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Planet Now
Blog on Effective Environmental Communication
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From arguments over COVID-19 vaccines to debates about different ways to respond to climate change, people often disagree about policies in the United States. Climate change is polarizing since more Democrats than Republicans think the federal government should take further steps to slow the problem. Have Americans ever come together to protect the environment? Yes, partly thanks to Rachel Carson! Carson was a marine biologist who studied human impacts on wildlife. In the mid-twentieth century, people used pesticides like DDT to grow crops and kill insects that could cause disease. However, Carson found that these pesticides had tragic consequences. These pesticides killed birds and could cause cancer in humans. Carson faced challenges communicating these dangers to the public because she was battling breast cancer and knew that chemical companies would attack her for sharing the dangers of their products. Nevertheless, Carson published the book Silent Spring in 1962 to call attention to the need to limit harmful chemicals in the environment. She claimed that chemical companies had spread disinformation about pesticides to make them seem safe when they are deadly. (Disinformation is incorrect information that has been intentionally spread.) As Carson expected, chemical companies attacked her, saying she was spreading disinformation and that people should not listen to a woman. Carson’s personality was as calm and quiet as the waters she studied, so it might be surprising that her written voice captured the attention of Americans. The book helped Americans understand the dangers present in the environment, leading to bipartisan support for policies protecting the environment. Carson targeted housewives, who had various political views, because many of them had seen dead wildlife in their yards and might experience moral concern about the dangers of pesticides to people. Carson died of breast cancer (possibly as a result of working with pesticides) in 1964, just two years after publishing Silent Spring, but her writing led to an environmental revolution. In 1970, President Richard Nixon established the Environmental Protection Agency and Congress passed the Clean Air Act. In 1972, the Environmental Protection Agency banned DDT and Congress passed the Clean Water Act. In some ways, the debate about pesticides in the 1960s is similar to the debate about climate change today. Fossil fuel companies attack environmental scientists who write about the threats of climate change for humans. These companies spread disinformation to make people think climate change is not as big of a threat as scientists say. Polarization around the environment has made an increased awareness of science less likely to make people support environmental policies. Rachel Carson’s work is one of the reasons I became interested in environmental communications. When I was in high school, I did a project about her life and impact on the environment. I realized that writing about the environment to make people aware of problems is a way to encourage change.
Given Carson’s contribution to the environmental movement, climate advocates should know her story and share it with other people who may wonder about the importance of environmental communication. I am thankful that Carson helped the American public understand the dangers of pesticides despite knowing that she would receive criticism from chemical companies. Perhaps Carson’s story will encourage more people to advocate for slowing climate change and see that it is possible to bring people together to protect the environment like Silent Spring did. The following documentary segment from PBS provides a further look at Carson’s life and the battles she faced when communicating about environmental dangers.
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Welcome to my blog! It is a combination of posts from my strategic writing (spring 2022) and personal branding (spring 2023) courses at UNC. I hope you will enjoy reading the posts and learning about the environment and communication.
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