‘Rachel Carson was born in the year 1907, on 27th of May at a place called Springdale in Pennsylvania.’1 He grew up in a rural home with her mother who inspired her to like the nature. The fact that she grew up in a farm found in Pennsylvania made her to better understand and like nature and the wild animals that lived in the farm. This is what inspired her to write many books about nature.
Rachel joined Pennsylvania College for women in the year 1925 and graduated in the year 1929 with an honors and this made her to get a scholarship to Johns Hopkins University. In the university, she graduated with a master in Zoology.
Family information.
Rachel Carson was born in a family of three children and she was the last born in the family. She came from a family that usually dealt with farming and in this case, her mother made her to better understand nature and this made Rachel to develop passion in this area. This is why she pursued her education in a field related to nature and as a result, she wrote various books relating to nature.
Having completed her studies, Rachel was hired by the United States bureau of fisheries. Her major work was to write radio reports about the life under the sea. The articles were then aired in the radio. Rachel was specifically the writer of the program that was known as romance under the waters.
1. Quaratiello, Arlene Rodda. 2004. Rachel Carson a biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
2. Lear, Linda. 1997. Rachel Carson: witness for nature. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub. Co.
During this period, Rachel also wrote articles about natural history which helped her to supplement his salary. From here, Rachel became a lecturer in the University of Maryland for five years.
In the year 1936, Rachel was employed by the United States bureau of fisheries as a full time biologist. ‘She worked here for 15 years so that she was able to support her mother and the two daughters who belonged to her sister who had died.’1 She was promoted to become the chief editor. This means that she was the chief editor for the US fish and wildlife service.
Rachel was able to write informative books and articles. Specifically, she wrote about the life under the seas which made people to get information that they did not have before. Her first book named under the sea wind addressed the marine life and it was published in the year 1936. It became famous in that it was very clear and easy to understand in addition to bringing new knowledge about marine life to the world. ‘Since she liked writing, she decided to resign from her government position in the year 1952 so that she could devote more time in writing.’1 It is after she resigned that she wrote a book called silent spring which was published in the year 1952. This became the bestselling book due to its fame and this made her meet the printing costs that were becoming a problem to her. The book inspired many people and particularly president Kennedy. It is due to the book that the president ordered the investigation of the chemicals that were mentioned in the book.
1. Quaratiello, Arlene Rodda. 2004. Rachel Carson a biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
2. Lear, Linda. 1997. Rachel Carson: witness for nature. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub. Co.
In addition to the book, Carson wrote many articles about the nature that taught people the beauty that was present in the world. She was concerned about how the human beings were destroying the beauty of the world and therefore the future generations would not see this beauty. She carried research on the use of chemicals such as pesticides on the farms. She particularly challenged the government, the farmers who were using the pesticides and the companies that were manufacturing the chemicals. She warned about the long-term effects of the pesticides. She emphasized the chemicals did not only affect the natural environment negatively, but they also affected the human beings negatively. Therefore Carson was so much concerned about the future health of the human beings.
The research and the reports that Rachel came up with were adopted by many people since after the president ordered for the investigation of pesticides, it was found out that some of the pesticides were very dangerous and this is why DDT was banned in the United States. Generally, Rachel taught people that they were the ones who were altering the environment and it was becoming difficult to restore it. ‘The beauty and the content of the environment were being altered and it was difficult to change the situation.’2 This is why she demanded that the government should put in place policies that could protect the environment and specifically the lives of the human beings. Even though she was criticized by many companies that usually manufactured the chemicals, she was not demoralized by this and this is why she finally published a book ‘The sense of wonder ‘that described how the children loved the beauty of the nature.
1. Quaratiello, Arlene Rodda. 2004. Rachel Carson a biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
2. Lear, Linda. 1997. Rachel Carson: witness for nature. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub. Co.
Rachel died in the year 1964, 14th of April after suffering for a long time from cancer. She had suffered from the disease for a long time but this did not stop her from carrying out her writing activities. Generally, Rachel is known for being one of the major environmental activists who emphasized on the protection of the environment. She contributed a lot to the emergence of environmental movements.
1. Quaratiello, Arlene Rodda. 2004. Rachel Carson a biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
2. Lear, Linda. 1997. Rachel Carson: witness for nature. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub. Co.
Works cited.
1. Quaratiello, Arlene Rodda. 2004. Rachel Carson a biography. Westport, Conn: Greenwood Press.
2. Lear, Linda. 1997. Rachel Carson: witness for nature. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Pub. Co.
