Rachel Carson Couldn’t Swim – And Other Things You Might Not Know About the Woman Who Started the Modern Environmental Movement
On Carson’s Birthday, May 27, ANS Invites You to Learn More from Her Biographer About Her Remarkable Life
For more information, contact [email protected] or 301-652-9188 x23 or lglisagoodnight@gmail, 301-523-5394
CHEVY CHASE, MD – Schools, parks, and other important landmarks are named after Rachel Carson to honor her invaluable contributions to the environmental movement. While much is known about her life, there is still more to learn.
To mark Carson’s 111th birthday, the Audubon Naturalist Society is offering new insight into her life courtesy of Carson’s Definitive Biographer Linda Lear, a longtime ANS member, whose ANS lecture: Rachel Carson and Her Friends will debut on ANS’s YouTube channel and Facebook page on Sunday.
Lear is willing to speak with media this weekend. Her biography of Carson was awarded the prize for the best book on women in science by the History of Science Society for 1998 and has been translated into Japanese, Chinese, Mandarin, and Korean editions. Lear has been featured in two PBS specials on the life of Rachel Carson, discussing the intimate biography and the legendary scientist’s writings and letters.
Here are three things people may not know about Carson:
- For someone who was in love with the ocean and wrote the incredibly compelling and internationally bestselling The Sea Around Us, Carson was a terrible swimmer. Going underwater in a 50-lb steel helmet and diving equipment, as she did once for observation in a diving bell, was deeply courageous. “The Sea Around Us was nothing short of a biography of the sea, which made Carson the trusted public voice of science in America,” according to her biographer, Linda Lear. (www.rachelcarson.org)
- Carson was an ardent Democrat, serving first under Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes, and then Secretary Stewart Udall. She was frequently invited to Robert Kennedy’s private think-tank soirees.
- Carson embraced the organic food movement, at Marjorie Spock’s insistence, but could not be public about it because the Nutrition Foundation would have been even more critical of her. They were one of her biggest critics because she was advocating the end of pesticides, which were used heavily in production of American agricultural products.
About ANS: ANS is the oldest, independent environmental organization in the DMV. Throughout its history, ANS has played a pivotal role in conserving our region’s iconic natural places from development including the C&O Canal, Dyke Marsh and, most recently, Ten Mile Creek. Past ANS member and board president, Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, is credited with launching the now global environmental movement. ANS’s nature experts provide hundreds of opportunities each year for children and adults to enjoy, learn about, and protect the environment.
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