Conservationist’s Silent Spring caused uproar – and revolution

THERE was anything but silence when Rachel Carson’s book came out.

Silent Spring was published on September 27, 1962, and it changed the world.

A marine biologist and conservationist, the American outlined the devastating environmental effect of pesticides on birds and the world in general.

It would lead to the rise of a whole movement, cause a revolution in the chemical industry and become one of the best-loved science books of all time.

Carson had been affected by the sight of birds dying, killed by pesticides designed to eradicate mosquitoes.

She also witnessed the damage being done to humans’ health.

Some called her “hysterical” and “extremist” when Silent Spring saw the light of day.

But her vivid descriptions, and her writing of how spring no longer saw the arrival of countless birds, had a big effect on ordinary readers and those in power

who saw things from her perspective. Rachel and her publishers approached many scientists before it came out. They almost all agreed with it and backed her, helping change how humans treat our world. Rachel Carson.