LOS ANGELES, CA — (Marketwire) — 09/24/12 — Fifty years ago, on 27 September 1962, Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published and the modern environmental movement began — along with the divisive arguments that continue today regarding man–s role and responsibility toward the environment and the protection of our planet.
Chartoff Productions is using the occasion of this 50th Anniversary to announce their feature film project Silent Spring of Rachel Carson which tells of Carson–s heroic struggle to write and defend Silent Spring against a brutal campaign to discredit the book and the reputation of its author. While countering these attacks, Carson was raising her grand nephew and battling breast cancer that would kill her soon after her successful defense of Silent Spring.
Fifty years ago, toxic waste flowed into rivers, soot billowed out of smokestacks and the country–s passion for pesticides knew no bounds. Those abuses ranged from massive aerial spray programs to impregnating DDT in wallpaper for children–s rooms. Rachel Carson–s Silent Spring launched a national debate about man–s relationship with his environment that was fought out on front pages of newspapers, on television and in JFK news conferences.
“We are honored by the trust given to us by the estate of Rachel Carson to tell her important story,” said Lynn Hendee of Chartoff Productions. “If this film also helps promote discussions regarding our responsibilities toward protecting our planet, we will consider it a huge success.”
The legacy of Silent Spring includes contemporary environmental advocacy, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Endangered Species Act, Clean Air Act and Clean Water Act and 20 million participants in the first Earth Day.
In the introduction to the landmark book–s latest edition, Al Gore wrote “Silent Spring was a cry in the wilderness that changed history.” Silent Spring is on the Library of Congress list of books that shaped America. Time Magazine lists Rachel Carson as one of the most influential persons of the 20th Century.
Upon posthumously awarding Carson the Presidential Medal of Freedom — the U.S. highest civilian honor, President Carter stated, “Always concerned, always eloquent, Rachel Carson created a tide of environmental consciousness that must not ebb.”
To learn more: Visit SilentSpringMovie.com or Facebook.com/SilentSpringMovie
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Lynn Hendee