The Silent Spring. By Rachel Carson

Transcription

1 The Silent Spring By Rachel Carson The book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was first published in September 1962 by Houghton Mifflin publishers. This book is accredited for its ability to kick start an environmentalists movement. It was selected among the top list of the New York Times best-seller and by the Book of the month club. The book had a significant influence to the members of the public especially on the issues of pollution of the environment and in the use of pesticides. The book also facilitated the move by the United States to ban the DDT pesticides in This book is about the detrimental effects caused by pesticides tom the environment and mainly on the birds. DDT according to Carson causes the laying of thin egg shells and also results in death and other reproductive problems. In her book she accused the US chemical industry in misinforming the public and making the public officials to accept such invalid information. The book striked a national debate concerning the use of chemical pesticides amidst the progress of science responsibility and technological progress. This led to the banning of the use of DDT and led to the creation of grass-root move demanding the protection of environment through state and federal regulation. The works by Carson portrayed a transformation of the relationship between the natural world and the human world by striking a public awakening of environmental consciousness. The thesis of the book, the Silent spring is that, we as mankind are subjecting ourselves to a slow poisoning process through the use of chemical pesticides which greatly pollute the environment. Although this thesis was focusing on America of the 1960s, it still applies to modern day life because there are many human practices which have neglected the issue of environmental conservation. 1 / 8

2 The historical setting of the book is during the post world war II period. Carson wrote at a time when there was intense social suspicion and new affiances conformity. The cold war period was characterized by both suspicion and intolerance. It was also a time when the chemical industry had greatly benefited as being one of the postwar technologies. DDT was used in combating insect borne diseases and insecticides. Generally such new scientific innovations were seen as being male and god during the post war period. About the author Rachel Carson s intension for writing the Silent spring was not to target the scientific readers but instead to simply inform the general public of the knowledge she had on the effects of chemical pesticides to the environments particularly to the sea animals and the birds. The scientific filed during her time was a filed mainly dominated by the male. She wrote most of the articles concerning ecological issues with no basic formal education in the field of science. She was therefore seen as an outsider in the scientific field but this was to her positive advantage the scientists could not simply dismiss her writing. Her interest in scientific issues started when she was still at childhood stages. This saw her joining Wood Hole Biological laboratory to study aquatic sciences. she graduated with deep interests of ecological issues and writing was simply part of her passion. She was able to study the acidity effect on sea water as a result of pollution from industrial wastes and from chemical emission. She felt the responsibility of addressing the carelessness of industries with no any measure on checking on ways of protecting the environment. She therefore had the desire and moral duty to prove wrong the concept of better understanding through chemistry and instead support alternative forms of technological innovations. Other book she has published includes the Sea around Us and the Edge of the Sea which are ecological books. She had also written children literature book at a tender age. Critical analysis of the Silent Spring Chapter 1 "A Fable for Tomorrow" 2 / 8

3 This chapter presents a description of a simple town where the dwellers mainly the farmers and the town folks together with the wildlife lived in harmony the orchards and the farms were all in general flow with the pine trees, birch and the maple. The deer and the foxes romp and live in the misty woods. This chapter gives credit to the author s ability in her use of words to create a vivid description of that traditional environment characterized natural vegetation. She is able to trigger our sense of imagination about that desirable past where the environment was conserved and preserved from any harm. This is the concept which many writers during the era of romanticism dwelled upon. This era was characterized by a major movement by intellectual s artists and liter writers in Europe to revolt against the effects on nature as results of scientific revolution. Just like the authors artist of this period, Carson has managed to present an aesthetic experience through confronting the untamed nature and its sublimity as well as its picturesque qualities. T such qualities seen Carson work include the road sides with wildflowers, ferns and trees, good fishing spots and unending flow of springs. She however indicates that all these positive aspects have been tampered with by human activities. N the end it has resulted to major suffering by the wild animals a, plants and even human beings, birds have disappeared while at the same time people are suffering from mysterious experiences. In this chapter, we see Carson showing her knowledge of the resultants aspects associated with chemical poisoning on the environment and the atmosphere. She tells this is a form of a story with a tone which is simple and informative. like for example in her introduction she says, there was once a town this is an opening phrase which captures the readers interests and places them in a historical past mind set. The story she presents a fictional image before she gets into the detailed aspects of describing the factual aspects of the chemical poisoning on creatures and the environment when things go unchecked. The fictional story is a town at the center of America which is free from nay environmental pollution during the spring season. Then later she explores the effects of the environmental poisoning on this town. This form of narration used by Rachel Carson is a traditional framework of narration which can be likened that of Judeo-Christian Bible form of narration. This is like the time before the fall of Adam and Eve into sin where they enjoyed absolute bliss and harmony with god and animals in the Garden of Eden. It is after they had committed the sin by disobeying god s orders that they began to suffer by first being chassed out of the Garden of Eden to fend for them. This powerful framework of narration has assisted Carson in her book to describe when the town was in the same harmony and peace before being poisoned by massive use of chemicals. People and animals started dying and becoming sick from mysterious diseases (Carson 1995, pp 1-5). 3 / 8

