Today, more than 1 billion people around the world celebrate Earth Day—but decades before this global movement began, one woman laid the foundation. When aerial pesticide programs drenched the Northeast in chemicals like DDT, devastating ecosystems and killing thousands of wildlife species, marine biologist and writer Rachel Carson sounded the alarm. Her groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, ignited a nationwide reckoning with the hidden environmental costs of modern life.

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Resources:

The Sea Around Us, by Rachel Carson (1951).
Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson (1962).
“The Story of Silent Spring,” by the National Resources Defense Council (2015).
“The Right Way to Remember Rachel Carson,” by Jill Lepore (The New Yorker, 2018).
“The Personal Attacks on Rachel Carson as a Woman Scientist” by Mark Stoll (Environment & Society Portal, 2020).
“Rachel Carson Memorial,” (Atlas Obscura, 2023).

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Behind The Scenes: He Said I Was Wrong