Ecology Book Review on Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring
Silent Spring is a book by Rachel Carson which traces the story of the destruction caused by the widespread use of chemical pesticides. Carson, a trained biologist and a former member of the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries after years of following this issue, received from her friend Olga Huckins about how pesticide spraying airplanes destroyed a bird sanctuary near Duxbury. This inspired what seemed to be a series of articles into a book that succeeded as a cry to the reading public to help curb private and public programs which by use of pesticides will end up poisoning life on Earth. Silent Spring is a scientific work written for the general reader. Its seventeen chapters explain in full detail, both the immediate and long-term effects, of pest-eradication programs conducted in post-World War II America.
Rachel Carson’s 1962 bestseller
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It is these characteristics that make even low-level exposure to pesticides so dangerous because it causes bio magnification. This gives a dose that is too small to cause immediate harm but is stored in the body and remains active for a long period, with each subsequent exposure the cumulative ‘‘body burden’’ increases, and along with it the chance of serious illness. These properties also put species at the top of the food chain at special risk; one of these species being humans themselves. Thus Carson brings out this irony by naming one chapter ‘Beyond the Dreams of the Borgias,” after the famous Borgia family of Renaissance Italy, who are said to have poisoned their dinner guests. The book has prepared the reader to understand the implications of this chapter. Wherein she presents evidence for the pervasiveness of poisonous substances in the human environment, including chemical residues on food. Subliminally she asks us at what cost will we stop this destruction in a mad race for development and
Her cells have been used to cure countless diseases, test human immunity, understand the effect of certain drugs and radiation on people, test weapons, and so on. Her family knew of her death, but were unaware that her cells were still alive years after her death, and they have never compensated for the profits of the million dollar industry the cells have generated. They spent their childhoods verbally, sexually, and physically abused and their adult lives in and out of prison or plagued by inherited bad health. Her children couldn’t even afford the health insurance to care for diseases their mother’s cells have helped to cure. Until this book was published, no one was aware of who this woman was despite her tremendous, (yet unintended) contribution to
3. She says that the desire for risk free society will eliminate the human spirit and entrepreneurship. 4. She says Americans hold for pollution risk over budget deficit, economic stagnation and
A New York Times article examines the changing of EPA regulations regarding toxic chemicals. Despite scientists warning that certain chemicals cause birth defects, cancer, and other health issues, the EPA has made it harder to evaluate the effects of these chemicals and thus regulate them. The deregulation has been spearheaded by a representative of the chemical industry, who now holds a high position in the EPA. The decision to deregulate chemicals that pose a danger to the public is a prime example of the trend that government increasingly caters to powerful interests.
Occasionally problems in society are suppressed, made worse, or even outright ignored. Some problems could never be addressed until one day a person or group of people decide to challenge the status quo, and to present to masses a problem that they themselves may have never really thought about before. One particular issue addressed by Rachel Carson is the use of pesticides. Rachel Carson wrote the book Silent Spring to combat and question the use of these pesticides. In the excerpt of her book Silent Spring, Carson employs the use of rhetorical questions, a cynical tone and militaristic diction to emphasize that due to the thoughtless actions of farmers and authoritarian figures who have used pesticides carelessly, we are seeing collateral effects on the
In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Springs, where she noted that pesticides have a connection to human health issues, and found that farm laborers had higher rates of health risk. Due to her strong activism, she had the power to put some restrictions on the amount of DDT being used. Carson cautioned all of society to reconsider the conditions of farm laborers, most of which are undocumented today. In fact, over 75% of California farmworkers are undocumented; 83% in Santa Cruz county (Speaker Dr. Ann Lopez.) After being exposed to pesticide poisoning, they face headaches, nausea, and seizures. Much of these cases head on to cancer, infertility problems, neurological disorders, and respiratory conditions.
Rachel Carson was a courageous woman who in the early 1960s called attention to the harms of indiscriminate pesticide use. In Silent Spring, a beautiful book about a dreadful topic, she explained how pesticides were accumulating in the food chain, damaging the natural environment, and threatening even the symbol of American freedom, the bald eagle. In spite of industry attempts to paint her as a hysterical female, her work was affirmed by the President’s Science Advisory Committee and in 1972 the EPA concluded that the scientific evidence was sufficient to warrant the banning of the pesticide DDT in America. In 2007, the Internet was flooded with the assertion that Carson was a mass murderer, worse than Hitler because Silent Spring led to the banning of DDT, without which millions of Africans died of malaria.
