Rachel Carson

1907 – 1964 · United States · Biology, Literature

Silent Spring launched the environmental movement and got DDT banned.

Index entry

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Talks and interviews

Continuity of ideas

Who shaped Rachel Carson, and who they shaped

Inherited from1

  • Alexander von Humboldt

    1769 – 1859 · Biology, Astronomy

    Carson's ecological writing descends from Humboldt's picture of nature as a connected web.

Passed the work to4

  • Arne Næss

    1912 – 2009 · Philosophy, Environment

    Deep ecology takes Carson's warning and turns it into a philosophy of intrinsic value.

  • Mario Molina

    1943 – 2020 · Chemistry

    The atmospheric-harm argument Carson made for pesticides Molina made for CFCs.

  • Vandana Shiva

    1952 · Philosophy, Environment

    Shiva's seed and pesticide campaigns extend Carson's case into the global South.

  • Wangari Maathai

    1940 – 2011 · Peace, Biology

    Silent Spring's civic ecology is the template for the Green Belt Movement's organising.

Sources and references

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