4 CHAPTER 2 - The Obligation to Endure This second chapter of the book the Silent springs presents a critical background about the causes of the negative effects associated with poisonous chemicals in America. This chapter presents an overview of the historical modes of intervening agricultural insects as practiced by the classical people. The aim of writing this chapter is a way of persuading the readers. She informs the readers the purpose of mankind on earth is to interact with one another and the surviving in a peaceful way. Our historical past is also influenced by how we interact with the environment that is the animals and the vegetation. She goes on to inform that this peaceful co-existence has been interrupted with by human activities through contaminating the environment with deadly and dangerous chemicals. She also talks of how in the past there was balance of the atmospheric gases produced by natural substances like the rocks and the rays from the sun. But this balance has been interfered with and has speed up the rate at which there is no time to replenish the natural balance. Generally Carson has not forgotten to presents the information she wants and to convince the reader that this information is purposeful and of greater importance in s telling the reader the dangers of the action done presently and what she or she should do about it. The scary warning she tell her readers is that, these poisons cannot be removed once they have been placed on the earth surface (Carson 1995, pp 10). one of the example of such a poisonous substance is the Strontium 90 from nuclear explosions. This shows her main point of reference because she knew that it is common knowledge to all members of the public. This chemical when exploded, lands on the earth surface and plants. They make up the chemical component of plants like water, corn, and grass and also in living things. Also once they enter human and animals bones they will never leave. This kind of information sounds scary to the readers and she tells it in a simple and understandable way with no much use of scientific terms (Carson 1995, pp 5-15). Chapter 3 the Elixirs of death This chapter is much technical and requires a bit of some scientific knowledge because the 4 / 8

5 authors uses chemical properties and scientific descriptions an s well as other scientific actions in describing various processes. She show the various chemical poisons used in the world and some anecdotes to describe the dangers of these substances to human beings. The main problem in this chapter is the Carson has not bothered to simplify or use layman language in explaining some of her concepts. This might therefore leaves out many readers who are not aware of such terms or processes. She gives a critical analysis of the synthetic companies which focus on making and selling products made of chemicals. These chemicals were discovered by scientist during the Second World War and also knew that they could also be used in killing unwanted organism like pests and insects. These chemicals are synthetic and despite them having the power to kill unwanted pests, they are also able to enter unto the human body and change their normal functioning through the destruction of enzymes which are for protecting the body. Such interference also leads to the interference with the oxidation process. This leads to malfunctioning of the body organs and diseases like cancer. Such effects area mainly caused by the synthetic substances and most particular the arsenic chemicals. The author does not present any detailed description of this chemical and its component. This chemical has been used by farmers as an insecticide the most deadly of them being the DDT (Carson 1995, pp 5-39). Chapter 4: The surface waters and the underground seas In this chapter, Carson starts a systematic treatment of the various surfaces of the earth and how pesticides have affected them. This chapter is about the underground sea and water which is the human greatest natural resource. In chapter three she had covered on the various uses of pesticides and other chemicals. This chapter is devoted to the effects these pesticides have on the environment particular on the water bodies. In this chapter we also see her skill of persuasion by indicating that if people do not care about the beautiful graceful birds that are being killed in masses, then they should care about the chicken and other poultry as well as the fish which they will need to eat. She gives a description of the path taken by the chemicals from a tiny microorganism which has been contaminated to a person who eats a fish which has just been freshly killed. 5 / 8

