Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and Public Attitude to It

In today’s society, people are very environmentally aware. For example, if an individual were to go to a local grocery store, it is likely you will find something labeled “eco-friendly” or “pesticide free” as a form of advertisement. In less than one-hundred years, our generation has made large ecological advancements. However, the question is, what is the reason for such modifications?

Voices like environmentalist, Rachel Carson, are the reason changes have inspired. In her book titled Silent Spring, she starts the first chapter with a fictional story that parallels the real problems our ecosystems may face if humanity continues to barrage its delicate balance. The story paints a picture of a natural, melodious American town that slowly falls apart from the harmful effects of man-made chemicals. Humans and animals become sick while the town is ridden with a white blanket of chemical residue. Carson continues the book by transitioning it from fiction to non-fiction, detailing the concerns of using different types of pesticides like dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).

DDT is a pesticide that has been around since the 1800’s and was originally used for farming. In the 1940’s, DDT was made to kill lice that was infesting soldiers with typhus, as well as minimizing the spread of malaria from mosquitos. Carson recognized that this biochemical couldn’t be as safe as propaganda was portraying it to be. How can a chemical be so harmless to humans if it remains absorbed and stored inside the human body? Carson then continues to explain that these chlorinated hydrocarbons remain stagnant in the soil where it can be transferred down the food chain. She further argues that the American government is completely underestimating its effect, meanwhile overexposing the public.

However, the public in the mid 20th century had no objections towards pesticides. Due to the positive publicity, communities were naïve to any negative feedback. Newspapers rarely published events where pesticides “went wrong”, and if anything was released it was disregarded as a “minor incident”. Carson went on to describe some of these incidents. In one case, the city of Detroit had used a form of pesticide named Aldrin to rid the area of Japanese beetles. Aldrin spilled into some of the drinking water and killed the birds that drank from it. Another incident happened at Michigan State University. In an effort to prevent their trees from dying of Dutch Elm Disease, they were sprayed with pesticide. The ground earth worms were exposed and it resulted in the mass poisoning of robin birds.

Carson continues to explain she isn’t opposed to the idea of pest regulation but encourages some type of parameter. She believes that there are alternatives to pest control that are not only safer but habitual. Controls resembling sterilization, predators, pheromones, and more, could be used to prevent insects while maintaining their population. Populace being a big determinant on the benefits of the more natural alternative due to the fact that insects sometimes develop a resistance to insecticides, which could lead to an overwhelming abundance of pests.

When the author’s book was first released, she faced heavy opposition. Adversaries of her thinking said her claims were false and her assertion that DDT had cancer-causing effects were unsupported. Although, Carson started a movement that would go on for decades. She made the people more aware of the consequences we could be facing if these chemicals continued to be abused. Carson instilled fear into her audience by depicting the dangers of harmful chemicals but her persuasive literature motivated an environmental movement.

Today, nearly fifty-seven years since Silent Spring has been released, our environmentalists know so much more about the effects of DDT. Although DDT may not be considered carcinogenic, evidence shows it may cause endocrine disruption for the human body and that it is in fact, unsafe! Carson was ahead of her time and led the way to the advancement of ecological safety. Today, her plea continues to lobby substantial change towards being more informed about what happens in our environment instead of being passively tolerant to its destruction.

After the initial opposition she faced with the release of her book, Carson was soon widely accepted and further supported due to research. Her book brought much attention towards conservation and she succeeded in commencing an urgent, public effort to protect the food chain. Carson’s support for the environment continued after writing her book and she is still considered one of the world’s leading environmental advocates.