The Sierra Club
Planned Giving Program

Rachel Carson was one of those unique individuals whose life and work dramatically influenced society. She encouraged people to question and challenge our view of man's relationship with the natural world. By combining her skills as a trained biologist with her extraordinary literary skills, she told the world about the beauty and mystery of the environment.

Her career as a biologist and Chief Editor with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service allowed her to use her exceptional talents in many ways. She was able to express complicated scientific concepts in a way that made the information accessible to the general populace. A major portion of her work dealt with marine environments. She wrote three highly acclaimed books about the sea: Under the Sea Wind, The Sea Around Us, and The Edge of the Sea.

In what came to be known as her most famous book, Silent Spring, she sounded a global alarm about the threat of chemical pesticides. Her meticulous scientific research coupled with her exceptional writing ability enabled her to create a book that compelled the world to look at nature in a new way. The more Rachel Carson explored the use of pesticides, the clearer she was about her need to write the book, "What I discovered was that everything which meant the most to me as a naturalist was being threatened, and that nothing I could do would be more important." (Paul Brooks, The House of Life)

In addition to her research and writing, Rachel Carson was also the major care-giver for her family. Though she never married, she cared for her mother and two nieces. Nearing her fiftieth birthday she adopted her niece's orphaned five year old son. He own health began to fail while she was working on Silent Spring. Despite illness, she always managed to put her personal challenges aside in order to complete the important projects that faced her. She died of cancer in 1964 at the age of fifty-six.

Rachel Carson's strength of character and commitment to preserving, conserving, and enhancing our environment is inspirational to people across the world. She was a visionary with the heart of a poet who optimistically believed that there was hope in the reparation of mankind's relationship with nature.