"Rachel Carson has been called the founder of the U.S. environmental movement, which some date, plausibly, to the publication of 'Silent Spring' in 1962." -Philip Cafaro
"Silent Spring" put the issue of pesticides in the limelight for the first time. Not only did Carson's work assist the ban of DDT in 1972, she helped "break ground" for the modern day environmental movement. Among other things the book encouraged organic foods. One of the biggest impacts was the inspiration for the Clean Air Act of 1970 which then led to the founding of the EPA.
"As the character Mark Trail states in this Sunday strip from around 1963, the strip conservatively avoided controversial issues and stuck to traditional values of conservation, but here artist Ed Dodd discusses the way pollutants concentrate as they work their way up the food chain to human consumers." Photo and Caption: Courtesy of The Environmental Society Portal