To take a trip back to the 1940s, when most of America was so deeply engulfed in financial turmoil from the depression, while also bolstering up for a second World War, we would meet a young, but brave women named Rachel Carson. She was focused on a different type of disaster taking place; the implementation of a new pesticide called DDT. With this new chemical being sprayed throughout the US and other countries, Carson took notice to the environmental issues that were arising along with it. This pesticide brought implications and topics for her to question including the ‘separation ' of humans from the environment, biodiversity loss, nature being truly defined, conservationism and creating future environmentalism. According to the EPA, DDT, …show more content…
This controversial book was called “Silent Spring”. This book not only helped people identify the possible harmful effects on the environment, but it also helped people understand their role and connection with nature. A great example would be how the book was written in a unique style, which was, instead of immediately announcing the main problem of DDT, she first eloquently describe how beautiful nature was. Not only did she portray the natures intrinsic value, but she also intertwined civilization amongst the beauty of nature. “The town lay in the midst of a checkerboard of prosperous farms, with the fields of grain and hillsides of orchards where, in spring, white clouds of bloom lifted about the green fields.” (Carson 2). This passage helps the audience really captures the beauty of nature, while it also doesn’t exclude or remove the human aspect. This was most likely Carson’s goal, for I think that she wants people to feel like they are a part of nature and that they are responsible for taking care of …show more content…
According to Anne MacZulak, a environmentalist writer, Silent Spring fulfilled Theodore Roosevelt idea of natural conservation, which would help guide him to establish the the Endangered Species Act of 1973. This act would greatly help protect the endangered species that humans have made so scarce due to our processes including hunting, poaching, deforestation and other harmful acts. Another example of how this book changed our society, was described by Mark Stroll in his online visual exhibition, and it was dealing with the dangerous nuclear byproduct strontium 90. Carson brought enough awareness to this subject, that a “Baby Tooth Survey” was created to test strontium 90 levels in babies teeth. With substantial results, this lead President Kennedy to negotiate the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. (Stroll 2012.) To even show how far her efforts have gone, there is a “Rachel Carson National Wildlife Refuge” very nearby my house that helps protect the local salt marshes and estuary. In addition to these examples, the echo of her concern would continue to influence our perception of nature and helped form our modern day
Rachel Carson, before publishing Silent Spring, would major in marine zoology at Pennsylvania Women's College, where she would develop her interest in the naturalism and conservation going on at the time (Lear, 23). After graduating, she would take a job at the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, where she would write about different issues concerning the environment at the time. After writing several books to some success, she would begin work on Silent Spring, as she would find her naturalist causes to be her impetus. She even later on in her life wrote to her friends, What I discovered was that everything which meant most to me as a naturalist was being threatened, and that nothing I could do would be more important. " (Carson, 17)
In the book Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, there are many themes, symbols, and motifs that are found throughout the novel. For my journal response, I have chosen to discuss nature as a prevalent symbol in the book. The main character, Montag, lives in a society where technology is overwhelmingly popular, and nature is regarded as an unpredictable variable that should be avoided. Technology is used to repress the citizens, but the oppression is disguised as entertainment, like the TV parlour. On the opposite end of the spectrum, nature is viewed as boring and dull, but it is a way to escape the brainwashing that technology brings. People who enjoy nature are deemed insane and are forced to go into therapy. Clarisse says “My psychiatrist wants to know why I go out and hike around in the forests and watch the birds and collect butterflies,” (Bradbury 23) which shows she is a threat to the control that the government has put upon the people by enjoying nature.
To conclude, Rachel Carson is a skilled writer who employs many different rhetorical strategies and formats her information in a deliberate way to maximize the effectiveness of her argument. She appeals to emotion, but supplements her points with facts, examples, and expert opinions. Her book, Silent Spring, surely convinced many of the dangers of poisons like parathion, and inspired some to seek alternatives to aerial
The nonfiction story, “Silent Spring” expresses the idea of how we can change the future of the Earth by destroying it with pollution and not taking care and preserving it. “Everywhere was a shadow of death. The farmers spoke of much illness among their families. In the town the doctors had become more and more puzzled by new kinds of sickness appearing among their patients.” (Carson Page 168) Those few sentences catch attention of the readers and make them ponder what happened to the town and why it is the way it is. We all know from reading the whole story that this town is fictional, but the thought of it intrigued more people to have the desire to take care and clean up the Earth. If we were to all take part in the help to keep our Earth clean and waste as little as possible, it will be far off in the future before towns like this ever exist. That change is something we need to make, yet the majority has no motivation to take a step in doing so. The nonfiction atmosphere of this story makes the facts and predictions in the story more straight forward on why we need to change rather than the fiction since it isn’t true and is less believable. The fact that nonfiction is blunt in saying what needs to happen and why is the main reason it is more effective in expressing the
He delves into the history of the word “environmental” as well as the history of environmental activism. He pinpoints the beginning of the movement to Rachel Carson. According to Quammen, she began the revolution by publishing her book Silent Spring. He says the negative connotations of the word began with her book, pairing “environment” and “the survival of humankind” as if they go hand in hand. This played a major role in the distortion of the word and the intentions of environmentalists.
