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Sonali Malhotra

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Silent Spring

by Rachel Carson

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Sonali Malhotra said: " SILENT SPRING
BY- RACHEL CARSON
Silent Spring, a book written by the eminent biologist Rachel Carson was one of the most effective books written to alert the world to the poisonous legacy of pesticides. The book brings out emotion in the reader with s SILENT SPRING
BY- RACHEL CARSON
Silent Spring, a book written by the eminent biologist Rachel Carson was one of the most effective books written to alert the world to the poisonous legacy of pesticides. The book brings out emotion in the reader with several reports of children getting serious illnesses due to the smallest exposure of insecticides in 1950’s America.
It was considered as a landmark work of environmental writings having immediate, far-reaching and ultimately life enhancing impact on the readers. She informed the readers and the people at large about the harmful effects of pesticides including DDT, the most notorious of the sprays which was administered 70 years back via aerial spraying in an attempt to control insect populations on a large scale.
She here questions the readers that How can an intelligent being seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminates the entire environment and brings the threat of disease and death even to our own kind?
She explained that we live in an interconnected world where both environment and man are depended on each other for survival focusing particularly on the fact that man’s newfound power to change and modify his surroundings needs to be wielded with extreme caution in order to avoid destroying the very natural habitat that supports life on earth. She carefully explains the major families of pesticides using the term “biocides” for their impact was not only limited to insects. She examines the effects of pesticides on all walks of life ranging from flora and fauna to water and soil. Through her book, she brought about the idea of the existence of ecological balance; the idea that human activities could hamper the food cycle and eventually destroy the environment. She presents in her book statistical evidence and anecdotes to show how pesticides are deadlier than what their manufacturers claim resulting in different levels of harm to the environment which are difficult to forsee. Much of these evidences she presented were not new but Carson was the first to put them all these evidences together for the general public and to draw stark and far-reaching conclusions. In doing so, Carson, the citizen-scientist, spawned a revolution.
She sharply criticizes the “cheerful” marketing of poisonous pesticides, reveals the near constant presence of such chemicals in the food people consume, and outlines the lack of regulation of these chemicals, and then details the data that suggests these chemicals are cancer-causing. To conclude, she argues that in a way that pesticides have succeeded in their mission to degrade the environment. Many insects are developing resistance to new pesticides in a dangerously accelerating pattern resembling an arms race.
Silent Spring was truly one of the first and the most popular book to introduce the ideas of the food chain, and of the amplification of enduring chemical residues; of ecological interdependence and the web of life on Earth; and of the balance of predator-prey relationships. This book by Rachel Carson is a brilliant critique of free-market capitalism, in which chemical companies concerned only with the balance sheet could persuade the US government and big business forming policies to maximize profits at all costs and to dust and spray the US mainland with costly, persistent and highly toxic products that bore minimal, and sometimes barely visible, warnings of risk to health. This eventually led to a situation where pesticides were drained out into the sewage system. Silent Spring serves as Carson’s accusation of the chemical industry, accusing them of spreading disinformation and accusing public officials of unquestioning acceptance when it comes to the use of pesticides.
There was no check into the consequences of chemical overkill or any other better alternate and sustainable approach as nobody would profit from them. The only way forward, Carson suggests, is to pursue biological, rather than chemical, controls wherever possible – such as identifying and deploying predators of pests rather than just trying to kill the pests with chemicals and to minimize the use of pesticides.
The book had a large impact on the masses, it led to a complete ban on the organochlorines and organophosphates (lead to bird and fish kills, human nervous system disorders, and deaths) that she emphasized were the worst of the long list of pesticides. In addition to this, it led to an increased awareness of the interdependence between each of the elements in the environment. It brought about the need to think about sustainability while forming agricultural policy.
Her book came at a time when the world had just seen the damage of a nuclear power and she drew a parallel, she explained that disregarding the environment could bring about the same level of damage if not more. “We are rightly appalled by the genetic effects of radiation,” she wrote. “How then, can we be indifferent to the same effect in chemicals that we disseminate widely in our environment?”
The final chapter of her book gives the readers at large two options- either continue destruction or make a new road to preservation of the environment. Carson affirms, “The choice, after all, is ours to make.”The author here states that man should employ biological solutions rather than chemical ones which do not harm the environment in any way and are more environmental wholesome.
One key take away from this book is the fact that our extremely materialistic lifestyle has led to a shift in the ecological balance of this planet. Pesticides were a huge issue that plagued the environment in 1950’s but it is unfair to say that it isn’t anymore. To feed our ever growing population and the consumerist tendencies of every one of us, we are forced to adopt unsustainable activities. In this way, ‘Silent Spring’ inspires the reader to consume more cautiously and indeed be more aware of his/her lifestyle and how it is affecting the environment.

Introduction to Sustainable Development
TERI School Of Advanced Studies
Group: G-42 (MSc Economics)
1.Srishti Bagadia
2.Sonali Malhotra
3.Rithvik Kumar
4.Rohan Mahajan
5. Saloni Agarwal ...more "

Aug 28, 2018 06:04AM · see review