Today we launch our campaign urging people to rethink the legacy of environmentalist icon Rachel Carson, with the site www.RachelWasWrong.com. Today she’s mostly remembered at the author of the bestseller Silent Spring, the book frequently credited with launching the modern environmental movement. Unfortunately, the negative impact her ideas had on people around the world is mostly ignored. Her goal of getting rid of pesticides like DDT left uncounted millions vulnerable to deadly diseases like malaria.
Here’s Angela, from today’s news release, on Carson’s legacy and the occasion of what would have been her 100th birthday:
While Carson may have meant well, her rhetoric and anti-technology views produced devastating consequences, particularly for children in Africa. Our website includes photographs of some children who lost their lives to malaria since DDT was banned. We ask that people remember their birthdays too, with the hope that it will encourage policymakers to rethink foolish and dangerous policies.
For more on malaria and DDT, please visit our friends at Africa Fighting Malaria.