Whenever another environmental issue surfaces — there’s a new one about every day — we can’t help but wonder if Rachel Carson ever really knew the impact she would have on the world for generations to come. Her influence is felt everywhere.

Most of us knew very little about the ocean until she published “The Sea Around Us,” and she made us keenly aware of its significance. It took on new meaning and gave us all a greater appreciation of its impact on our very being.

With “Silent Spring,” she jolted America, and the rest of the world, into the reality that our earth is extremely vulnerable. Every time we read about a project which will adversely impact the environment, be it pollution of a river or stream, the dwindling numbers of a particular bird or animal species, the danger of chemicals in our food or the unprecedented warming of our earth, we’re reminded that were it not for Rachel Carson, those of us who occupy this planet might have taken decades longer to wake up and realize that we were on the fast road to self-destruction. Plenty of folks today are convinced we’ve done irreparable damage and that it’s already too late.

We’re all thankful for Rachel Carson’s initial visit to our coastline which ultimately prompted her to purchase her beloved summer retreat on the shores of Southport Island in 1952 because we can all selfishly say that it was here, in part, that she developed her unwavering love of the environment and her determination to do everything she could to encourage us to preserve it.

Without her research, who knows how long before we would have been aware of the dangers of pesticides, hailed as the scientific find of the century? She willingly took on the large corporations and eventually her findings prevailed. We’re now much more cautious when it comes to pesticide sprays and other chemicals which eventually find their way into the food chain. Every time someone picks up their trash from the seashore, checks the labels in the supermarket to avoid unsafe or unhealthy ingredients, comes to the aid of one of nature’s creatures, or fights to protect the environment in any way, we can probably thank Rachel Carson. We’re proud that she loved our coastline as we do, and we’ll always owe her our heartfelt gratitude for teaching us that humans can, in fact, destroy nature if they don’t pay attention.