Pesticides Vs Nature

Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson, illustrates the urgency and need for balance in nature. Rachel Carson describes a fictional community that was once beautiful and full of life, but was destroyed by the use of chemical sprays. Spring was now silent with no birds alive to sing. A more shocking fact is that the community is a combination of multiple cities and the effect pesticides had on it. The message of the book is the pesticides have everlasting damage on nature and that there are more natural and more effective ways to combat "pest". Chemical Companies assure the public that pesticides pose no threat to humans and other organisms beside the intended pest, but considerable evidence shows that pesticides do cause harm to all life either from direct contact with the chemicals or the consumption of food contaminated with these chemicals. Pesticides are shown to stay in fatty tissue for prolonged periods of time. Evidence even shows that when tow or more pesticides combine in nature, their potential harm is

In order to control weeds and insects, we must use nature to preserve the delicate balance of nature. Introducing natural enemies to weeds and insects have been proven far more successful. We must also value variety in nature and implement that into our communities and farming. Planting single crops can allow insects and weeds to grow its population exponentially. Rachel Carson's book is still relevant to today because insecticides and herbicides have increased for home consumers and pose a greater threat to us because of our closer contact to them. Personally, the book has opened my eyes to the dangers of pesticides because that was never a worry of mine before. Considering the increase use of consumers using pesticides, its effectiveness to communicate to people of today is greater than ever