https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-22-2025
"Today is Earth Day, celebrated for the first time in 1970. The spark for the
first Earth Day was the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s
Silent Spring. A
marine biologist and best-selling author, Carson showed the devastating effects
of people on nature by documenting the effect of modern pesticides on the
natural world. She focused on the popular pesticide DDT, which had been
developed in 1939 and used to clear islands in the South Pacific of
malaria-carrying mosquitoes during World War II. Deployed as an insect killer
in the U.S. after the war, DDT was poisoning the natural food chain in American
waters.
DDT sprayed on vegetation washed into the oceans. It concentrated in fish,
which were then eaten by birds of prey, especially ospreys. The DDT caused the
birds to lay eggs with abnormally thin eggshells, so thin the eggs cracked in
the nest when the parent birds tried to incubate them. And so the birds began
to die off.
Carson was unable to interest any publishing company in the story of DDT.
Finally, frustrated at the popular lack of interest in the story behind the
devastation of birds, she decided to write the story anyway, turning out a
highly readable book with 55 pages of footnotes to make her case.
When
The New Yorker began to serialize Carson’s book in June 1962, chemical
company leaders were scathing. “If man were to faithfully follow the teachings
of Miss Carson," an executive of the American Cyanamid Company said, "we would
return to the Dark Ages, and the insects and diseases and vermin would once
again inherit the earth." Officers of Monsanto questioned Carson's sanity.
But her portrait of the dangerous overuse of chemicals and their effect on
living organisms caught readers’ attention. They were willing to listen.
Carson’s book sold more than half a million copies in 24 countries."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
