In the mid-20th century, farmers used a toxic insecticide named parathion in an attempt to control pests detrimental to their crops. Rachel Carson was a biologist who wrote pamphlets (Lear) on conservation and natural resources designed to inform people on the beauty of the living world. In an excerpt from her 1962 work Silent Spring, Carson calls upon the public to take action against the use of parathion by highlighting its catastrophic nature and vilifying the agricultural community for their negligence. Carson emphasizes the hazards of parathion by exposing its fatal consequences, thereby invoking a need for its prevention. For example, Carson claims that the issue of blackbirds eating nearby cornfields could have been easily resolved, but farmers resorted to sending airplanes on a “mission of death”. Carson uses warlike imagery through the farmers’ intention for the planes to be used against the birds through parathion instead of for transportation. Her dramatic phrasing for the operation depicts danger more seriously if she had used less stirring language such as ‘to spread the poison’. Carson goes on to state that parathion is “not a specific for blackbirds,” but a ‘universal killer,’ implying that the poison is a threat to almost everything including humans. By providing a detail in the issue that relates to humans directly, she gives even those who do not care as much about nature a cause for concern - a risk to their own lives. Furthermore, Carson reports the
When Rachel Carson's Silent Spring was published in 1962, it generated a storm of controversy over the use of chemical pesticides. Miss Carson's intent in writing Silent Spring was to warn the public of the dangers associated with pesticide use. Throughout her book are numerous case studies documenting the harmful effects that chemical pesticides have had on the environment. Along with these facts, she explains how in many instances the pesticides have done more harm than good in eradicating the pests they were designed to destroy. In addition to her reports on pesticide use, Miss Carson points out that many of the long-term effects that
As many public issues began to arise over the use of pesticides, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring. Ira Baldwin reviewed the book revealing that it is one sided and only tells the negative side of using pesticides. She did significant research on the issues that go along with the use of pesticides but left out the entirety of the benefits and contributions of their use. It does nothing to indicate all of the positive ways that pesticides benefit the lives of humans daily. In his article, Ira says, “I can understand that the author felt it necessary to
For a long time, farmers have had a problem with the animals and insects that invade their property in pursuit of finding food. To reduce the amount of crops lost, farmers utilized poisonous substances known as pesticides, to eliminate the invaders. However, the application of these pesticides has gradually increased while the population of animals and insects has declined. By only focusing on eliminating the pests, farmers haven’t closely considered the consequences that pesticide usage has caused. In the late 1950’s, Rachel Carson found an interest in conservation, focusing especially on environmental health. She believed the environmental problems were mostly caused by synthetic pesticides. Carson wrote the environmental science book called Silent Spring, to alert the public about pesticide misuse and the urgency for regulation. Carson displays the dangers of using pesticides through her characterization of the farmers as misguided and selfish, recognition of the effects on innocent wildlife and humans, and calling out the public’s negligence and their responsibilities to advocate for pesticide usage reform.
Carson describes how as humans there is a lack of awareness in the lives around us. People have been trying to modify nature to best fit their needs for a very long time, but there is a growing disconnect between what the benefit really is. When humans try to destroy certain
Though Rachel Carson was not the first to bring up such issues of insecticides - beekeepers and ornithologists had already been filing insecticide related lawsuits in the 1950s - , she was the first to bring it to the attention of the general population, which in my opinion is one of the most important steps an environmentalist can take. It would be unreasonable for Carson to believe that she could singlehandedly stop the use of insecticides and automatically make the world a safe and poison free place, but by bringing such issues to the public eye, she was able to ignite something within the people which would then spread from person to person, state to state, and eventually to government officials who have the power to permanently make a change. Furthermore, though this may not have been her intention, the effects that Silent Spring had on our world and society as a whole expands exponentially farther than the single subject of insecticides. In the book’s introduction, Al Gore eloquently notes that Carson, “brought us back to a fundamental idea lost to an amazing degree in modern civilization : the interconnection of human beings and the natural environment.” And, today, though our world still faces many environmental issues and there are still many who do not believe in the importance or even existence of such issues, the use of such insecticides discussed in
The NPR news piece about the scientist and writer, Rachel Carson, described some of the attacks Ms. Carson received for having written "Silent Spring". Her book was about the connection of pesticides and their relationship to the health of all living things including human life. Ms. Carson wasn't a biochemist; she in fact had a masters in zoology. Consequently, for describing this connection in her book and her educational background, she was attacked by the chemical and agricultural industry, being accused and defamed as a "hysterical woman who is unqualified as a scientist.”. Moreover, the chemical industry accused Ms. Carson’s work as being the cause of many victims of malaria because thanks to her book, that was read by many including both
Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, a book that is often viewed as a landmark work of environmental writing, was the result of several different events that caused her to pay attention to the results of the use of different pesticides to control insect populations in America following World War II. In her book she discusses the different kinds of chemicals our governments have been using and the damage they have all been proven to be causing to the environment, animals, and of course, humans. She provided evidence towards the correlation of cancer cases in combination with these chemicals, and advocated for the possibility of biological pest control. In Silent Spring, Carson attacks pesticides and notes their effects on the world’s ecosystems
During the early twentieth century, advances in chemistry produced a battery of pesticides that were originally hailed for raising crop yields and controlling disease-carrying insects. The most famous of these pesticides was DDT. DDT’s discoverer, Paul Muller, even won the Nobel Prize. However, people were oblivious to the dangers pesticides posed to people and the environment. For example, when DDT is repeatedly sprayed, toxic amounts begin to accumulate in the environment. Rachel Carson, a marine biologist, was greatly concerned about such dangers, and wrote Silent Spring to raise public awareness. In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson brought awareness of such dangers, reporting that even small doses of pesticides applied regularly can build up to enormous quantities over time. Once accumulated, pesticides present in the environment pose a threat to people and animals alike. For example, many pesticides are carcinogens that Carson attributes to the spike in cancer rates during the mid-twentieth century. Animals are not immune from the deadly effect of pesticides. In Silent Spring, Carson describes entire lakes that became almost completely devoid of life after DDT was applied (Carson 45-49). Silent Spring triggered a powerful public response immediately after its publication. Many people were convinced of the hazards of pesticide use, but some accused Carson of exaggerating the danger. Despite its critics, Silent Spring eventually triggered an outburst of environmentalism that
In her novel Silent Spring, conservationist Rachel Carson writes, “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts.” This demonstrates Carson’s ability to express the beauty and incredulity of nature. As a scientist, she knew that nature has the strength to restore itself. In Silent Spring, she wants readers to consider the serious dangers that pesticides could have on the environment. The use of these artificial chemicals to control insect populations release harmful substances into the air, water, and soil, and have the potential to poison animals. Carson describes chemicals as the “sinister and little-recognized partners of radiation” (Carson 15). Carson later explains how poisons
The book Silent Spring by marine biologist Rachel Carson was first published in 1962, the central argument is that something mysterious has caused the birds to be silent and new life to be absent in all the farms and back yards of America. This devastating force is revealed as the widespread use of pesticides, including notably the toxic mixture known as DDT, which poison plants, insects, birds and mammals by interrupting key biological processes at the cellular level.
Carson’s introduction to her Silent Spring portrays the utter destruction of the environment caused by us humans’ disdain towards nature through our constant use of pesticides; therefore, she urges her audience to recognize the significance of maintaining the health of our environment lest we want to live in her bleak description of our future Earth. Carson opens up with the juxtaposition of two worlds: one beautiful and untouched, and one deserted and barren. Her change in diction from positive to malign illustrates the contrast, going from words like “prosperous” and “beauty” to “blight,” “death,” and “sickness.” By showing the complete opposite sides of the spectrum, Carson exemplifies how ruinous the use of pesticides is on the environment,
Carson’s relationship with government scientists and membership with a community of scientists from all over the world allowed for her to obtain massive amounts of information on the hazardous effects of pesticides. Carson’s research progressed and led her to many disturbing facts
It is considered that the modern environmental movement was set off by Rachel Carson and her private research. Published in 1926, the controversial book of the year, "Silent Spring" associated the pesticide use with the harm towards the health of all living things, humans included. This claim generated investigations into the safety of pesticide use, thus changing the legislation, restricting or banning certain chemicals and triggering attacks from the chemical and agricultural industries.
In Silent Spring, Rachel Carson describes how dangers pesticides and insecticides are. She mentions that the large number of chemicals keep increasing each year which make it unsuitable to every organisms’s life such as human, animals and plants. She also mentions that insecticides kills or make everything bad. For example, it kills fish and make human nervous system bad. She said the government has lack understanding and negative impact of using toxic chemical. After she said this, she also mentions that eat these bad chemicals will bring serious health problem.
In this introduction part of the book, “Silent Spring” by Rachel Carson, the author describes the destruction of the delicate balance of nature by human interference, especially by the wholesale use of insecticides. She carefully explains what is the balance of nature and how it is maintained naturally. Further, she informs the reader of the ways chemical poisons upset that balance and thereby kill life.