BMC Ecology celebrates 50 years since the publication of Rachel Carson’s influential environmental book, Silent Spring, with a guest Editorial from Emeritus Professor of Ecology at Cornell University, David Pimentel.

Here, he offers a personal reflection on the impact the book made at the time it was first published, when he was still a graduate student. Half a century on, he comments on what we have learned from this powerful piece of science journalism, and offers his thoughts for the future of pesticide use in agriculture.

You can read further details of the impact and legacy of Carson’s work by visiting the BioMed Central blog:

Silent Spring or: How we learned to start worrying and question pesticide use