“Innovation is always the work of many. One person can change the world, but their success depends on help from others and on the economic, social, and political context of their time and place.” For as long as conflicts have existed in society, citizens have been inspired by their personal experiences or fascinations with the conflict to attempt to create social change. From Colin Kaepernick’s kneeling before the National Anthem to raise awareness of the Black Lives Matter movement, to the release of Kony 2012 to inform the public of the inhumane use of child soldiers in Africa, to the Occupy Wall Street movement to protest global economic inequality, ordinary citizens will always find a reason to fight if what they believe in is being challenged.
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Silent Spring was published shortly after the 1950’s; around this time, women were viewed as submissive to men and little more than homemakers. The women had given up their jobs to the men upon their return from fighting in World War II, and since the United States was still involved in the Cold War, any American with differing views from the norm could be called a communist. As Carson says herself in Silent Spring, “only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species—man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.” In order for her environmental concerns to successfully be heard by the public, Carson needed to reach out to other women to aid her efforts in fulfilling her goal. This included a luncheon with other prominent American women hosted by Agnes Meyer, the owner of the Washington Post (Carson Video 3). Alone, Carson was powerless against the gender-based attacks on her book. However, her efforts to reach out to other women helped transform the portrayal of her book from a woman’s uninformed attempt to discuss environmental science to an informative piece that remains relevant today. In combination with the feminist movement she helped create and the environmentalist movement sparked by Silent Spring, Rachel Carson successfully defied her own quote and successfully contributed to social change in the face of a difficult era for women in the workforce, in the home, and in
Silent Spring was published shortly after the 1950’s; around this time, women were viewed as submissive to men and little more than homemakers. The women had given up their jobs to the men upon their return from fighting in World War II, and since the United States was still involved in the Cold War, any American with differing views from the norm could be called a communist. As Carson says herself in Silent Spring, “only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species—man—acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.” In order for her environmental concerns to successfully be heard by the public, Carson needed to reach out to other women to aid her efforts in fulfilling her goal. This included a luncheon with other prominent American women hosted by Agnes Meyer, the owner of the Washington Post (Carson Video 3). Alone, Carson was powerless against the gender-based attacks on her book. However, her efforts to reach out to other women helped transform the portrayal of her book from a woman’s uninformed attempt to discuss environmental science to an informative piece that remains relevant today. In combination with the feminist movement she helped create and the environmentalist movement sparked by Silent Spring, Rachel Carson successfully defied her own quote and successfully contributed to social change in the face of a difficult era for women in the workforce, in the home, and in