It’s not hard to make a case for Rachel Carson as the face of the modern environmental movement. Soft-spoken and publicity shy, she nevertheless served a lightning bolt of truth against the eco-poisoning practices of modern farming and natural habitat management and demanded deeper levels of scrutiny of the chemical industry and its effects on the world.

Without Rachel Carson, more plants and animals die, but also more humans. If you think we’re living in scorched earth days now, it’s hard to imagine where we would be without Rachel Carson.