Email Interview with Dr.

Sara Dant- February 13th, 2015

Interviewer: What made Rachel Carson so controversial in the
scientific world?
Dant: Two things: First, she was arguing that there was a downside
to the chemicals that everyone believed were scientific miracles and
wonders. Yes, DDT in particular had saved countless lives during
WWII (it controlled lice, which spread disease among the troops
interestingly, this was the first war in which more men died in
combat than from disease, and chemicals played a major role in
that). Yes, DDT and other chemicals controlled the pests that
ravaged crops, so that our food production soared. This green
revolution has been credited with saving over a billion people
globally from starvation. But until Carson, no one really asked at
what cost? What were the consequences of using chemicals and
were the benefits really worth the risks? Second, she was a woman
scientist, which was rare. She didnt fit the typical woman profile
of the 1950s housewife/mother she wasnt married and she was a
professional working woman at a time, after WWII, when most
women were expected to stay in the home (even the women who
worked during WWII, e.g. Rosie the Riveter, were expected to give
up their jobs once the war was over).
Interviewer: Before Rachel Carson, what was the role of DDT in
the American household?
Dant: DDT was not so much a household chemical as an industrial
one. It was used to control pests, which was a very broadly
defined term. During the war, as I mentioned, it helped control
malaria and typhus, and after the war, agriculture used it to help
improve production. Communities across the country also
employed spray trucks to hose down neighborhoods, swimming
pools, playgrounds, lakes, and other public areas to kill mosquitoes.
Interviewer: How did Rachel Carson impact the environmental
movement? Did it begin because of her work?

Dant: Although there were many who had expressed concerns about
the destructive nature of humans interaction with the environment
prior to Carson (Sierra Club, George Perkins Marsh, for example),
her book was a wake-up call for the nation and garnered national
attention, including that of politicians such as President Kennedy,
his Secretary of Interior Steward Udall, and others, such as Senator
Frank Church of Idaho and Senator Gaylord Nelson of Wisconsin
(who would go on to help create Earth Day). She clearly
demonstrated the inextricable link between human actions and
environmental impact in such a way that after her book, no one
could rationally ignore the at what cost question.
Interviewer: Would the impacts of Rachel Carsons work have been
different had she been a male scientist?
Dant: No, I dont think so. As a woman, she drew a lot MORE
criticism that a male scientist making the same argument would
have. On the one hand, that hurt her argument to have so many male
scientists attacking her work, as much because of her gender as
because of her science. But on the other hand, because she was a
she and her arguments generated so much controversy, it drew even
more attention to her work than might have been the case if she had
been a man.
Interviewer: What was the impact of President Kennedys report on
pesticides?
Dant: Have a look at this article, written by a very well-respected
historian. I think this will give you some valuable insights into the
relationship between these two:
http://www.audubon.org/magazine/may-june-2012/rachel-carsonand-jfk-environmental-tag-team
Interviewer: Today, how are environmentalist groups continuing
Rachel Carson's legacy?

Dant: Environmental organizations use Carsons fundamental

argument of the interconnectedness of all life as the foundation for
many reform efforts. She continues to provide the touchstone ethic
to which most groups adhere.
Interviewer: How was Carson considered a leader in the
environmental movement?
Dant: In 1962, Carson wrote that for the first time in the history of
the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with
dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death.
Her specific target was the countrys dramatically expanded use of
pesticides, and the powerful DDT in particular, which by the late
1950s had fully supplanted all other pest control methods. A
modern miracle to many, these chemicals promised to increase
agricultural production and eradicate pesky insects, though few
understood the ecological repercussions that massive spraying
campaigns entailed. As Carson saw it, these chemicals should not
be called insecticides, but biocides. Her seminal contribution to
the raising of national environmental consciousness was her
compelling explanation of the interrelatedness of all life. As crude
a weapon as a cave mans club, she argued, the chemical barrage
has been hurled against the fabric of life a fabric on the one hand
delicate and destructible, on the other miraculously tough and
resilient, and capable of striking back in unexpected ways.
Carsons warning helped launch a national movement of protest and
reform in which the preservation of nature became integral to the
question of the quality of life.
Interviewer: How has Rachel Carson impacted you personally?
Dant: She is my hero. She constantly inspires me by reminding me
that one person really can make a difference. She is one of the
reasons that I am a professor. I dont make a lot of money but I do
make a difference. I had a student who took my US environmental
history course last spring come visit me last week to tell me that my
class inspired him to help the company that he works for

fundamentally alter their electronic waste dumping into a recycling

program. His boss was so impressed with his initiative that the boss
asked my student to make a proposal for the national corporate
executives to consider, so that the whole company nationwide can be
more environmentally responsible about e-waste. I am so proud of
him and his story made my day. That is why I teach.