Rachel Carson Essay ⋆ Education Essay Examples ⋆ EssayEmpire

Rachel Carson, a marine biologist and science writer, is best known for her last book, Silent Spring (1962), a groundbreaking book that exposed the destructiveness of manufactured pesticides on the natural world and began a worldwide environmental revolution. Perhaps more than any other modern author, Carson was the first major writer to bring the importance of ecological and sustainable thinking to the general public. As a result, even though her work is primarily as a scientist, she is of critical importance to those interested in the social and cultural foundations of education.

Born on May 27, 1907, in rural Springdale, Pennsylvania, Carson reflected that she was “born with a fascination for the ocean” and credited her love of nature to her mother. Carson, who published her first story at age ten, continued her interest in writing through high school and at the Pennsylvania College for Women (later Chatham College), where a brilliant college biology teacher encouraged her to apply her passion for science to zoology and to pursue advanced studies at Johns Hopkins University. Carson enrolled at Johns Hopkins in the fall of 1929 after completing a summer fellowship at the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole.

Family financial problems delayed completion of Carson’s master’s degree until 1932 and dashed her hopes of completing a doctorate. When her father died in 1935, she became responsible for her own and her mother’s support, and found a temporary position at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries to write radio scripts on marine life. A job at the Bureau as an aquatic biologist became permanent in 1936, when she and her mother moved to Silver Spring, Maryland. In 1949, she was appointed editor-in-chief for Fish and Wildlife Services, where she continued until 1952, when the financial success of her publications allowed her to devote all her time to writing and to build a summer cottage on the shore of Southport Island, Maine, where she could observe the marine life she dearly loved.

Beginning in 1937, Carson’s articles on the sea and the natural world appeared in national magazines. Her first book, Under the Sea-Wind, was published in 1941. After receiving a fellowship and an award for “the best science writing in a magazine,” Carson finished The Sea Around Us in 1952, a book that set a record by remaining on the best-seller lists for eighteen months. The Edge of the Sea followed in 1955. An article she wrote for parents and dedicated to her adopted nephew, “Help Your Child to Wonder,” was published in 1956, which was later reprinted as the book The Sense of Wonder.

Carson’s concern about pesticides’ effects on the natural world began early in her career and culminated in the publication of Silent Spring. This history changing book warned of “the dangers of misuse and overuse” of chemical pesticides and eventually led to the banning of DDT. Although Carson was personally and professionally castigated by the chemical industry and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, she won numerous prestigious national awards and recognition for her work. A film, The Silent Spring of Rachel Carson, aired on CBS in 1963. In 1964, Rachel Carson died of cancer and heart failure. She was awarded the President’s Medal of Freedom posthumously in 1980.

Bibliography:

Brooks, P. (1972). The house of life: Rachel Carson at work. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Freeman, M. (Ed.). (1995). Always, Rachel. Boston: Beacon Press.
Gartner, C. (1983). Rachel Carson. New York: Frederick Ungar.
Hynes, P. (1989). The recurring silent spring. New York: Pergamon.
Lear, L. (1997). Rachel Carson: Witness for nature. New York: Holt.
McCay, M. (1993). Rachel Carson. New York: Twayne.

This example Rachel Carson Essay is published for educational and informational purposes only. If you need a custom essay or research paper on this topic please use our writing services. EssayEmpire.com offers reliable custom essay writing services that can help you to receive high grades and impress your professors with the quality of each essay or research paper you hand in.