Scatter Brained

SITTIN’ IN A TREE
HOW TO BECOME A SAINT
BAND GEEKS
TERRIBLE
 MONARCHS
to
K-I-S-S-I-N-G
A SECRET HISTORY OF UNDERWEAR
WOULD-BE SHAKESPEARES
STR ANGE APHRODISIACS
SECRET ROMANCE NOVELISTS
to
LOVE AND MARRIAGE

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59
01
Sit tin’ in a Tree:
Environmental Activism New and Old
HEEEEERE’S RACHEL
So, how did Rachel Carson, a modest civil servant by day, 
become 
the
  rock  star  of  the  conservation  movement  and  a 
modern hero to greenies everywhere? By publishing a little 
book called 
Silent Spring,
 of course! In 1962, Ms. Carson’s 
tome unleashed the forces of global environmentalism as we 
know it. Focusing on the eff ects of now-infamous pesticides 
like DDT on fi sh and birds (like killing them—hence a 
silent
 
spring), the book basically elucidated the nasty repercus-
sions pesticides could cause through the food chain. DDT 
was banned by the newly formed EPA in 1972, but not with-
out some controversy: Critics argue that banning one of the 
most eff ective pesticides known to man has allowed ma-
laria-carrying fl ies to fl ourish.