Rachel Carson (1907-1964), was a scientist, ecologist, and writer. The author of several best-selling books about the sea, she wrote the 1962 treatise, Silent Spring which shocked the United States into banning DDT and other harmful pesticides. That eloquent book, blasted at the time by the chemical industry but since recognized for its scientific accuracy, is credited with launching the modern-day environnmental movement.

But as author Gary Suttle points out, “her contribution to the environmental movement extended far beyond waving red flags. She combined her scientific mind and poetic sensibilities to write lyrical prose celebrating the wonder, joy and mystery of Nature.”

Suttle goes on to say:

“Born in 1907, Carson grew up in a small town near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her parents were poor and their dwelling had no indoor plumbing. But her caring mother diligently home schooled her daughter and infused her with a lifelong love of Nature. While she struggled to pay for college and graduate school, Carson became an outstanding scientist trained in marine biology. She worked for the Fish and Wildlife Service and later gained fame as a writer and conservationist. Carson never married, but had many friendships. She was 56 years old when cancer cut short her life in 1964.”

“Carson decried anthropocentrism. ‘We still talk in terms of ‘conquest,’ she stated, ‘whether it be of the insect world or of the mysterious world of space. We still have not become mature enough to see ourselves as a very tiny part of a vast and incredible universe, a universe that is distinguished above all else by mysterious and wonderful unity that we flout at our peril.'”

“In a magazine article entitled “Help Your Child to Wonder” (subsequently published in book form as The Sense of Wonder ), Carson observed “A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood.” Carson longed to endow every child with “…a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.”

“Carson invited us to rediscover the fun excitement and mystery of wild nature, to become receptive to the world around us, to use our eyes, ears, nostrils, and fingertips, “…opening up the disused channels of sensory impression.” One way to open our eyes to unnoticed beauty, she suggested, is to ask, ‘What if I had never seen this before? What if I knew I would never see it again?’ Another way is to listen carefully to detect new sounds, as Carson did in introducing us to an insect called the fairy bell ringer: “I have never found him. I’m not sure I want to. His voice–and surely he himself–are so ethereal, so delicate, so otherworldly, that he should remain invisible, as he has through all the nights I have searched for him. It is exactly the sound that should come from a bell held in the hand of the tiniest elf, inexpressibly clear and silvery, so faint, so barely-to-be-heard that you hold your breath as you bend closer to the green glades from which the fairy chiming comes.”

Rachel Carson has been honored by stamps from Palau (1999), Marshall Islands (2000), USA (1982), and Zambia (2000). The side bar provides a sampling of some of these stamps and the many First Day Covers honoring Rachel Carson.

Music

Rachel has also been celebrated in a number of songs:

• “Gentle Warrior” by Magpie – from their album A Tiding – a song about Rachel Carson, whose scholarly scientific study and powerful and eloquent prose is the cornerstone of the modern environmental movement, and has inspired a generation of earth activists.
• “Rachel” by Magpie – from their album Seed on the Prairie – Another song about Rachel Carson, encouraging us all the speak out like she did.
• “Silent Spring” by Emma’s Revolution on their album One, a song about Rachel Carson’s warnings about the impact of toxics on the environment. Now available from the iTunes Music Store: 
•  “Song for Rachel” by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz, on his Little Piece of Time (2004) album (also available on the M.U.S.E. Songs for the Earth: A Tribute to Rachel Carson CD, see below.)  Full Lyrics and chords [PDF] available from Walkin’ Jim’s website. 

And I’m singing this song for Rachel
And for the Elders of my tribe
And I’m singin’ it for the children
And this ol’ Earth on which we ride.
There will be no silent spring, and there will come a better day.
If we keep singin’ this song for Rachel,
and remember what she had to say.”
– from “A Song for Rachel” by Walkin’ Jim Stoltz 

•M.U.S.E., Songs for the Earth: A Tribute to Rachel Carson ©2005 M.U.S.E. Association, Inc.  This wonderful compilation of songs is the third release by Musicians United to Sustain the Environment (M.U.S.E.) done in partnership with the Rachel Carson Council to celebrate the life of Rachel Carson. Carson, through her landmark book, Silent Spring, inspired the modern day environmental movement by raising consciousness about the effects of pesticides and chemicals on the world around us.