Looking Back at Earth Day

Even though Earth Day was celebrated two months ago on April 22, the message is clear: the future of the Earth is a global concern every day of the year. Presently, human beings have only one planet to live on. The possibilities in regard to large-scale, outer-space options remain distant. In the meantime, this planet is it . . . one Earth day at a time.

Looking back at how this annual awareness began, the inspiration for having an Earth day can be traced back to Rachel Carson and her best-selling book Silent Spring, which would become somewhat of a manual for the Earth’s future.

To the Letter                                                                                                                                    

Silent Spring brought to light the effects of a synthetic insecticide first produced in the 1940s. Commonly known as DDT, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane had proven to be a potent killer of fire ants, mosquitoes and other pests. However, its effectiveness came with an unhealthy price on the environment and its inhabitants. DDT accumulates in the fatty tissue of living organisms of the sea and land, including human beings.

In 1958, a friend of Carson’s by the name of Olga Huckins had written a letter to Rachel, asking her to look into the dangers of DDT. The aerial spraying of DDT to kill mosquitoes in Olga’s neighborhood had caused the death of birds along with insects. Her letter inspired Carson to conduct years of research and resulted in the 1962 publication of her book, Silent Spring. The inspiration for the title came from one of the book’s chapters, “And No Birds Sing.” 

Other people had written about such chemicals causing environmental and health concerns, but the world embraced the words of Rachael Carson, a respected nature writer who had already had three best sellers. Her valid concerns about the adverse effects from the overuse of insecticides and pesticides sparked an environmental movement.

Of course, there were those who criticized Carson’s ideas and character, calling her disloyal, hysterical, radical, unscientific and likely a communist. Nonetheless, DDT use was eventually banned.

The effect that Silent Spring had on the world is extraordinary. As written by Jill Lepore in an article penned for The New Yorker, Rachael Carson’s book “launched the environmental movement; provoked the passage of the Clean Air Act (1963), the Wilderness Act (1964), the National Environmental Policy Act (1969), the Clean Water Act and the Endangered Species Act (both 1972); and led to the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, in 1970.”

Rachel Carson also set the stage for the very first Earth Day in 1970, four years following her death at the age of 56. Her legacy lives on to this day and through the annual celebration of Earth Day.  

In producing a line of whole-food powders and natural health supplements, The AIM Companies^™ ensures that its products are not tainted by chemicals. AIM’s farming methods go beyond organic standards. Crops of barley leaves, carrots and beets used for the Garden Trio are all grown without the use of herbicides, insecticides or pesticides. The same can be said for all AIM products: sourcing and testing ingredients that guarantee safe, high-quality, effective supplements.