Birthday wishes

OUR EDITOR & RACHEL CARSON – Jay Jeffrey
May 27, 2023

Today is the birthday of Cindy Jeffrey, serving as long-time editor of several newsletters, including the Prairie Falcon for the Northern Flint Hills Audubon Society,
 

Today is also the birthday of Rachel Carson (May 27, 1907), a marine biologist, conservationist, and legendary environmentalist.  She authored several books, winning a U.S. National Book Award and writing bestsellers that included a sea trilogy exploring the ocean life from the shores to the depths.  Her legacy includes the 1962 publication of her classic book, “Silent Spring.”  

President Kennedy read “Silent Spring” and formed a presidential commission to re-examine the government’s pesticide policy, which ultimately endorsed Carson’s findings and spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy.  The book’s publication was a seminal event for the environmental movement and resulted in the large public outcry that eventually led to a nationwide ban on DDT (infamous for its negative environmental impacts); the inspired grassroots environmental movement also led to the 1970 creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (our EPA).

In addition to having broadscale positive impacts to birds and other wildlife, the ban on DDT was a major factor in the comeback of the bald eagle (our national bird) and the peregrine falcon from near-extinction in the contiguous United States.  Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Jimmy Carter.

Another wonderful book by Carson is “The Sense of Wonder.”  The following quote is from that book:
“If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder…he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.” — Rachel Carson.

My mother and I continue discovering and sharing the joy, excitement, and mystery in the miracle of nature.

Happy Birthday, Mom.