Happy Birthday, Rachel Carson

Thank you, Rachel Carson.

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For me, personally, Silent Spring had a profound impact. It was one of the books we read at my mother’s insistence and then discussed around the dinner table. . . . Rachel Carson was one of the reasons why I became conscious of the environment and so involved with environmental issues. Her example inspired me to write Earth in the Balance. . . . Her picture hangs on my office wall among those of political leaders. . . . Carson has had as much or more effect on me than any of them, and perhaps than all of them together.

—Vice President Al Gore, “Introduction,” Silent Spring, (1994 edition), xiii

silentMy mom was a grade school teacher. During a brief period where she stayed at home with children, she became an environmentalist. It all began with the book Silent Spring. My mother read about chemicals used in farming post-World War II and the decline of birds, and that was it; she had to take action. She remembers going to her parents’ house, and my grandfather was going around the yard, spraying DDT without protection, as his grandchildren played. He had a big bottle of DDT in the garage that had gone unnoticed until then. My mother could not believe what was happening and stopped him immediately. She had her dad throw out all pesticides. My grandfather didn’t realize there was any danger, as these chemicals promised a beautiful, American-dream green lawn. I remember at family gatherings, our family kept saying to my mother, “Elaine, what are you so worried about?”

PHOTO: Mom holds her smiling baby daughter in the air.
My hero, my mother

We became a family that ate whole wheat bread, and got the 1970s equivalent of CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) boxes. I would say that this book changed my childhood.

Some highlights:

  • My mom baked organic whole wheat bread every week; it was not commercially available yet. (Imagine going to middle school with a sandwich of PB&J on badly cut homemade whole wheat bread, surrounded by kids eating bologna on Wonder Bread white. My brother and I felt so out of place at the time. (And now it would be so accepted, wonderful, and charming.)
  • We did not have a microwave.
  • No pop. No junk food. No candy.
  • Our suburban lawn had dandelions. Mom used a dandelion knife.
  • We used nonphosphate detergent.
  • We went to weird hippie health food restaurants in Chicago. For her birthday, my mom knew she would get her requested restaurant so she would pick the only organic one in town.
  • There were no TV dinners (and we could watch one hour of television a day).
  • We all got transcendental meditation mantras.

But I digress…

She was the co-founder of S.A.V.E.: Society Against Violence to the Environment. “When Zion’s nuclear power plant was being built, we felt that it was so close to a large city…I put a full-page ad in Highland Park News, and I wrote an article about nuclear waste and terrorists.”

PHOTO: Dandelion knife.
A classic tool I still use today: the dandelion knife

When my mom wasn’t lying down in front of bulldozers, or arguing with the Park District of Highland Park or Highland Park High School about spraying grass that children played on, she was going door-to-door, stopping the spraying of mosquitoes in our town.

After we moved to San Diego, I remember lugging many heavy grocery bags filled with organic oranges and flour from San Diego State University’s co-op parking lot, ½ mile each way every week (several trips each time).

Later, when she got cancer,  she endured the remark, “Oh, you with your organic food, you got cancer?”

Now you can find organic food everywhere. Who doesn’t meditate?

Teach your children well…

New times and different challenges…now we are concerned with global warming.

As Rachel Carson said:

“We stand now where two roads diverge. But unlike the roads in Robert Frost’s familiar poem, they are not equally fair. The road we have long been traveling is deceptively easy, a smooth superhighway on which we progress with great speed, but at its end lies disaster. The other fork of the road—the one less traveled by—offers our last, our only chance to reach a destination that assures the preservation of the earth.”

PHOTO: Baby robins chirping; a sign of spring's arrival.
Baby robins chirping; a sign of spring’s arrival

Thanks, Mom. You taught me about Mother Earth. I still don’t have a microwave. I eat organic food, grow some my own, and am lucky to work at a garden that cares about the environment. :)

 

©2018 Chicago Botanic Garden and my.chicagobotanic.org

Bird Report

There was a nice assortment of birds at the Garden this morning!

White-crowned sparrows were the most abundant, and could be seen in almost every location. I saw a few warblers scattered about, but none in any large numbers. My best spot for finding birds was along the water in the woodland walk area of the Sensory Garden. I saw black-and-white warblers, Nashville warblers, ruby-crowned kinglets, gray catbirds, warbling vireos, palm warblers, flycatchers, and an ovenbird.

Southerly winds are expected for the next two days, which should bring in a LOT more birds. Now is the time to get out your binoculars and cameras and see some of these amazing birds for yourself! In a few short weeks they will be gone.

PHOTO: Nashville warbler.
I saw a few Nashville warblers in the newly budding flowering trees. ©Carol Freeman

 

PHOTO: Black-and-white warbler.
Black-and-white warblers can often be seen hopping up and down tree branches, looking for insects. ©Carol Freeman

 

PHOTO: Gray catbird.
Gray catbird calls really do sound like cats! These robin-sized birds are fairly easy to find. ©Carol Freeman

 

PHOTO: White-crowned sparrow.
I saw white-crowned sparrows in almost every location of the Garden. They like to forage in the leaf litter. ©Carol Freeman

 

PHOTO: Least flycatcher.
This is most likely a least flycatcher. These guys can be hard to identify. They dart out, grab an insect, then land. ©Carol Freeman

 

PHOTO: Ovenbird.
The ovenbird is a thrush-like warbler. They like to forage on the ground. I find them to be shy birds, often flying off as soon as they see me. ©Carol Freeman

 

PHOTO: Warbling vireo.
These guys love to sing! You can often find warbling vireos by following their sweet song. ©Carol Freeman

©2014 Chicago Botanic Garden and my.chicagobotanic.org

Blue Herons and Other Wading Birds

We visited with Jim Steffen, senior ecologist here at the Chicago Botanic Garden, to learn more about the wildlife you can find here. The Barbara Brown Nature Reserve on the south end of the Chicago Botanic Garden is just one place you can find different wading birds. Visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/birds/species for more information on birds at the Chicago Botanic Garden.

Baby Birds and Bulbs on the Green Roof Garden

Emily Shelton shows us what’s blooming on the Green Roof Garden this spring. She also talks about the ground nesting kildeer and babies that were just born. Emily will give tours and answer your questions about the Green Roof Garden at World Environment Day on June 4, 2011. Ask a Horticulturist, Green Roof Garden is from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at the Daniel F. and Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center. Visit http://www.chicagobotanic.org/wed2011/greenroofgarden.php for more information.

Hummingbirds and other Migratory Birds

We learned some interesting things about hummingbirds in this interview with Ecologist Jim Steffen. You’ll find hummingbirds in many of our 24 display gardens and in our three native habitats. You’ll also find many other resident and migratory birds at the Garden because of the diversity of plant life. Visit chicagobotanic.org/birds for more information on birding at the Chicago Botanic Garden.