Ecology and the Bomb Reconsidered

• In Event: Revisiting Rachel Carson’s Place in Environmental History

Abstract

The atomic bomb and its thermonuclear offspring had much to do with the success of Silent Spring; and the combination of the bomb and the success of Silent Spring provided a substantial boost to the development of the science of ecology in the U.S. at a critical period in its history. Rachel Carson wrote about the parallel between radioactive fallout from nuclear bomb tests and the widespread accumulation of harmful chemical pesticides and herbicides in the environment in the opening pages of Silent Spring, and she did most of her writing for the book during a period when international concern over fallout from bomb tests had prompted the three major nuclear powers at the time--the U.S., the Soviet Union, and Britain--to agree to a temporary moratorium on atmospheric and oceanic testing. This paper represents my attempt to revisit and assess these connections, with an emphasis on how Carson’s book and a close association with the Atomic Energy Commission fueled the increased visibility and viability of the science of ecology in the 1960s and 1970s, with implications for it subsequent role in addressing environmental issues.

Author

• Gene Cittadino, New York University