Silent Spring Essay - 918 Words

Silent Spring Rachel Louise Carson (1907-64), was an American marine biologist, and author of widely read books on ecological themes. Carson was born in Springdale, Pennsylvania, and educated at the former Pennsylvania College for Women and Johns Hopkins University. Rachel Carson taught Zoology at the University of Maryland from 1931 to 1936. She was an aquatic biologist at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries and its successor, the Fish and Wildlife Service, from 1936 to 1952. Rachel Carson wrote 4 books including The Sea Around Us for which she was awarded the 1952 National Book Award for nonfiction. At the end of Rachel Carsons career she wrote Silent Spring, which questioned the use of Chemical Pesticides and was responsible for arousing†¦show more content†¦The over use of DDT, dieldrin and other pesticides eventually poisoned an entire world of living things. Silent Spring not only recognizes the severity of the chemicals usage but recognizes the effect of substance use on a community. It h elped people to look at the whole picture, to look into the future instead of the now. Carson helps to change this way of thinking by offering solutions to the existing problems. She helps to show that nature will take care of nature. Many times the best solutions are the introduction of other plants or animals. For many thousands of years man has been battling nature, when if he took a step back, he would see that if he just worked with it his problems could be solved. Rachel Carson helped many people to see this ideal and is partly responsible for starting the environmental movement that has become so apparent in todays society. There are many people that do not support Rachel Carsons findings about DDT. These people challenge her experiments and say that the results would have been worse had the controls not been manipulated. The direct effect of DDT may be different on all types of animals. What the people fail to notice that challenge her statements are the chemical bonds that are produced with DDT and other chemical substances. The significance of Rachel Carsons book was not the scientific accuracy but instead the position it took on DDT. Why this book is so recognized has nothing to do with the actualShow MoreRelatedSilent Spring Essay701 Words   |  3 PagesUp until the publication of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, DDT was widely considered a very effective and safe pesticide. Many had always questioned DDT’s safety but it wasnt until Silent Spring that people began to realize the harm DDT was doing to the environment, animals, and themselves. In her book Carson explains how DDT exploits the interconnectedness of nature and as a result was silencing not just the environment and animals-but humans as well. Three of the book’s chapters which in my opinionRead MoreSilent Spring Analysis1762 Words   |  8 PagesSilent Spring Analysis Silent Spring is a book that makes just about everyone think, except for the major chemical companies that it was attacking. This is definitely one book that help shaped how we look at the environment today and also how we approach it. Rachel Carson aimed for a book that was going to open peoples eyes to what really was happening and who and what was doing it. She nailed this right on the head, while the book was very technical when it came to talking about the details ofRead MoreSilent Spring By Rachel Carson1527 Words   |  7 PagesThe dominant theme of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is the powerful and detrimental impact humans have on the natural world. Carson s main argument is that pesticides have harmful effects on the environment and lead to a loss of biodiversity and quality of life. Carson uses the pesticide DDT throughout the book as she examines the effects of pesticides throughout the United States. Though the majority of the book is focused on the effects of pesticid es on our ecosystem processes, she also touchesRead MoreBook Report on Silent Spring1394 Words   |  6 PagesINTRODUCTION In the book Silent spring written by Rachael Carson we find a picture of Carson s deep concept about the connection between nature’s equilibrium and the web of life that has been ruined by the uncontrolled use of insecticides which in turn affected the healthy livelihood of this earth’s creatures. Furthermore, she tells the readers of substitute techniques of achieving the same ends. The title of the book is enough to make us understand that it was a hint of a spring season with no birdRead MoreSilent Spring By Rachel Carson855 Words   |  4 PagesThe Obligation to Endure is taken from the book Silent Spring by the author Rachel Carson. This piece was written in 1962. It is a very richly worded excerpt, written with the intention of grabbing hold of the reader and opening their eyes to what she sees as a problem within the rise of humanity. The main focus of the topic is that the overuse of insecticides and chemicals which are not only a problem but also a detrime nt to man as well as nature. Carson makes a very effective argument, bringingRead MoreSilent Spring : A Book Review1810 Words   |  8 Pages‘SILENT SPRING’ – A BOOK REVIEW By Pratikshya Mahapatra (pm2535) â€Å"Pen is mightier than sword†- I think we all are aware of these famous words coined by Edward Bulwer-Lytton. Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring totally justifies the purpose of the metaphor word by word. Although they always get the critical judgments and are less celebrated, books sometimes bear the most significant role in changing the social atmosphere. Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring, which was published on 1962, exposed the potentialRead MoreSilent Spring by Rachel Carson Essay1451 Words   |  6 PagesRachel Carson constructed a summer hut on the Maine coast where as a marine biologist, she expected for plentiful time to witness the ocean’s complicated life in the perfect natural laboratory of seaside mid-Maine and write about it. Her book Silent Spring became the reagent for the foundation environmental awareness in the US. In her book, Carson puts light on the extensive and unfettered use of chemical pesticides like DDT, which until this time had been gushed over extensively from airplanes overRead MoreEssay on Silent Spring - Rachel Carson30092 Words   |  121 PagesSilent Spring Rachel Carson Online Information For the online version of BookRags Silent Spring Premium Study Guide, including complete copyright information, please visit: http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-silentspring/ Copyright Information  ©2000-2007 BookRags, Inc. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. The following sections of this BookRags Premium Study Guide is offprint from Gales For Students Series: Presenting Analysis, Context, and Criticism on Commonly Studied Works: Introduction, Author BiographyRead More The Power of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring Essay1463 Words   |  6 PagesThe Power of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring In 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring and was greeted with a roar of protest and approval. After years and years of controversy and skepticism surrounding its argument, Silent Spring was and still is recognized as a perceptive warning of things in progress and things to come. The book set the stage for the first real and effectual environmental movement. In 17 chapters, many of which can stand alone as essays, Carson develops a deceptivelyRead More Analysis of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson Essay729 Words   |  3 PagesAnalysis of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson Review: This book was focused on the concern of pesticides that industries, along with us as individuals, have been dumping (both knowingly and unknowingly) into water. Carson was concerned that the chemicals which the farmers spread on their fields, and even the chemicals we use in our homes (among others), in the end, might come back around and harm us. The beginning of the book tells a story of a place, that was once so beautiful, turned dead