“But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”
― Rachel Carson

The second group of profiles detailed in our book club read “Headstrong: 52 Women who changed Science and the World” were women that made significant contributions to biology and the environment. Although there were several standouts, the obvious choice to highlight as a role model for our group of women is Rachel Carson, marine biologist, author, and conservation legend.

Rachel Carson (1907-1964), after studying at Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory and Johns Hopkins University, started her career as an aquatic biologist for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries (the precursor of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service). In the 1950s, she became a full-time nature writer. As a somewhat reluctant trailblazer within the environmental movement, she provided an excellent example of how scientific literature written for the general public can move mountains. “The Sea Around Us” won the National Book Award in 1951 and the John Burroughs Medal and resulted in Carson’s being awarded two honorary doctorates. Her most famous and impactful book “Silent Spring” helped inspire the National Environmental Policy Act, the United States first Earth Day, and the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

“Silent Spring” gathered examples of environmental damage attributed to pesticides such as DDT which was used in widespread spraying programs to eradicate pests such as the gypsy moth. Carson sifted through evidence from scientists who were documenting the physiological and environmental effects of pesticides to medical researchers linking pesticides to cancer, documenting the collateral damage to fish, birds, and other wildlife and revealing the effects of these new chemicals to be lasting, widespread, and lethal. The publication of Silent Spring was controversial; the chemical industry lodged a range of complaints about her conclusions, and accused Carson of wanting to ban all pesticides. However, Carson had the support of the scientific community, and she was eventually invited to testify before Congress in 1963. The ban on the use of DDT in the United States in 1972 is Carson’s most direct environmental legacy, but her writing changed the attitudes of a generation by questioning the morality of human domination over nature.