" Rachel Carson was Right " is the title of a talk to be given at the Wellesley Library on Tuesday, April 10 at 7 p.m.
Many of us have heard of Rachel Carson and her book " Silent Spring " that began the modern environmental movement. Rachel Carson raised our awareness that we humans have a significant impact on our world. However, few of us know the full extent of her legacy.
Ellie Goldberg, a founder and leader of the Newton Green Decade Coalition’s Committee for Alternatives to Pesticides, will be presenting a portrait of Rachel Carson and her work on the dangers of pesticides, including old film clips from the days when the government staged fumigation demonstrations of children to reassure the public about the safety of DDT.
Rachel Carson’s activist work grew out of a love of the natural world. When I was about 10 years old my mother gave me a book by Rachel Carson called " The Sense of Wonder. " I don’t think I ever really read it then, but when Ellie Goldberg told me she was going to speak in Wellesley about Rachel Carson’s life, I dusted it off and read it through. The colors were a little faded in the pictures of Maine, and woods, and children walking in the rain, but the words shone through the years. Rachel Carson loved the natural world, and wanted everyone to see the beauty she saw. In the book she writes:
" A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe-inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and disenchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength. "
She recommends that parents take their children outside to explore their natural world. It is not so important for a parent to " know " about nature as it is for them to " feel " it with their child. A sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new, a feeling of sympathy or pity or admiration, these are more important to share than the particular names of birds or plants. It something we all can do with our children, or our nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or neighbors, right in our own backyards and in the parks in Wellesley.
In the early 1960s, Rachel Carson was one of the first people to call attention to the dangers of pesticides because of the changes she observed in the environment. Further, she believed that all people had a right to be protected against what is now termed " toxic trespass. " That is, she believed that people have a fundamental right to clean air, clean water, and clean land. Forty years later, amazingly, the problem still exists, and science is finding out that Rachel Carson was right in more ways than even she realized.
The Wellesley Pesticide Awareness Campaign, a cosponsor of this talk, believes that if people become more aware of nature, and maintain a sense of wonder, then it will become clear to them that our current fascination with the ideal lawn is not so ideal after all. We are working to educate people about the hazards of pesticides, the benefits and beauty of organic lawns, and helping them to transition to healthier lawn care methods. In an effort to encourage people to adopt pesticide-free practices, we will be offering free organic lawn care starter kits for people who attend the talk.
We think Rachel Carson would approve of our work — her life is not just about pesticides, it is also about a sense of wonder and an appreciation of the natural world. We hope you will be able to come to the talk and find out how you can help us teach her lessons.
Sarah Little is Pesticide Awareness Coordinator for the Wellesley Health Department.