6 She says that water purifications plants are not always able to detect all the chemicals found in water because most of the systematic chemicals in water are not broken down. The chemicals in rivers mix in such a way that even scientist find it difficult to properly analyze the components. These chemicals end up killing animal in the seas like fish and sea plants. Some of the chemicals are however put in water deliberately to kill the unwanted living things. While others are washed away by rain water from the farms because they cannot seep through into the underground surface and are therefore washed away into the water masses. The author further describes various efforts made to control the agents leading to death and those causing mutations. With these presentations, the reader is able to identify the hard challenge involved in cleaning up the masses of poison infused to the environment (Carson 1995, pp 39). Chapter 5 the Realms of the soil This chapter deals with the soil which is important in controlling the existence of animals and people. Lack of soil would mean lack of food and plants therefore death of animals and human beings. Carson continues with her systematic treatment of the various element of the earth surface in relation to how they are affected by insecticide poisoning. In reading this chapter, I can say that this one of her most eloquent chapters where she describes in detail in order to make readers understand the lasting and severe damage caused by the use of DDT and other poisonous pesticide. In her introduction, she eloquently describes in details the aspects which make up the soil and more so what makes the soil to be alive and productive. She presents the soil organisms also in in-depth detail which also makes the readers know that they cannot play a major role in either creating or destroying the soils and ensuring the soil contain their balance which is highly delicate. Carson is also keen in acknowledging the fact that industries and other large organizations dump pesticides wholesale in a world of tiny creatures but people do not know the effects of their actions or even be about the world which they are destroying. The soil is essential in keeping all the living things to be alive. Even the very tiny creatures depend on the soil for their own survival. Human beings therefore have a major role to play in ensuring that the soil is replenished and its natural chemical process is maintained. One of the processes the author advises readers to use is the nitrification mode in which the nitrogen in the air is made available to plants. She also advises against the use of 2, 4 D herbicide which interrupts with the nitrification process and when this happens then plant growth is inhibited. This shows how clearly the reader is able to get the factual information and what they are required to do (Carson 1995, pp 53). 6 / 8

7 Chapter 6: the earth s Green Mantle In this chapter, the author presents a clear description of the various plants found in the earth surface. She is able to describe the world in a way which makes the readers identify with what she is saying and in a way they are familiar with. Unlike the other previous chapters, this chapter can make any reader simply understand what the author is trying to ague out. This is because we are well familiar with the trees which we have grown up with and they are part of us as compared to the microscopic world and the organism found in the soil which is also affected by chemicals. With this mindset, Carson is able to persuade the readers to have the ability of seeing the aesthetic beauty of the shrubs and trees as part of us beyond the little furniture we see at our homes. We also have to see the beauty of other vegetations such as followers and grasses. With her narration, she is able to invoke the readers to have the impulse of protecting the environment through her skillful descriptions of beautiful and pretty trees and plants which are irrationally being destroyed through method which contaminate the present s world we live in and contaminate the world. She is also able to give an example of this tend seen in the case of sagebrush lands of the west. This plant had its own befit in surviving even in harsh climate and which could benefit the wild animals like the sage grouse and the antelopes. These animals and the grass operate mutually and when one of them is destroyed then the circle is tampered with. Particularly, the sage grouse and the sage mutual relationship are seen in the case where the sage grouse uses the grass for food, roosting and nesting. In the times when the sage grouse mate they loosen the soil leading to the in planting of the sage seed. This makes the sage to continuously grow and to be ever green. The mule deer has also benefited from the grass by feeding off its foliage (Carson 1995, pp 63). Chapter 7: Needless Havoc In this chapter, Carson describes the needed less destruction around the world at a greater length. This destruction is as a result of the chemical insecticides. She shows the case of the attic k of Japanese beetle by Michigan during the late 1950s. This shows how Carson came to her conclusion that chemical companies were simply in the needed of making profits with the least care of checking their actions which affect the environment. Her advices these companies to look for other alternative chemicals for killing unwanted insects which are much safer to use and are safe to all the living things. The basic human right of preserving dignity is destroyed 7 / 8

8 through mass destruction of life. Carson other characters go on to tell of inner reasonability to spread her knowledge to the people about preserving the environment. She shows her great knowledge on environmental issues and the use of careful chemicals which are synthetic like the DDT has on the environment.. She communicates these issues in a simple and understandable manner. Generally, The Silent Springs is a product of here inner unrest to inform mankind on the consequences of toxic chemicals to the environment in the long term. She was able to change the US government which had authorized the using of the DDT without knowledge of the devastating effect it had on earth (Carson 1995, pp ). Reference Carson R (1995) Silent Spring Publisher East African Publishers, pp / 8