I recently referenced The Gentle Subversive: Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, and the Rise of the Environmental Movement by Mark Hamilton Lytle. I also got out Silent Spring, the copy having two short essays providing biographical details and comments from another scientist.
A few themes stood out. First, Carson is big on "ecology," in particular, the importance of looking at nature as a united whole, pesticides dangerous in large part because they harm more than the pests targeted. Second, Carson's religious background affected her work, viewing things in clear moral terms and believing in the sanctity of nature. Environmentalism is at times denounced as a type of religion, which might not be off base, except that it should not be seen in such a negative light. Lytle notes:
But where critics dismissed this faith as antiscience or paganism, historians such as William Cronon suggested that in the manner of what we call "religion;' environmentalism "offers a complex series of moral imperatives for ethical action, and.judges human conduct accordingly." If religion helps us to make sense of our lives in a world of infinite mystery and complexity, then Carson's approach to the natural world qualified as religious. Philosopher William James described religion as the "belief that there is an unseen order, and that our supreme good lies in harmoniously adjusting ourselves thereto." In that spirit, Carson challenged parents to direct children away from the "sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength" and toward the wonders of nature."
Third, Carson had a strong populist spirit, not only supporting a progressive role for government, but believing that the people had a "right to know" about the dangers of modern science, particularly when it directly affected them. A civil lawsuit concerning pesticide use that affected private property was an immediate influence on Carson deciding to write Silent Spring (though the idea was on her mind for some time). This influenced environmental movement as a whole, her poetic books about sea life encouraging a personal attachment and concern as well.
Finally, Carson is a model for feminists. She had a "man's" job as a scientist in an era where such distinctions were clearly made, repeatedly getting assistance (including one of her editors) from a sort of "girl's network" (cf. old boys network). She also quietly took care of her mother and both her niece and grandnephew, Carson's father and sister both dying fairly young, her brother not around much or close to his sister either. And, she had to fight through major illness to finish Silent Spring, sadly not truly being able to enjoy her publishing success for too long, dying in her 50s.
An extraordinary woman, for sure.