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Rachel Carson
Introduction
My name is Rachel Carson and I was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania on May 27, 1907. During world war II researchers developed a new chemical called pesticides and they were used to kill insects, weeds, or other kinds of pests. The new chemicals did their job very efficiently but unfortunately the pesticides killed birds, fish, and other small animals. The pesticide is also called DDT and the people who ate the food that had been sprayed with the chemical could possibly get cancer or other illnesses. I published a book in 1962 called Silent Spring that was a warning for people to stop using DDT. Planet earth is our only home and in all the books I wrote I reminded everyone we need to take care of our planet.
Childhood
I lived on a farm in Pennsylvania that overlooked pretty countryside but even then the land around us was suffering from nearby mining operations and the black smoke of industrial mills. My two other siblings were 8 and 10 years older than me so by the time I was born they were already becoming independent. My mother was a teacher before she married so she often spent time with me, teaching me all about nature and the life around us. My father was a business man. Although real estate didn't prosper he was forced to take a series of jobs. He kept the farm going for as long as he could. My siblings and I enjoyed playing with the pigs, livestock, and the horse that drew our carriage. We also loved picking our crunchy apples off the trees in our orchards. The farm was tons of fun!
The Pull Of The Ocean
I had many books published about the ocean when I was a young woman but the thing was that I had never been to the ocean. I had a nice teacher named Mary Scott Skinker who became a good friend. I loved the quiet in the laboratory lokking at all of the specimens under the microscope. By the time I was in college I had decided to specialize in Marine zoology. Sadly only men got to be the proffesional scientist jobs so very few women got to go to graduate schools and I was one of them! In 1962 I won a full scholarship to Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore where I got a masters degree in zoology. The summer before entering graduate school I won an internship to the famous Woods Hole Marine Biological Laboratory in Cape Cod in Massachusetts. In Woods Hole I had the chance to wade in the surf and investigate the little sea creatures I found on the sand. It was a new world to me but in a way it was like coming home. In 1960 I learned that I myself had cancer and felt very ill. Sadly I died on April 14, 1964 but with the banning of organochlorides, one stage of my battle for the environment ended. New solutions also brought new problems.
Books By Rachel Carson
Some books I wrote are Silent Spring, Under the Sea wind, A Sense of Wonder, The Edge Of The Sea, and The Sea Around Us.
Conclusion
Early in 1945 my employer the U.S. Fish And Wildlife Service started an experimental control program with the new pesticide DDT. I offered to write an article on the program for Readers Digest. My letter reads:
The experiments... have been planned to show what effects DDT may have if applied to wide areas: what will it do to insects that are beneficial or even essential; how it may effect waterfowl, or birds that depend on insect food; whether it may upset the whole delicate balance of nature if not wisely used.
It is important that we realize what we are doing now because it may effect the whole foodchain and that will effect us. I loved studying about Rachel Carson and I hope you learned a few things too!!!!!!!!!! By: Sophie Lecuru
The experiments... have been planned to show what effects DDT may have if applied to wide areas: what will it do to insects that are beneficial or even essential; how it may effect waterfowl, or birds that depend on insect food; whether it may upset the whole delicate balance of nature if not wisely used.
It is important that we realize what we are doing now because it may effect the whole foodchain and that will effect us. I loved studying about Rachel Carson and I hope you learned a few things too!!!!!!!!!! By: Sophie Lecuru