Before DDT, Environmentalism's First Crusader Warned Of Swelling Seas [Vintage PopSci]
"The ocean comes alive in one of this year's most fascinating books." 1951 PopSci archivesAn excerpt from Rachel Carson's 1951 bestseller, "The Sea Around Us" This month is the 50th birthday of Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring," the book that ignited the environmental movement and helped to ban DDT in the U.S. Carson combined data, case studies, and anecdotes to paint a frightening picture of a world poisoned by synthetic pesticides. But long before she took on DDT, Carson investigated two worrying and perplexing trends: warming winters and rising sea levels. In 1951, she published "The Sea Around Us," which would win the 1952 National Book Award for Nonfiction and a Burroughs Medal in nature writing. Popular Science printed a condensed version of the bestseller in November 1951, calling it "one of this year's most fascinating books." Here is an excerpt (of the excerpt) from our archives. Day by day and season...