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Legacy of Rachel Carson needs to endure
Springdale claims Rachel Carson, who was born there and spent her childhood and adolescent years as a favorite daughter. She is revered at Chatham College, as well.
Known as the mother of the environmental movement, Carson was a pioneer in her beliefs that our surroundings exist in a delicate balance of positive and negative forces and that the earth should be respected, not treated with neglect. She was derided as a hysterical woman by large corporations that produced pesticides and harmful cleaning agents, but admired by scientists and journalists who admired her work and eloquent outspokenness. And, she was ultimately taken seriously when politicians felt that it would actually be in the public's best interest to take action in preventing the pollution of our environment.
Leaving Springdale in the late 1920s, Carson began her academic career at the Pennsylvania College for Women (renamed Chatham College), as an English major. Much to her family's dismay, Carson finally succumbed to her love of science where she chose to pursue her path in life. After graduating, she continued to follow her heart, which was the love for the sea and all things akin to nature.
Publication of Rachel Carson's groundbreaking book "Silent Spring" in the 1960s produced a sudden awareness of careless environmental poisonings. The public outrage that ensued helped establish the Environmental Protection Agency, the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts, as well as the banning of DDT as a once casually used pesticide. In short, her legacy is awesome.
Legacies are treasured long after a person's life is over. Springdale has the Rachel Carson Homestead, a modest tribute to her early years that educates visitors and features environmental programs for children. Chatham College has the Rachel Carson Institute, which touts its most notable graduate, and promotes significant environmental issues.
Strolling around the Chatham campus, one cannot help but notice its pristine surroundings. The Rachel Carson Institute is the backbone to this. The college began a program called "e-Collegie," which coincided with the 40th anniversary of "Silent Spring's" publication. Green is not only the color of the trees and grass on the campus, green is also the attitude. Recycled waste receptacles and reminders to recycle are posted throughout the campus. College employee Amanda Schiffman, who gave us a tour, made sure she turned off the light in her office before stepping out the door, to save energy. Visiting the dormitory where Carson lived for four years, Schiffman also explained that the cleaning products used on campus are non-toxic. Even herbicides used in maintaining nicely groomed lawns and trees are forbidden, with organic products used instead.
Overlooking the view of Pittsburgh near the science building where Carson took many of her classes, I thought of the pretty view from her bedroom window on a hill in Springdale. She was destined to leave her small town, her small women's college, to become a powerful voice throughout this country. Hers was a vision that was beyond comprehension to most.
After seeing Chatham College's commitment to a greener environment, and how it is fostered in each student's and employee's everyday life, "going green" seems even more sensible. Certainly, it is challenging, but the end result is all the more satisfying. Rachel Carson once wrote,
"Man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself." These are words to not only to think about but to act upon.
Recycle when you are able to. Avoid wasting energy. Watch how you treat the earth. The more of us who do this, the longer that Rachel Carson's legacy continues and the better off we'll all be.
Mary Ann Kelly-Lovasz of Springdale is a community columnist for the Valley News Dispatch. Her column appears monthly.
