In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, documenting the ecological dangers of pesticides such as DDT. The book linked agriculture, chemistry, birdsong, water, and public health in language accessible to general readers. It helped launch modern environmentalism and changed how landscapes were discussed.

Although prose, Silent Spring profoundly influenced ecopoetry by making the absent bird a public symbol of poisoned land. Poets including Gary Snyder, W. S. Merwin, Adrienne Rich, and later ecofeminist writers worked in a culture Carson helped awaken.