People have been abusing the environment for too long. Americans should not use chemicals without researching and considering serious consequences. Rachel Carson, an aquatic biologist who helped shape the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, wrote an article about the damage chemicals are having on the earth. She presented a great point that most damage Americans are causing to the earth cannot be reversed. These chemicals are left in the air or in the ground for generations (Carson 50). Americans should use environmentally friendly pesticides to reduce pollution and improve human and animal health.
One of the main reasons to use environmentally friendly pesticides is to reduce pollution. In an article from National Wildlife, it was found that surface and groundwater pollution is the biggest “uncontrolled” threat to American water today. This is caused when rain washes the chemicals from pesticides in into streams, lakes, and other bodies of water (Miller, par. 5). It can be very hard to monitor this issue because it is difficult to decide which farmer is using too much or even misusing pesticides (Miller, par.5). One way to reduce pollution from pesticides is to cut back on the amount of pesticides used. Farmers in Iowa were encouraged to reduce the use of pesticides and fertilizers on their crops to help stop polluting the groundwater and runoffs. The farmers were over-using fertilizers and pesticides because they were not taking into consideration the fertilizers that were already in the ground from past years. Since the project began, there has been a decline in nitrate levels in groundwater (Miller, par. 16). If all farmers would adopt this new way of thinking, the water contamination problem would deteriora...
... middle of paper ...
...pesticides that will harm the earth nor eating any pesticides.
Like Rachel Carson, all Americans should be very concerned about the impact pesticides are having on the environment and all living creatures. In her conclusion to The Obligation to Endure she says, “I contend that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife and man himself. Further generations are unlikely to condone our lack of prudent concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life” (Carson 54). She, as well as many others, recognizes a major issue in current actions with pesticides but is hopeful for the future. A little change in each person can achieve great results. To reduce pollution and improve the health of humans and animals, Americans should only use environmental friendly pesticides.
My initial observation was that simple conservation actions such as reducing the use of pesticides can achieve measurable improvements in habitat quality and environmental health. Herbicides are toxic to most mammals as well as to the beneficial insects that you want to encourage in your garden. Sometimes herbicides seep into the ground water; causing contamination of which the long term effects are not known. Herbicide application can also result in drift or movement in the soil, this endangers wanted vegetation nearby. Herbicides are used far too rampantly. Excessive use of toxic herbicides is used when not necessary and because most are not aware of the many other natural alternatives. We must find more ways to cut back on the use of chemical herbicides and change to biological weed control methods.
She continues to make us question our decisions on the use of pesticides by telling us more about how it will eventually “contaminate the entire environment” and bring on the “threat of disease and death” (Carson 360). However, she backs up her claim by giving us some facts. She points out that the real problem is overproduction and goes on to say that “our farms, despite measures to remove acreages from production and to pay farmers not to produce, have yielded such a staggering excess of crops that the American taxpayer in 1962 is paying out more than one billion dollars a year as the totally carrying cost of the surplus-food storage program” (Carson 361). Carson gives us examples of how this product we’re using is actually costing us more than we may think in ways we probably didn’t even imagine. Her tone goes to be more lighthearted explaining that she doesn’t think that there is no insect problem just that we need to figure out a better way to control it, “all this is not to say there is no insect problem and no need of control. I am saying, rather, that control must be gathered to realities, not to mythical situations, and that the methods employed must be such that they do not destroy us along with the insects.” (Carson 361). She says that “I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons
No one really knows the long-term effects of these substances, individually or in unpredictable combination, either on human health or on the health of the ecosystems upon which we, and all life, depend. The chemicals are not the same as the ones Carson indicted in Silent Spring, yet they are produced, sold, and used on an unsuspecting public by the same interconnected complex of profit-driven companies and government authorities. Carson’s words in her “Fable for Tomorrow” still apply, as if we lived in the future that she imagined: “No witchcraft, no enemy action” had produced our “stricken world. The people had done it themselves” (Carson, 1962,
Two essays read by the class, “Fables for Tomorrow” and “The Clan of One-Breasted Women”, target the idea that chemical compounds have an impact on nature. They make it a priority to get their points across that limiting pesticides and chemical compounds will help make America, and other places around the world a better place. They provide very educational messages in getting their points across about the dangerous roles the pesticides play in the world today. Humans and the government cause this through authorization of plenty of the events going on in the environment. Both of the authors, who are female activists for the environment, focus on chemical compounds causing diseases and harm to the environment.
Every year millions of American’s purchase chemicals intended to clean their home, remove weeds from lawns, and promise to eradicate various insects and other household pests. It is a deadly love affair with scientific advancements to create larger crops, more appealing food items and the promise of cleaner environments. Yet until recent years and the noticeable focus on organic and natural foods, very few have questioned these advancements. Rachel Carson was one of the people who had the courage and determination to stand up and question just how healthy these new advancements truly were for living creatures. Mrs. Carson’s effort to bring these things to light in her most well-known book, Silver Spring, a book that exposed just how dangerous the chemical dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) and other synthetic chemicals was to the environment, animals, and humans. There was much more to her efforts and her concerns than just her coverage of DDT. Through her valiant devotion, Rachel Carson’s work lives on and the world is wiser to the potential hazards associated with scientific chemical advancements. Her life and her work is a reminder that the human populace is not lone entities on this planet.
