Unit 4: STEM Women Rock! (2nde)

Rachel Carson, the Mother of Ecology

The document under study is a video about Rachel Carson. A famous American biologist who studied zoology and genetics at John Hopkins University, in Baltimore, Maryland. She was born in 1906 in Pennsylvania. As she grew up in a farm that belonged to her family, a passion for biology and nature grew too.

In the 1950s, the US government recommended the use of an insect killer called DDT for farmers. However, Rachel Carson discovered the dangers resulting from this pesticide. Indeed, it could kill wildlife and pollute the environment. As a result, the government did absolutely nothing to stop the damages, therefore she wrote a book to denounce the consequences of the use of DDT on nature. Her book was entitled “Silent Spring”, published in 1962. Her book was really controversial as people had different opinions on the matter. Nevertheless, 65,000 copies were sold in 2 weeks. A smear campaign was put in place by people from  the chemical industry to ruin her reputation. Above all, she kept on speaking out about the disastrous effects of such pesticides on TV, radio… Unfortunately, she died 2 years after the publication of her book. Nonetheless, in 1970, her work contributed in the creation of the United States Environmental Protection Agency to protect the environment as good as possible.

Homework: Learn the lesson.