Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was a marine biologist, writer and ecologist, well known and loved in the United States of America, where she was born and lived. She was an essential figure in the environmental movement of the 20th century. Born in 1907 in Pennsylvania, she showed from a very young age an enormous fascination for nature, which eventually developed into a career focused on protecting the environment and raising awareness of the dangers that threaten it.
It was the renowned professor Jordi PuigThe University of Navarra, who told us about Carson when we expressed our interest in the area of environmental thinking. His book The sense of wonder 1956 was the book to start with, the gateway, a rite of passage. It is a short essay that can be read in less than two hours. In the pleasant publication made by Ediciones Encuentro in 2021, the original manuscript of the book is reproduced on the last pages, written in rapid handwriting and many crossings out, as if someone were writing down his ideas and impressions urgently, so as not to forget anything.
A world of small things
The sense of wonder brings together some of the experiences lived by the author with her grandnephew Roger, twenty months old, whom she took care of when he was orphaned. Little adventures: a night raid in a storm, an early morning walk in the forest, invented names for animals, plants, lichens, a game to avoid stepping on trees... "And then there is a world of small things that is rarely seen. Many children, perhaps because they themselves are small and closer to the ground than we are, notice and enjoy the small and unnoticed. Maybe that's why it's easy to share with them the beauty that we tend to miss because we look too quickly, seeing the whole and not the parts." (p. 49).
A precocious talent
Rachel Carson began studying English Language and Literature at the College for Women in Pittsburgh, but soon switched to biology. She had been reading and writing a lot since she was a child; she began writing when she was eight and published her first short story when she was eleven. So the first thing one notices when reading this book is that it is very beautifully written. It has a very simple language and the ideas appear with great precision. It could be said that it "reads itself" because it is natural and sincere. This is a characteristic of his texts, even those that are more technical. He always writes simply and beautifully. And, surely, this is the secret to reach a whole legion of readers who were inspired to move from reading to action.
Pesticides and ecological devastation
In his best known and most influential work, Silent Spring (1962), Carson described the devastating effects of the use of pesticides such as DDT on ecosystems using a metaphor: a future without birdsong and the sound of life. The publication of this work provoked immediate controversy. By denouncing the negative consequences of pesticide use, Carson was challenging the large chemical industries and the public perception of the dubious safety of some of their products. His storytelling mobilized an American society that, until then, had been blind to the side effects of modernization and progress in this area. With a clear and empathetic voice, Carson not only presented data, but humanized the ecological devastation, making it palpable and emotional for his readers. This work, though nuanced and even challenged with time and subsequent research, was a catalyst for the modern environmental movement, prompting environmental policy reforms and the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States.
Carson's persuasiveness comes, in our opinion, from the source of her ideas. She does not simply give information about facts, but shares her enthusiasm for the beauty of nature. Only beauty can move us to commitment because it points to that intimate place where we are part of nature: "One way to open your eyes to unappreciated beauty is to ask yourself: what if I had never seen it, what if I knew I would never see it again?" (p. 44).
Be amazed by nature
At a time when we are moving further and further away from effective contact with nature, it is comforting to be carried away by Carson: "The game consists of listening, not so much to the whole orchestra as to discern the instruments separately, and trying to locate the musicians." (p. 57). We live far from nature from many points of view. Not only do we live in big cities, but we also live surrounded by artificiality. Our lives are increasingly immersed in artificial, human-made environments that subtly lead us to a relativistic view of morality, culture and truth. So when Rachel Carson asks "What is the value of preserving and strengthening this sense of awe and wonder, this recognition of something beyond the boundaries of human existence, is exploring nature just a pleasant way to spend the golden hours of childhood or is there something deeper?"he replies: "I am sure there is something deeper, something that endures and has meaning." (p. 63).
The brief book The sense of wonder is an invitation to reconnect with nature and to appreciate its beauty with the eyes of a child, reminding us that only through this deep connection can we truly commit ourselves to its protection.
