Mongabay Newscast Writer Megan Mayhew Bergman on the lessons and moral clarity of 'Silent Spring'
It's been more than half a century since the publication of Silent Spring by the scientist and creative writer Rachel Carson. The seminal volume caught the attention of U.S. presidents, artists and musicians, spurring the environmental movement and leading to the eventual ban of the toxic pesticide DDT.
Joining the Mongabay Newscast is environmental writer and director of the creative writing program at Middlebury College, Megan Mayhew Bergman. She unpacks the impact of Carson's work, which came under public attack from chemical companies seeking to discredit her, and how, eventually, the truth broke through.
"We don't change our minds usually based on data. We change our minds based on emotion, but historically, it's been pretty taboo for scientists to include emotion in the way that they write. And I feel like Carson risked that here in a way that was really powerful."
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Image: Megan Mayhew Bergman. Image by Cameron Russell.
Environmental writing and authors mentioned in this conversation:
Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
Florida by Lauren Groff
The Home Place by J. Drew Lanham
Hope Is the Thing With Feathers by Christopher Cokinos
How Strange a Season by Megan Mayhew Bergman
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson
Under a White Sky by Elizabeth Kolbert
Vesper Flights by Helen Macdonald
The Wild Flag by E.B. White
Other works and authors mentioned:
Ecology of a Cracker Childhood by Janisse Ray
Men We Reaped by Jasmyn Ward
A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Speak Memory by Vladimir Nabokov
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Timestamps
(00:00) Changing hearts and minds
(02:46) Rachel Carson's journey to Silent Spring
(08:22) Controversy and impact
(14:40) Room for a new voice
(20:55) Bioaccumulation and what it means
(24:07) "We don't change our minds based on data"
(26:43) Recommended reads
(35:21) The American South and environmental writing
(39:57) Lessons for writers