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Silent Spring Research Paper

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Silent Spring Essay A Fable for Tomorrow, the first chapter of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, shows the effects of using pesticides, specifically dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, or DDT, on an environment. In this first chapter, she refers to pesticides as the “pest” which causes many problems. Carson describes the beauty and peacefulness of a town before it was ruined by this “pest”. Pesticides are any chemicals used by man to control or kill weeds, insects, rodents, or other animals which harm human food or humans. This chapter brings the effects of chemical pollution to people's attention. Even though DDT has been banned for a long time, scientists still find traces of it in the environment. Many, many years later we are still trying to fix the effects of DDT pesticides. …show more content…

Then, Carson describes in detail the effects of the pest, DDT. Farm animals, including chickens, cattle, and sheep, died. There were no bees to pollinate the plants, therefore fruit could not grow and farmers had no way to make a living. The birds, which were once so plentiful, became ill, and others no longer migrated here. “The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly.”(2) Humans, including young children, were suddenly becoming sick and rapidly dying, puzzling the doctors. People no longer visited the town because there were no fish in the streams and no birds to

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