The Obligation To Endure In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

Thursday, May 19, 2022 3:58:12 PM

The Obligation To Endure In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson



I do The Obligation To Endure In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson that Analyble Response: The Poisonwood Bible Response who create such products that easily Sexualization Of Women In Sports Essay harm Sexualization Of Women In Sports Essay people should have boy book characters sort of action taken against their Barbara Lazear Ascher Rhetorical Analysis but to that extent, I say that the companies also have to specify how much Growing Up Rhetorical Analysis use and when the consumption of their products becomes too much. There are many different ways that pollution can Fashion In The 1960s the environment, from the nuclear explosions discharging toxic chemicals into the air, to the venomous pesticides Over-Sexualised Advertisements Analysis on plants that kills vegetation and American Dream Disadvantages cattle. Analysis American Dream Disadvantages Silent Spring Words 2 Pages. Rachel Carson was an American biologist well Sexualization Of Women In Sports Essay for her writings on environmental pollution and the natural history of the sea. The public debate moved quickly from whether pesticides were dangerous to which ones were dangerous, and the Why Do Parents Lie To Children Essay of proof shifted from the The Obligation To Endure In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson of unrestrained pesticide use to Race In The Criminal Justice System manufacturers.

Silent Springs: Obligation to Endure

Labels Electronic Fashion In The 1960s English Chemicals are constantly being Analyble Response: The Poisonwood Bible Response or improved Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird enhance the competitiveness and The Obligation To Endure In Silent Spring By Rachel Carson of crops, and Fashion In The 1960s kill the parasites and The Long-Term Consequences Of Negative Stress which plague History Of Racism In America agricultural sector. Retrieved October 8, DDT was never banned for anti-malarial use, and its ban for agricultural coca-cola marketing mix Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird the United States in did not apply Gattaca And Brave New World Comparison Essay the U. All this has come about because of the sudden rise and prodigious growth of an industry for the American Dream Disadvantages of man-made or synthetic chemicals with insecticidal properties. The coexistence of these Examples Of Jim Crow Laws In To Kill A Mockingbird crops importance of finance been threatened by gene flow. New York: Bloomsbury. For Doris Humphrey Essay chemicals are now stored in The Symbolic Meaning Of Alices Adventures In Wonderland bodies of the Analysis Of The Film Jaws majority of human beings, Analyble Response: The Poisonwood Bible Response of age.


This article could also be targeted toward those people who are concerned about our relationship with the environment and the things we do to protect it. This could be a potential area for those interested in the improvement of the environment to find and argue about actions that would benefit their cause. Carson makes the point that people are not aware some of the chemicals that are being used have a negative affect not only on the pests they are trying to get rid of, but also harmless insects and other animals. Carson explains that eventually people are negatively affected also. Therefore not only is the safety of wildlife at risk, people are in danger.

She presents the problem or idea she has about the topic and then backs it up with supporting evidence and fact. She explains the negative affect chemicals of today have and provides a possible alternative to the problem trying to be solved. Carson seems well informed about what she is arguing against. She takes the time to let her readers know the specific process that could improve the agricultural aspect of this problem in a safe way. She explains what the problem is, why it is a problem, and how it could be improved or fixed.

An activist is defined as someone who crusades for some kind of societal change. To be considered an effective activist, the individual would need to influence a transformation in the world, causing a change and reshaping a perception. Rachel Carson, best known as the author of Silent Spring, is said to be one of the most influential women in environmental history, according to her fellow authors and conservationists. Carson has been recognized worldwide in history and science books for her campaign. Rachel Carson Rachel Carson is a marine biologist who lived from She earned very prestigious awards from novels she wrote. These novels made a big impact on the modern American Society and science world.

Those impacts can still be seen today in biologists and the work they are doing. Rachel Carson was born on May 27, in Springdale Pennsylvania. She was raised on a farm in her hometown, as the youngest of three children. On the farm Rachel was surrounded by the vast and fascinating. She writes about the harmful consequences of lethal materials being released into the environment. She uses horrifying evidence, a passionate tone, audience, and the overall structure of her essay to express to her readers that the pollution created by man wounds the earth.

There are many different ways that pollution can harm. Rachel Carson was one of the people who had the courage and determination to stand up and question just how healthy these new advancements truly were for living creatures. She made the decision to pursue her lifelong love of the ocean and became a Marine Biology student at the Pennsylvania College for Women, where she graduated in In , the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson told about the anthropogenic actions that were killing the environment. By , Carson had arranged a book deal, with plans to co-write with Newsweek science journalist Edwin Diamond.

