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| My Fawcett Crest 1968 copy of Silent Spring |
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published in 1962 and has become a classic for the environmental movement. Carson who died in 1964, was a marine biologist who wrote on the consequences of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. Her dramatic first chapter 'A Fable for Tomorrow' paints a picture of a town once full of abundance and in harmony with its surroundings. Then it all began to change as a strange blight crept over the area ... and the voices of spring silenced.
Rachel Carson then uncovers the destructive nature of chemical insecticides and cautions the use of these 'elixirs of death'. As a scientist, her findings wherever these were used were too alarming to keep to herself. Hence Silent Spring, as 'a cry of warning'. She received many awards for Silent Spring, including The Schweitzer Medal and Conservationist of the Year.
Environmental historian Thomas Dunlap notes the book prompted research that led to major policy shifts ... and a 1972 overhaul of regulations on the sale and use of all pesticides (including the ban of DDT). "She was the catalyst for the modern environmental movement, and in that sense we are all children of Carson"
Ref: Spring awakening by John Briley, National Geographic September 2012
Ex Libris CNB 0090
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