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Rachel Carson
Her interest in the natural world as a young girl led her through study and work within the field of natural sciences to become a scientist, writer and ecologist of renown. After an initial period working as a scientist within the federal service her writing and editorial skills blossomed and she became Editor-in-Chief of all the publications of the US Fish and Wildlife Service.During the 1930's she began writing lyrical features as well as pamphlets and editorials on conservation of natural resources. The lyrical prose developed from articles for the Atlantic Monthly onto books culminating in the prize-winning The Sea Around Us in 1952 closely followed by The Edge of the Sea in 1955. Fame as a noted naturalist and science writer encouraged her to devote herself entirely to writing. Her interest lay in divulging the natural beauty around us and the part human beings were playing in the (sometimes irreversible) changing of nature. These challenges to the growing synthetic chemical pesticide industry provided a root for the beginning of the environmental movement as she warned of damage to the ecosystem and thus to mankind itself. Her book 'Silent Spring' in 1962 warns of the effects that the misuse of pesticides would have in the future. This led to her work being attacked as 'alarmist' and a testimony before Congress in 1963 where she pressed for regulations to protect humans and the environment. She died a year later from breast cancer leaving a legacy of continuing awe of, and concern for, the conservation of our living world. © Photograph by Brooks Studio; Courtesy of the Lear/Carson Collection Rachel Carson Web site: www.rachelcarson.org.
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