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Rachel Carson was a very talented person who did many things to benefit the environment and helped greatly in making people pay attention to the Earth that they were destroying. She wrote many books and broke down many barriers for women in science. What Carson is must known for is her discovery of the harmful effects of the chemical DDT which was rapidly destroying many bird populations.
Carson wrote five books in her lifetime. Four of those books were informing people about the sea and the other one was about DDT. All of Carson's books were written to inform the public about things going on in nature. Her first four books gave Carson a reputation as a great writer but also allowed her to become more independent and have more freedom in her research. This was very different from other women of that time because Carson did not follow the image of women of that time. The image was to be a perfect wife and live under your husband. Carson was completely independent which was another reason for her to be a major part of women's history and change. The titles of her books were The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, Under the Sea-Wind, and her most famous Silent Spring. All of these books were researched thoroughly by Carson through hands on research and studying.
When Carson finished her longtime research about the sea she moved on to research about DDT and was able to prove this research, though many people from government tried to stop her from succeeding in making people aware about the effects. She always pushed through the pressure and difficulties of getting respected as a women biologist and getting people to act upon her warnings about the harmful pesticide instead of denying the facts.
Carson did a lot of research about underwater life and nature in general before coming upon the harmful effects of the chemical DDT. DDT stands for dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, a post war pesticide that is very harmful to all creatures on the food chain, which, at that time had no restrictions on its use. This chemical kills insects and bugs and was used to do so on farms and in yards but most people, until Rachel Carson's research and book called Silent Spring, did not realize that it was also harmful to all other creatures because of its effects on reproductive organs and reproduction. DDT was the reason for the bald eagles and brown pelicans to become part of the endangered species list because it made many birds stop reproducing and if they did reproduce it caused their egg shells to be very thin and many times the mother would break her own eggs just by sitting on them.
This was Carson's most important action, though she had many others which benefited the well being of many creatures but without her recognition of the dangers of DDT our national symbol probably would be close to extinct instead of off the endanger species list as it is today.
