Author: Ellen Dorsey

Ellen Dorsey is the executive director of the Washington, D.C.-based Wallace Global Fund, a private foundation that focuses on environmental protection, advancement of democracy and human rights, and corporate accountability. She is the former director of the Rachel Carson Institute at Chatham College.

‘Silent Spring’: How Rachel Carson Took on the Chemical Industry and Captured the World’s Attention

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On Sept. 27, 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring and founded the modern environmental movement.

Following World War II, the United Stated embarked on a love affair with chemicals. When Carson published Silent Spring at 55, she was dying from breast cancer. Her book alerted the world to the dangers of the toxic chemicals that may have caused her disease. Carson died on April 14, 1964, at 56, never knowing to what extent her work would be vindicated or glimpsing its long-term impact.