100 years of Rachel Carson

This week, many of us in the environmental movement celebrated the 100th birthday of one of our founding inspirations, Rachel Carson.

Carson is best known as the author of Silent Spring, the book that first exposed the harms caused to our health and the environment by the widespread use of chemical pesticides. Silent Spring is credited with launching the modern environmental movement, and has inspired many generations of scientists, activists and authors since.

This week Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) held up legislation honoring Carson because her work "turned the public against such chemicals as DDT." The resolution was sponsored by Senator Benjamin Cardin (D-MD).

Watch this wonderful interview with scientist and author Sandra Steingraber, discussing Rachel Carson's legacy, on Democracy Now.

Happy birthday to a hero

This week one of North Carolina's environmental heroes celebrates her 90th birthday. Jane Sharp MacRae is an inspiring trailblazer for energy, the environment, consumer rights and women in politics. PESTed was lucky to have Jane as a Board member for nearly two decades, and she now honors us as an "emeritus" member of our Board of Directors.

In the photo at right, Jane and her husband Duncan MacRae work with PESTed staff on an air monitoring project at their home in Carolina Meadows. Jane and other members of the Carolina Meadows Recycling Committee used a Drift Catcher to monitor pesticides in the air during spring pesticide spraying by grounds management around their homes and on a nearby golf course.

A lifelong learner, leader and tireless activist for the environment, Jane is an inspiration to us on her 90th birthday. Check out this wonderful article about her in the Chapel Hill News.