Rachel carson biography video of vasco

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Rachel carson biography video of vasco

Want more? Advanced embedding details, examples, and help! Usage Attribution-Noncommercial 3. Wisconsin Public Radio "University of the Air" brings us this fine 3 part biography of Rachel Carson, who many consider the founder of modern environmentalism. To safeguard their secret, they would often enclose two letters in a single envelope. One letter was for public consumption and could be read aloud to family and friends.

The other was private and passionate and would have likely alerted a reader to the true nature of their relationship. The private letters, it was agreed, were to be consigned to the "strong box," which was their nickname or code word, for burning. They couldn't quite bring themselves to burn all the private letters, however, and in Freeman's granddaughter published the surviving ones in a book about the two women's relationship [source: Michals ].

DDT was developed in the s. It was first used in wartime to help control the spread of malaria , typhus and other diseases transmitted by insects. But with the end of World War II, the manufacturers sought commercial uses for the substance, hoping to tap into emerging markets. At first, DDT was remarkably successful as an insecticide for crops and gardens.

But it wasn't clear what the effects might be on other organisms, including our own [source: EPA ]. Some scientists were alarmed, but the risks associated with the use of DDT were not widely known. As early as the s, Carson was one of those concerned that releasing a powerful poison into the environment might not be such a good idea. As an employee of the U.

And how it was killing animals and insects. She proposed an article on the subject to Reader's Digest, but the popular magazine rejected the pitch [source: Lepore ]. Carson returned her attention to the sea and the endless fascinations to be found beneath the waves, but she kept her eye on the slowly mounting evidence that DDT might be more than the miracle chemical it was hoped to be.

But in , a citizen's group called the Committee Against Mass Poisoning, filed a lawsuit in New York State to try and stop aerial spraying of insecticides. Carson was reluctant, primarily because it would entail leaving Maine for New York. She had good reason not to do so. For one thing, she had responsibilities. When one of her two nieces died young, she left an orphaned boy named Roger.

Carson, always apt to put family first, adopted her grand-nephew. This was admirable on its own, but Carson was also beginning what would be a long, torturous struggle with breast cancer. Nevertheless, she was deeply concerned about the use of insecticides, particularly DDT. The more she looked into the matter, the more convinced she became that she had to write about it.

She asked colleagues to follow the New York trial while she remained at home and began her research. It was the inception of what would become "Silent Spring," the work for which she is best remembered. Carson's essay "Silent Spring" was serialized in the New Yorker in and caused an immediate sensation. Many, including the esteemed author, E.

White, declared it one of the best and most important pieces ever published in the magazine. When it came out as a book, it shot to the top of the bestseller list and instigated a national debate about the dangers of pesticides. Asked about the controversy, President John F. Kennedy cited Carson's book as an important factor. Vested interests, particularly companies that manufactured products like DDT, went into attack mode, doing their best to discredit Carson as an amateur and a communist she was demonstrably neither.

To the chagrin of her detractors, Carson's conclusions were backed up by the findings of President Kennedy's Science Advisory Committee Report. As a result, the use of DDT and other pesticides was heavily regulated. The sanctuary protects salt marshes and estuaries for migratory birds along the Maine coastline between Kittery and Cape Elizabeth.

The refuge was first known as the Coastal Maine National Wildlife Refuge but was renamed in her honor in It was no surprise that after Carson published "Silent Spring," she came under attack by the chemical industry, and some in the government even accused her of being an "alarmist. What Carson was private about, however, was she was also fighting another battle — breast cancer.

And she was terrified to let the public know. Software Images icon An illustration of two photographs. Images Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape Donate Ellipses icon An illustration of text ellipses. Donate icon An illustration of a heart shape "Donate to the archive" User icon An illustration of a person's head and chest.

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