Rachel Carson

 Rachel Carson

"Spring now comes unheralded by the return of the birds and the early mornings are strangely silent where once they were filled with the beauty of bird song."

Rachel Carson was an Ecologist who learned about Biology and Chemistry and was able to describe how Chemical Companies were creating pesticides that were damaging the fauna of the nation. Carson described that pesticides such as DDT were having dangerous side effects on the bird populations including bald eagles and peregrine falcons. 

The Chemical Companies that produced insecticides such as DDT denied that the pesticides could be causing damage to birds and animals. Carson wrote books including, Silent Spring, in 1962 that described that indiscriminate pesticide use can lead to damage of the ecosystem. 

The Chemical Companies kept denying that DDT was dangerous and since 1962 kept describing that pesticides were harmless. After multiple research studies, there was conclusive evidence that DDT was actually harming the egg shells of bald eagles and birds. It was not until 1971 that DDT was banned as a pesticide. 

Carson concluded that pesticides were having unintended consequences on the bird population. Carson was able to allow individuals to have healthy skepticism about chemicals in pesticides such as DDT that contained fat soluble chemicals that had long lasting effects. The use of DDT was removed and bird populations have increased again since 1971 including bald eagles, falcons, and warblers. (It is questionable concerning whether the Chemical Industry accidently allowed DDT to be used after significant studies proved that they were deleterious in 1962. Carson's research proved that the Chemical Industry did not care about ecology and wanted to keep selling toxic chemical pesticides for more than 9 years after significant research. Not even majestic bald eagles were cared for by greedy narcissistic merchants.)