Chapter five titled “Mercury” of The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum gives a fascinating story, about a woman named Gertie Gorman who was married to a man named Charles Webb. Many believed that her husband poisoned her because in her will “[she would leave] everything to her husband” (112) giving him a good motive for that action, but as the investigators opened up the body they found the presence of mercury bichloride, which was a “messy killer” (114) meaning it was hard to miss because of all the bloody inflammations. As the investigators looked more into the case they found out that Webb was not the person responsible for his wife’s death, however Webb was still prosecuted. Mercury can be poisonous if taken in extreme quantities causing the same things it did to Gertie’s body.
“Toxicity and the Consuming Subject” Summary In Nan Enstad’s essay “Toxicity and the Consuming Subject”, Enstad focuses primarily on the idea of toxicity in today’s consumerist society and how capitalism is the main contributor to the distribution, flexibility, and accessibility of it. The essay begins by telling of reporter David Ewing Duncan that, in an attempt to see how many chemicals are acquired through our water, air, and commodities, tested himself for 320 toxic chemicals and a little over half were found present in his body, many over estimated levels. National Geographic provides evidence of how toxic material is deposited in a consumer’s body through commodities they consume or have been exposed to. In an attempt to illustrate the
Fierce Climate Sacred Ground is a study conducted by Elizabeth Marino about the effects climate change has had on residents in Shishmaref, Alaska. Within this short text, Marino manages to utilize personal narratives (from Shishmaref citizens) as well as revelations of her own to demonstrate how environmental problems are the product of an ecological, social, and political processes. With this ethnographic study, the author intended to address the issue of climate change and related issues such as flooding in Shishmaref while touching on what can be done about the vulnerability its residents face. The book also illuminates the outcome of political and social decisions regarding climate change so that future responses can be done with a deeper
At the same time, classification plays an important role in understanding these complex figures that we still need to understand. At the same time, origin of species also relates to the chapter 1 because pesticides became a product that was meant to remove any bugs or insects. But, no one thought the pesticides, atrazine, DDT, and PCBs, would lead to breast cancer for women in Illinois. When I read this chapter, I did not expect pesticides to be a cause of breast cancer. Normally, they are just to get rid of bugs and insects from plants and would have thought it cause one of the worst cancer in women.
Form Analysis of Chapter 8 of The Poisoner’s Handbook by Deborah Blum Deborah Blum is portraying the idea that things that seem safe or even beneficial can actually be very dangerous. She supports this idea with various elements of form throughout chapter eight of The Poisoner’s Handbook. Elements of form used in chapter eight to support her idea include completion, choice of form, outside sources/ flashbacks, and active details. The completion of the chapter is used by Blum to support the idea that seemingly harmless things can be very dangerous.
Psychologists and Pseudo-Scientists have long sought to explain the inborn human desire for self destruction. Selfishness against one’s own benefit, the urge to harm or take on harm for the sake of one’s own security, drinking, smoking, these clearly injurious thoughts and actions seduce individuals by an instinct Freud coins the “Death Drive” (Beyond the Pleasure Principle 30). Moreover, as advances in genetic engineering tear the veil between science fiction and fact, modern critics have questioned how this suicidal drive may push into uncharted frontiers. Such concerns have fostered a fear of unadulterated scientific progress captured within the works of Margaret Atwood. Oryx and Crake, especially, utilizes almost hyperbolic predictions of scientific innovation as evidence of a deeper self-destructive nature, and as justification for fear.
Jeri Ward Professor Lyn Froehlich English 1101 30 September 2015 Pesticides and the Death of Pollinators Our world as we know it may not exist in the near future. Right now, pesticides are eradicating pollinators by the thousands. These essential organisms are the major way that plants are able to reproduce. If pollinators are eliminated, the earth will lose a significant amount of vegetation, resulting in a considerable deficit of oxygen and precipitation.
Imagine having so much pesticides in use that people and animals were actually dying from it. In the 1950’s the overuse of pesticides was a serious problem. Rachel Carson was an activist who was against the use and overuse for these pesticides. She wanted to address this problem to the government and the public and warn about the harmful effects pesticides have on the environment and the people. In “A Fable For Tomorrow”, Rachel Carson utilizes ethos, logos and pathos in order to bring awareness to the overuse of pesticides.
In today’s world, there are many people creating new chemical substances that has negative effect to our world. Rachel Carson, in her article "The Obligation to Endure" argues that the pesticides and other chemicals we use are harmful to more than just the environment. I agree with Carson in her article, in that we should reduce most of the harmful chemical use and instead use technological inventions. Carson is a person who seems very passionate about the environment and is very concerned of its inhabitants. It is hard to believe that intelligent human beings would use bad chemicals substances that would affect the environment and themselves negatively.