Why is Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring, considered brave?

"Physical bravery is an animal instinct; moral bravery is a much higher and truer courage."  -Wendell Phillips, American abolitionist

Rachel Carson did not mean to make such a large splash when she authored the book Silent Spring, which was released in 1962. Using four years of research, she outlined the harmful effects of the use of pesticides and man-made chemicals on the environment. She had to know when researching the book, that she was going to upset some powerful people in corporate America. She decided that the harmful effects of chemicals on the environment would be her personal moral crusade.

Almost immediately after the books successful release, pesticide manufacturers attacked Rachel's character. They attacked the motives, methods, and conclusions of her research. She was accused of being a communist sympathizer. One pesticide manufacturer even threatened to sue her under the pretense that she was operating for the Soviet propaganda machine. Despite these brutal attacks on her character, she did not back down from the findings of her book.

While all of these attacks were taking place, Rachel was fighting a deadly breast cancer that was ravaging her body. Knowing she did not have long to live, it would have been easy for her to pursue other interests and let other generations worry about chemical pollution. This is not the path that she chose. She even testified before a Senate subcommittee on pesticides when she could barely walk. Rachel died eighteen months after the publication of her book, but the bravery of her work sparked the modern environmentalist movement.