monroe Jacobs


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U. S. DEPARTMENT OF STATEBureau of International Information Programs

http://usinfo.state.gov/

This bridge in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, was renamed in honor of RachelCarson on Earth Day, April 22, 2006. Carson grew up in the nearby townof Springdale.

Documents

Rcarson - Pen Against Poison