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Proclamation recognizing and commending Chatham College and the Rachel Carson Institute for teaching students the importance of environmental responsibility and educating the public about the life of Chatham graduate Rachel Carson.
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WHEREAS, Chatham College is home to the Rachel Carson Institute, which commemorates the life of Rachel Carson, teaching and advancing environmental curriculum, promoting programs for women and the environment, implementing Green Horizons, which encourages people to get outside and experience nature, and providing resources to the public; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Carson, a native of Springdale, Pennsylvania, graduated magna cum laude in 1929, with a degree in English from the Pennsylvania College for Women, now known as Chatham College, and in 1932 she graduated with a master's degree in zoology from Johns Hopkins University; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Carson was enchanted with the mysteries of the sea and spent a good deal of her professional life as a marine biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Carson, one of the greatest nature writers in American letters, wrote Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around Us, The Edge of the Sea, Silent Spring, Lost Woods (posthumously); and
WHEREAS, despite hostile attacks against her and her findings, her book Silent Spring led to the banning of DDT and other chemical pesticides, the formation of the Environmental Protection Agency and to US regulation like the Clean Water and Clean Air Acts; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Carson began a revolution in public understanding about the environment and was named in Time's “100 Most Influential People of the Century”; and
WHEREAS, in 1980, Ms. Carson was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award; and
WHEREAS, Ms. Carson, noted author, scientist, public advocate and courageous leader deserves monumental recognition in this region;
NOW, THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that...
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