By citing credible organizations and offering her own eco-friendly alternatives, she proves to the reader that she takes a particular interest in the environment and is educated to speak on it. Pairing powerful understatements and hyperboles to contrast with one another show the reader that the practice is both needless and selfish. These rhetorical techniques have a powerful impact on the reader, whose ignorance prior to reading the excerpt can no longer suffices to excuse the lack of action. Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring is a deeply persuasive book that not only advocates for an end to pesticides but also speaks to the obligation humans hold to protect their
The Baby Boomer generation and the time period has a lasting effect on the economy and the environment. The baby boom for the United States was similar to other countries after World War II. Several economies also blossomed, but overall with very little care for the environment. After World War II the use of industrial made chemicals increased in popularity throughout the United States and the world (The “New Environmentalism” OF THE 1960S). The chemical DDT was originally being used widespread to eradicate disease vectors, such as mosquito carrying Malaria ("The DDT Story."). DDT influenced more than just mosquitoes as it had lasting effects in the environment where it noticeably bioaccumulate in the food chain and caused high mortality in young bald eagles ("The DDT Story."). Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring released to the public in 1962 which is the time period in which environmental health and human health were connected (The “New
The pesticide DDT banned in 1987 was a detrimental to the environment leading to it to be banned in 1987. DDT remains in the soils for a long period of time. The chemicals affect the ecology of the soil and water run off causing contamination of livestock and native animals and aquatic species. Studies indicated a range of human health impacts from DDT including cancers, infertility, miscarriage and nervous system impairment. The social and economic impact of DDT use in viticulture was significant.
“Carson used the era’s hysteria about radiation to snap her readers to attention, drawing a parallel between nuclear fallout and a new, invisible chemical threat of pesticides throughout Silent Spring,” (Griswold 21). She described radiation as the creation of human’s tampering with nature, and warned that similar dangers would become inevitable with the continued use of pesticides (Carson 7). Carson also knew that a large percent of her audience would be housewives, who she could use as example of those who found poisoned birds and squirrels in their gardens. She angled much of Silent Spring towards this audience, which helped her book become the catalyst for environmental change (Griswold
Silent Spring is one of the most important books of the environmental movement. It was one of the first scientific books to talk about destruction of habitat by humans. As a result, one can imagine that Ms. Rachel Carson needed to be quite persuasive. How does she achieve this? In this excerpt from Silent Spring, Carson utilizes the rhetorical devices of hyperbole, understatement, and rhetorical questions to state the necessity of abolishing the practice of using poisons such as parathion. Carson starts out by using the symbiotic nature of hyperbole and understatement to paint the whole practice as dangerous and unnecessary. She further strengthens her argument by using rhetorical questions to make her readers see the ethical flaws and potential casualties caused by deadly pesticides.
In his short story, “Top of the Food Chain”, T.C. Boyle effectively argues that humans are destroying their planet with chemicals and that the general consensus of the public is that it is okay. He argues this efficaciously through the use of rhetorical and satirical devices, which are used throughout his story. Overall, I agree with Boyle’s argument that DDT is an especially harmful chemical to our planet, and while it may have had a place at one time, there is no need for it any longer.
In 1962, the publication of Silent Spring Rachel Carson captivated the American public. Carson wrote about the harmful effects of chemical pesticides in the environment, and her writing was very reflective of the events occurring at the time. There is a strong connection between Carson’s writing and the Cold War. In fact, if it were not for the war, the American public may not have responded in the same way to Carson’s writing. Carson used tone and content as methods of getting her point across to the public. Silent Spring shined a light on the damage done to the environment as a result of the Cold War, and this issue was finally being recognized by American public.
From the lone hiker on the Appalachian Trail to the environmental lobby groups in Washington D.C., nature evokes strong feelings in each and every one of us. We often struggle with and are ultimately shaped by our relationship with nature. The relationship we forge with nature reflects our fundamental beliefs about ourselves and the world around us. The works of timeless authors, including Henry David Thoreau and Annie Dillard, are centered around their relationship to nature.
Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring revolutionized the American point of view concerning the environment. It rejected the notion that pesticides and chemicals are the right choice for “controlling” various animals that are seen as an inconvenience. Carson writes about the dangers of pesticides, not only to nature but man himself.
Through her book, Rachel Carson spoke out against the use of pesticides and technology to control nature. At the time, her book was revolutionary and her words had the power to cause a shift in public awareness about the environment. This one person speaking out helped start the environmental movement that impacts so many areas of our life today.