Rachel Carson Educational Posters, Books, Video, Links for Learning

	• RACHEL CARSON POSTERS Environmental Education
	Rachel Carson, Great American Women Poster series Rachel Carson, Great American Women Wall Poster Poster Text: More than any other person, Rachel Carson helped make "ecology" a household word. She spent nearly fifteen years of her life working in obscurity for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. But the publication of her books "The Sea Around Us" and "Silent Spring," brought her immediate fame. Rachel was born in 1907 on a small farm in Pennsylvania, as a young girl, she loved to explore the woods and fields near her home. She once wrote: "I can remember no time when I wasn't interested in the out-of-doors and the whole world of nature." At first, she wanted to be a writer. But a college course in biology inspired her to think about a career in science instead. Eventually, she combined her two loves. Her first two books, "Under the Sea-Wind" and "The Sea Around Us," describe the oceans and the life they contain. But it was "Silent Spring," published in 1962, that made her famous. The book warned of the dangers of pesticides, which Ms. Carson discovered were killing fish and birds as well as insects. Some scientists said she exaggerated this danger. But most agreed that "Silent Spring" was both accurate and timely. The book lead directly to new laws regulating the use of pesticides, and it aroused millions to a new concern about humanity's growing impact on the natural environment around us. • more Great American Women posters
		Women of Science - Rachel Carson Wall Poster available at- Art.com AllPosters.com • more Women of Science posters
		Writers Who Changed the World - Rachel Carson Wall Poster available at- AllPosters.com Art.com • more Writers Who Changed the World posters
	Mouth of the Little River near Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Maine, USA, Photographic Print Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge, Maine - US Fish and Wildlife Services site • more river posters
		Pollution & the Environment Wall Poster Art.com AllPosters.com barewalls.com • more Ecology posters
		Oceans and Seas -International Edition (texts in five languages) available at- Art.com AllPosters.com barewalls.com
		Woods Hole Lighthouse, Cape Cod Art Print available at- Art.com AllPosters.com • Massachusetts posters
		Earth Day Poster, Animals II Fine Art Print available at- Art.com AllPosters.com
	• biology posters • aquatic / marine posters • women authors posters • Rainforest posters • more Earth posters • Environmental Bookshelf

“Those who contemplate the beauty of the Earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” Rachel Carson

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Rachel Carson was born May 27, 1907 in Springdale, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Robert Warden Carson and Maria McClean Carson.

She learned respect for nature, independence from the rules of the day, and a love for learning from her mother who had been a teacher.

As a ten year old Rachel wrote a prize winning story, and saw it in print. She knew from that moment she wanted to be a writer. When Rachel went to college she studied literature and planned on a career as an author. It was a required science courses that reawakened her love of nature and at the last moment she changed her major, graduating with a degree in science and going on to earn a Masters degree in marine zoology.

Working for the Bureau of Fisheries and the Fish and Wildlife Service she produced many brochures and articles. In 1952 she was able to devote full time to her writing when two of her books were on the New York Times Best Seller List.

But it was her 1962 book Silent Spring that caused the most uproar- Rachel had carefully researched and documented the devastation the chemical DDT was creating, and the chemical industry attached her as a fanatic.

Rachel was able to bring science and literature, her passion and talents, together in a lasting legacy of environmental care. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian decoration, posthumously in 1980.

Rachel Carson died April 14, 1964 at age 56 in Silver Spring, Maryland.

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• Books by and about Rachel Carson

Rachel Carson: Witness for Nature by Linda J. Lear - author does justice to the tragic dimensions of Rachel Carson’s life in her prologue, which shows the author of Silent Spring, even as she was dying of cancer, testifying calmly before a congressional subcommittee whose investigation of the dangers of pesticides were prompted by her book. Lear portrays Carson with affection and discernment as a remarkable woman who overcame prejudice against female scientists and aroused post-World War II America to the beauties of nature and the technological threats against it in a series of deservedly popular books.

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson - Written over the years 1958 to 1962, Silent Spring took a hard look at the effects of insecticides and pesticides on songbird populations throughout the United States, whose declining numbers yielded the silence to which her title attests. “What happens in nature is not allowed to happen in the modern, chemical-drenched world,” she writes, “where spraying destroys not only the insects but also their principal enemy, the birds. When later there is a resurgence of the insect population, as almost always happens, the birds are not there to keep their numbers in check.” The publication of her impeccably reported text helped change that trend by setting off a wave of environmental legislation and galvanizing the nascent ecological movement. It is justly considered a classic, and it is well worth rereading today.

Rachel Carson : Friend of the Earth (Easy Biographies) by Francene Sabin - biography of the well-known conservationist and the author of the best-selling Silent Spring for 9-12 year olds.

Universe Beneath the Seas video set

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LINKS FOR LEARNING : RACHEL CARSON

• Rachel Carson.org

• Ecology Hall of Fame: Rachel Carson

• The Rachel Carson Homestead: Birthplace of a Healthier Planet

• A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: PBS, Rachel Carson

• Rachel Carson: The Coming of a Silent Spring (Lesson Plan)

• All Species Project- Community & environmental projects