Rachel Carson Presented by Debbie Dimitre

Local actor and storyteller Debbie Dimitre gave a wonderful performance bringing environmental scientist Rachel Carson to life for AAUW Seattle members and guests during our March 2022 program. There were over 40 attendees at this in-person event and it was nice to be able to see each other even with masks.

We learned Rachel Carson grew up in the Pennsylvania countryside and developed a love of nature. She went to college on a scholarship and what little money her family scraped together. She loved to write and was an English major until she took a biology course her junior year. She later changed her major to biology against the advice of many but she persisted and graduated magna cum laude in 1929. She earned a Master’s degree in Zoology from John Hopkins.

Carson was one of the first women hired by the Bureau of Fisheries. Because of popular articles Carson wrote for the Bureau and magazines, such as The Atlantic Monthly, Simon & Schuster asked her to write a book on the sea. And from there, more best-selling books about the sea followed.

One day, Carson received a letter from neighbor, Olga Hutchinson, with the bad news that the birds, bees and other life forms in her bird sanctuary were dying after the government had sprayed DDT, a potent insecticide. This led Carson to research DDT and write Silent Spring published in 1962. The book gave rise to the environmental movement and to Earth Day that we celebrate every year on April 22nd. Rachel was also a recipient of an AAUW Achievement Award in 1956 and had used the money to complete her research and write her landmark book.

In addition to Debbie’s performance, we had a table with books from a variety of authors and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) subjects available to borrow, keep, or pass on.

Members also brought to the meeting enough donations to Youthcare, a NE Seattle program working to end youth homelessness, to fill two large shopping bags. Thanks go to for Dani for the idea.