Rachel Carson

Cate Hendren2005

Childhood

Born in Springdale, Maryland on

Was youngest in family

Loved birds and nature

Slim and shy as a girl Wrote through her

adolescents

Education

Graduated from Pennsylvania College for women(now Chatham college) in 1929

Studied at the Woods Hole Marine Lab

More Education

Received MA in zoology from John Hopkins University

Was first a writer then a student of marine biology

Young Adult Life Was hired by Board

of Fisheries to write to write radio scripts in the depression

Wrote some feature articles for the “Baltimore Sun” on natural history

Adult Life In 1936 became scientist and editor for U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service

Later became Editor-in-chief of all publications for the Fish and Wildlife Service

In Free Time

Bird watched Turned

government research into Lyric Prose

Books Rachel Wrote #1

1941-Under The Sea Wind

1943- Food From The Sea Fish and Shellfish of New England

Books Rachel Wrote #2

1944- Food From The Sea Fish and Shellfish of the South Atlantic

Books Rachel Wrote #3

1951- The Sea Around Us

1955-The Edge of the Sea

1956- “Help Your Child To Wonder”

Books Rachel Wrote #4

1957- “Ever-changing Store”

1962- Silent Spring

1965-The Sense of Wonder

A Clean Sea

Silent Spring #1

Highly controversial but popular book

Took four years to complete

Wrote it when a friend complained of large bird killings as a result of DDT Spraying on Cape Cod

Silent Spring #2 Explained how DDT

entered the food chain and built up in the fatty tissues of animals

Showed how DDT can cause cancer and genetic damage

One chapter entailed how a town is silenced when all the birds die because of DDT

Silent Spring #3

Showed that only one spraying of DDT could contaminate the environment for weeks, months and even years when it was diluted with rainwater

Lasting Effects

Thanks to Rachel Carson’s books and constant work the public is now more aware of the state of our environment ,of how we are slowly killing our only home and how to stop poisoning ourselves.

DDT Used with other

chemicals to enhance agricultural productivity

Available for civilian use in 1945

kills insects that cause Malaria

Side Effects of DDT

Hurts the ozone layer

Poisons rivers, lakes and, people

The Controversy

Her findings were a huge controversy then

Companies are still trying to prove her findings wrong

Support Was supported

by Greenpeace, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and many other individuals

Death

Rachel Carson died in 1964 at age fifty-six of a cancer that may have been caused by the pollutants she studied.

More Rachel Carson Pictures

About the Author

My name is Cate Hendren. I am 13 years old. I love my family,chocolate, soccer, my dog and my cats. Friends are good too.

Bibliography Budwig, Lisa. Breaking Nature’s Science

Pennsylvania’s Rachel Carson. October 22, 1997. May 02, 2005<http://depstate.pa.us/dep/PA-Env-Her/rache/.htm>

History. RachelCarson biography. May 02, 2005.<http//www.llwdp.org/wihohio/car-rac.htm>.

Lear, Linda.Biography Rachel Louise Carson.1998.April 25,2005.<http.//www.rachelcarson.org>.

Bibliography Matthiessen, Peter. Rachel Carson.

March 29, 1999. May 02, 2005.<http.time.com/time/time/bo/scientists/profile/carson.html>.

Weiss, Don.Ecology Hall of Fame Rachel Carson. January 18, 2002. May 02, 2005.<http://www.ecotopia.org/ehof/carson/>.