Opening Remark from Moderator Linda Lear

In all of Rachel Carson's prophetic writings there runs a common theme. It is the critical importance of human attitudes toward nature. Carson was overwhelmed with the knowledge that humans had found the power to destroy nature. She believed that nature required protection from humans. But her view of planetary ecology and her prophetic assessment of its future forced her to conclude that humans also needed protection from themselves and their activities because, for better or worse, they were part of the living world. Carson wrote in several places, most notably in a speech at Scripps College, "Of Man and the Stream of Time," (June 1962) that in waging a war against nature, mankind was inevitably waging war against himself. "His heedless and destructive acts enter into the vast cycles of the earth," she said, "and in time return to him."

Did Rachel Carson overstate the problem? Or was she right on target as we view our 21st century world and our global life together on this planet?

Reading: Linda Lear's Introduction in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writings of Rachel Carson. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.

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How to Sign Up - Instructions for March

The March discussion is focused on Rachel Carson's life and legacy with some reference to Linda Lear's introductions in Silent Spring and Lost Woods. We will post these excerpts shortly. Subsequent months will address specific texts. See Schedule

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Schedule

March - Linda Lear and Deanne Urmy - Topic: Carson's Life and Legacy

April - Tom Dunlap - Mark Madison - Book: Silent Spring

May - John Elder and Deanne Urmy - Book: Courage for the Earth (Contributor: Robert Michael Pyle)

June - Maril Hazlett - Book: Always, Rachel

July - Patricia DeMarco, Mark Lytle - Book: Under the Sea-Wind

August - Cindy Van Dover - Book: The Edge of the Sea

September - H. Patricia Hynes - Book: Lost Woods

October - Jim Lynch - Book: The Sea Around Us

November - Tom Schaefer - Book: A Sense of Wonder