To help keep crops from being destroyed, conventional farmers use many methods such as pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. Nearly 1 billion pounds of these chemicals are used every year (“pesticides”). Because of this excessive use, some scientists express concern that using artificial chemicals in the farming process could produce unhealthy crops. People who ate it over a long period of time could suffer from degraded health and stunted growth (“Organic Foods”). For example, in 1989, the EPA banned the use of Alar which was a chemical used to ripen apples (“Farming, Organics”). This chemical proved to be carcinogenic after causing tumors in mice after several laboratory tests (“Organic Food”). As a result of these findings there was a dramatic increase of the sales for organic food (“Organic Food”). Another study found that Atrazine (one of the most widely used herbicides in the United States) has the potential of being carcinogenic and reducing sperm counts in males (“Organic Food”). This was further proven when evidence was found that chemicals u...
Civilization began with agriculture, and agriculture continues to be an integral part of our lives. Civilization brought knowledge, knowledge brought technology, and technology brought chemicals and pesticides to “improve” our world. “The Obligation to Endure” is an excerpt from Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring,” a passionate and masterful work on the results of civilization’s efforts to control pests and insects. These effects include destruction of the environment, alteration of gene structures in plants and animals, water contamination, and an upset of nature’s delicate balance. This article is an impassioned plea to the world to understand the threat and demand the information necessary to make an informed consent on use of these deadly substances.
The cutting down on the uses of pesticides and fertilizers is one on the next great step we have to make as a society. It will take a long time to implement these changes and there will be Problems along this journey. The sooner we start this long journey. The longer we have to work out the Kinks in sustainable farming. We at least should think about the future generations that will live on earth. This is the one place we all have to call home and it’s our job to take care of it for the next generations. We can’t give them a problem that take a long time to fix because it could be too late to fix the problems in a generations or two. This is why we need to push the world to a sustainable farm
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.
Household chemicals were created for a reason, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be harmful to your health. For instance, pesticides used on household lawns are now proven to cause neurological disorders. These include depression, mania, learning disorders, A.D.H.D, immune system defects and memory problems. Not proven yet, but the same chemicals play a big part in leading research for the c...
As time has progressed, there has always been an overarching need for high amounts of crop production throughout the world. With the rapid rate of population growth, the need for crops and other sources of nutrients is only increasing. In order to meet these high demands and increase yields, farmers and other agriculturalists have started implementing the use of pesticides. These chemical mixtures are being used in order to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pests from destroying growing crops. However, using pesticides on crops can create massive amounts of pollution, negatively affect an individual’s health, and can spark biodiversity loss within an ecosystem. According to Michael C.R. Alavanja, “Over 1 billion pounds of pesticides are used within the United States (US) each year and approximately 5.6 billion pounds are used worldwide”. With all this in mind, it is clear that pesticides should not be made available to farmers and agriculturalists, and should
I remember when I first thought about the power one person could have to create change. I was a teenager growing up in the South when I read Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”. This beautifully written book is a powerful indictment of the widespread use of pesticides. Rachel Carson criticized the chemical companies for claiming that pesticides were safe despite mounting evidence to the contrary. And she criticized public officials who accepted the chemical industry’s claims.
There are 2.5 billion pounds of pesticides being applied to agricultural products each year in the United States. This is ten times more than was applied forty years ago. It is still unknown as to what type of exact effects these chemicals may have on individuals. Some farmers that have been using pesticides in their fields and developed leukemia are finding that the cause of their disease is from inhaling pesticides. These chemicals are still in use today and most of them have never been tested for the short or long-term effects that they may have on humans.
...ates have more than fourteen distinct Federal Acts control the manufacture, registration, distribution, use, consumption and disposal of pesticides, EPA or other department cannot remove all of pesticides residues from our food, air and water. Therefore, Consumers cannot risk their own life to allow farmers and manufacturers do whatever they want to. The best way to have massive reduction for using pesticide is collecting taxes from farmers and manufacturers that overuse and mixing multiple chemicals. “The direct cost of applying a pesticide is only a small fraction of the actual cost. What remains unaccounted for are human illnesses due to pesticide exposures”(disrupting). Because farmers and manufactures react to tax incentives, pesticide will have a significant decline of use and produce pesticide.
Carson was the only environmentalist and the only woman featured in the entire issue. Evidently, her impact in the world of "scientists and thinkers" was a tremendous one, and, as mentioned in Matthiessen's Time article, her book, Silent Spring, is "nearly 40 years later . . . still regarded as the cornerstone of the new environmentalism."1 Matthiessen goes on to write that "one shudders to imagine how much more impoverished our habitat would be had Silent Spring not sounded the alarm."2 This is indeed a worthy claim by Mr. Matthiessen, but he correctly uncovers a bigger and more alarming truth when he says, "the damage being done by poison chemicals today is far worse than it was when she wrote the book."3 In fact, since 1962, pesticide use in the US has doubled.4