War on Two Fronts : and the Scientists Who Shaped an Environmental Movement

This paper examines the influence of scientists on the American environmental movement during the 1960s and 1970s. It focuses on distinct yet connected threads of social and political activism – beginning with the bestselling work of science writer Rachel Carson, who called attention to the indiscriminate domestic use of pesticides and herbicides, and set in motion a movement calling for greater government regulation of the chemical industry. It also outlines the lesser-known efforts of academic scientists who opposed America’s use of chemical defoliants in Vietnam. While these scientists focused on different outcomes in opposing the use of chemical defoliants in America and Vietnam during the 1960s, their efforts are viewed as equally notable in sparking an ecological revolution that limited the future use of potentially toxic chemicals