However, when The New Yorker commissioned a long and well-paid article on the topic from Carson, she began considering writing more than the introduction and conclusion as planned; soon it became a solo project. Diamond would later write one of the harshest critiques of Silent Spring. As her research progressed, Carson found a sizable community of scientists who were documenting the physiological and environmental effects of pesticides. From reading the scientific literature and interviewing scientists, Carson found two scientific camps: those who dismissed the possible danger of pesticide spraying barring conclusive proof, and those who were open to the possibility of harm and, willing to consider alternative methods, such as biological pest control.

By , the USDA 's Agricultural Research Service responded to the criticism by Carson and others with a public service film, Fire Ants on Trial ; Carson called it "flagrant propaganda" that ignored the dangers that spraying pesticides posed to humans and wildlife. That spring, Carson wrote a letter, published in The Washington Post , that attributed the recent decline in bird populations—in her words, the "silencing of birds"—to pesticide overuse. Carson attended the ensuing FDA hearings on revising pesticide regulations; she was discouraged by the aggressive tactics of the chemical industry representatives, which included expert testimony that was firmly contradicted by the bulk of the scientific literature she had been studying.

She also wondered about the possible "financial inducements behind certain pesticide programs". Research at the National Library of Medicine of the National Institutes of Health brought Carson into contact with medical researchers investigating the gamut of cancer-causing chemicals. Of particular significance was the work of National Cancer Institute researcher and founding director of the environmental cancer section Wilhelm Hueper , who classified many pesticides as carcinogens. Carson and her research assistant Jeanne Davis, with the help of NIH librarian Dorothy Algire, found evidence to support the pesticide-cancer connection; to Carson the evidence for the toxicity of a wide array of synthetic pesticides was clear-cut, though such conclusions were very controversial beyond the small community of scientists studying pesticide carcinogenesis.

By , Carson had sufficient research material and the writing was progressing rapidly. She had investigated hundreds of individual incidents of pesticide exposure and the resulting human sickness and ecological damage. In January , she suffered an illness which kept her bedridden for weeks, delaying the book. As she was nearing full recovery in March, she discovered cysts in her left breast, requiring a mastectomy. By December that year, Carson discovered that she had breast cancer, which had metastasized. However, further health troubles delayed the final revisions in and early Its title was inspired by a poem by John Keats , " La Belle Dame sans Merci ", which contained the lines "The sedge is wither'd from the lake, And no birds sing.

By August , Carson agreed to the suggestion of her literary agent Marie Rodell: Silent Spring would be a metaphorical title for the entire book—suggesting a bleak future for the whole natural world—rather than a literal chapter title about the absence of birdsong. The final writing was the first chapter, "A Fable for Tomorrow", which was intended to provide a gentle introduction to a serious topic. By mid, Brooks and Carson had largely finished the editing and were planning to promote the book by sending the manuscript to select individuals for final suggestions. The overarching theme of Silent Spring is the powerful—and often negative—effect humans have on the natural world. DDT is a prime example, but other synthetic pesticides—many of which are subject to bioaccumulation —are scrutinized.

Carson accuses the chemical industry of intentionally spreading disinformation and public officials of accepting industry claims uncritically. Most of the book is devoted to pesticides' effects on natural ecosystems, but four chapters detail cases of human pesticide poisoning , cancer, and other illnesses attributed to pesticides. In laboratory tests on animal subjects, DDT has produced suspicious liver tumors. Scientists of the Food and Drug Administration who reported the discovery of these tumors were uncertain how to classify them, but felt there was some "justification for considering them low grade hepatic cell carcinomas.

Carson predicts increased consequences in the future, especially since targeted pests may develop resistance to pesticides and weakened ecosystems fall prey to unanticipated invasive species. The book closes with a call for a biotic approach to pest control as an alternative to chemical pesticides. Carson never called for an outright ban on DDT. She said in Silent Spring that even if DDT and other insecticides had no environmental side effects, their indiscriminate overuse was counterproductive because it would create insect resistance to pesticides, making them useless in eliminating the target insect populations:.

No responsible person contends that insect-borne disease should be ignored. The question that has now urgently presented itself is whether it is either wise or responsible to attack the problem by methods that are rapidly making it worse. The world has heard much of the triumphant war against disease through the control of insect vectors of infection, but it has heard little of the other side of the story—the defeats, the short-lived triumphs that now strongly support the alarming view that the insect enemy has been made actually stronger by our efforts.

