An alarmed public terrified of food contamination catapulted it to the top of the New York Times bestseller list. Upon its publication, Silent Spring caused a sensation.

In her own words: “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find resources of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” Halfway through the monumental project, she was diagnosed with breast cancer and endured a radical mastectomy followed by intensive radiation therapy. Working relentlessly and independently, without the safety net of any scientific or academic institution, she painstakingly gathered her evidence, triple-checking every detail. In 1958, after receiving a letter from a friend describing the large-scale death of birds following a DDT aerial spray, Rachel Carson – already highly suspicious of pesticides – began what would become a four-year crusade. So gung-ho was America for this newfound control over nature that pesticide trucks regularly patrolled suburban neighbourhoods throughout the summer months – as ubiquitous as the ice-cream man – blasting DDT on trees and front lawns even while children played outside. The most popular pesticide DDT had been hailed as the “saviour of mankind” after being used successfully against typhus epidemics and proven effective in killing insects. In America’s post-WW2 technological boom years, use of synthetic chemical pesticides on crops and in pest control programmes was rampant. But it was with her 1962 landmark book, Silent Spring, that a worldwide environmental revolution was kick-started. “As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club,” she wrote, “the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life.” The second woman to be employed by the US government’s Fish and Wildlife Service, Rachel Carson first came to the public’s attention with a trilogy of lyrical and informative bestsellers about the ocean. Passionate naturalist, brilliant biologist, fearless crusader and gifted writer, this outwardly demure and unassuming woman took on the federal government, the powerful agricultural industry and the male-dominated science community to blow the whistle on the lethal damage pesticides were inflicting on our environment. Today we commemorate one of the twentieth century’s greatest revolutionary heroines – the mother of the environmental movement, Rachel Carson.

Rachel carson pesticides