Silent Spring

Rachel Carson increased awareness about environmental issues that were typically glanced over. Environmental science was primarily concerned with conservation, but did not take on the challenges of chemical regulation as a form of responsible control and preservation. She expounded upon the etymology of man-made chemicals and the never ending cycle of chemical warfare between man and the environment. At the rate in which new chemicals continue to be introduced in society, there is no way man can possibly develop a biologic response quick enough to combat the challenges chemicals pose to our health and the environment at large. I don’t believe she was completely against the use of pesticides, but rather suggesting further insight into the issue of chemical contamination and it’s long term effects with regards to sustainability as well as responsible control. Our unquenchable thirst to establish an abundance of a certain thing begets the opportunity of a natural imbalance, which will all too often have negative consequences. This coincides with the noted “Ecology of Invasions”, mentioned to illustrate the opportunistic nature of foreign plant and insect species that thrive in our environment without any natural check and balance that is usually accustomed to their native land, thus spurring destructive human responses to control them with the use of dangerous chemicals. Rachel Carson’s portrayal of DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane) in the environment affected changes in laws about our air, land and water. Silent Spring not only expounded upon chemical exposures, but also touches on many environmental issues such as bioaccumulation, noise pollution and sustainability. I believe the overall message was to raise consciousness specifically about DDT and the detrimental effects our actions (primarily brought on by the industrial age) have on all organisms in the present day and the future.