Wikipedia:Today's featured article/February 22, 2008
Rachel Carsonwas anAmericanmarine biologistandnature writerwhose writings are often credited with launching the globalenvironmental movement.Carson started her career as a biologist in theU.S. Bureau of Fisheries,and transitioned to a full-time nature writer in the 1950s. Her widely praised 1951 bestsellerThe Sea Around Uswon her financial security and recognition as a gifted writer. Her next book,The Edge of the Sea,and the republished version of her first book,Under the Sea-Wind,were also bestsellers. Together, her sea trilogy explores the gamut of ocean life, from the shores to the surface to the deep sea. In the late 1950s, Carson turned her attention to conservation and the environmental problems caused by syntheticpesticides.The result wasSilent Spring(1962), which brought environmental concerns to an unprecedented portion of the American public.Silent Springspurred a reversal in national pesticide policy—leading to a nationwide ban onDDTand other pesticides—and the grassrootsenvironmental movementit inspired led to the creation of theEnvironmental Protection Agency.Carson was posthumously awarded thePresidential Medal of Freedom.(more...)
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