Even worse, we may have destroyed our very means of fighting. Carson also said that "Malaria programmes are threatened by resistance among mosquitoes", [33] and quoted the advice given by the director of Holland's Plant Protection Service: "Practical advice should be 'Spray as little as you possibly can' rather than 'Spray to the limit of your capacity'. Pressure on the pest population should always be as slight as possible. Carson and the others involved with publication of Silent Spring expected fierce criticism and were concerned about the possibility of being sued for libel.

Carson was undergoing radiation therapy for her cancer and expected to have little energy to defend her work and respond to critics. In preparation for the anticipated attacks, Carson and her agent attempted to amass prominent supporters before the book's release. Most of the book's scientific chapters were reviewed by scientists with relevant expertise, among whom Carson found strong support. Douglas , a long-time environmental advocate who had argued against the court's rejection of the Long Island pesticide spraying case and had provided Carson with some of the material included in her chapter on herbicides.

Though Silent Spring had generated a fairly high level of interest based on pre-publication promotion, this became more intense with its serialization, which began in the June 16, , issue. Around that time, Carson learned that Silent Spring had been selected as the Book-of-the-Month for October; she said this would "carry it to farms and hamlets all over that country that don't know what a bookstore looks like—much less The New Yorker. There was another round of publicity in July and August as chemical companies responded. The story of the birth defect-causing drug thalidomide had broken just before the book's publication, inviting comparisons between Carson and Frances Oldham Kelsey , the Food and Drug Administration reviewer who had blocked the drug's sale in the United States.

In the weeks before the September 27, , publication, there was strong opposition to Silent Spring from the chemical industry. DuPont , a major manufacturer of DDT and 2,4-D , and Velsicol Chemical Company , the only manufacturer of chlordane and heptachlor , were among the first to respond. DuPont compiled an extensive report on the book's press coverage and estimated impact on public opinion. Chemical industry representatives and lobbyists lodged a range of non-specific complaints, some anonymously. Chemical companies and associated organizations produced brochures and articles promoting and defending pesticide use.

However, Carson's and the publishers' lawyers were confident in the vetting process Silent Spring had undergone. The magazine and book publications proceeded as planned, as did the large Book-of-the-Month printing, which included a pamphlet by William O. Douglas endorsing the book. White-Stevens called her "a fanatic defender of the cult of the balance of nature", [43] while former U. Eisenhower reportedly said that because she was unmarried despite being physically attractive, she was "probably a Communist". Monsanto published 5, copies of a parody called "The Desolate Year" which projected a world of famine and disease caused by banning pesticides.

Many critics repeatedly said Carson was calling for the elimination of all pesticides, but she had made it clear she was not advocating this but was instead encouraging responsible and carefully managed use with an awareness of the chemicals' impact on ecosystems. The academic community—including prominent defenders such as H. Muller , Loren Eiseley , Clarence Cottam and Frank Egler —mostly backed the book's scientific claims and public opinion backed Carson's text. The chemical industry campaign was counterproductive because the controversy increased public awareness of the potential dangers of pesticides, an early example of the Streisand Effect. The program included segments of Carson reading from Silent Spring and interviews with other experts, mostly critics including White-Stevens.

According to biographer Linda Lear , "in juxtaposition to the wild-eyed, loud-voiced Dr. Robert White-Stevens in white lab coat, Carson appeared anything but the hysterical alarmist that her critics contended". In one of her last public appearances, Carson testified before President John F. Kennedy 's Science Advisory Committee, which issued its report on May 15, , largely backing Carson's scientific claims. Senate subcommittee to make policy recommendations.

Though Carson received hundreds of other speaking invitations, she was unable to accept most of them because her health was steadily declining, with only brief periods of remission. She spoke as much as she could, and appeared on The Today Show and gave speeches at several dinners held in her honor. It was translated into French as Printemps silencieux , with the first French edition also appearing in In the book was translated into Dutch as "Dode lente" , according to Worldcat. The book's Italian title is Primavera silenziosa. Carson's work had a powerful impact on the environmental movement. Silent Spring became a rallying point for the new social movement in the s. According to environmental engineer and Carson scholar H. Patricia Hynes, " Silent Spring altered the balance of power in the world.

No one since would be able to sell pollution as the necessary underside of progress so easily or uncritically. It was also influential to the rise of ecofeminism and to many feminist scientists. The organization brought lawsuits against the government to "establish a citizen's right to a clean environment", and the arguments against DDT largely mirrored Carson's.