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A Critical Analysis Of Silent Spring, By Rachel Carson

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Silent spring was published in 1962 and written by the brilliant Rachel Carson. Inside this environmental science book, the excess use of pesticides is documented and condemned. Silent Spring shows the effects humans can have in the natural world mainly focusing on the use of pesticides. This chemicals not only affect certain targets but the whole nature chain. Though it is primarily a scientific book, it is really easy to read and has a literary touch. This is what makes it approachable not only to the Scientifics but also to general public. Rachel Carson directs to the popular audience and not only the limited scientific one. She knew that for a complete society change regarding the use of pesticides, the general public is as or more important than the specific scientific public. A big effort had to be made in order to accomplish this goal. Apart from the obvious convincing scientific arguments describing the evident problem (the issue with pesticides) ,the use of a standard language, of anecdotes and the development of solutions, made the public view negatively the constant attacks of the chemical industry to a sincere woman who only wanted to safe the environment. The effectiveness of silent spring in generating a public opposition to pesticides was mainly because of the incorporation of real life situations of how pesticides negatively impacted the environment, avoiding theoretical speculations. This is what makes the book open to popular public and not only to
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At the same time, classification plays an important role in understanding these complex figures that we still need to understand. At the same time, origin of species also relates to the chapter 1 because pesticides became a product that was meant to remove any bugs or insects. But, no one thought the pesticides, atrazine, DDT, and PCBs, would lead to breast cancer for women in Illinois. When I read this chapter, I did not expect pesticides to be a cause of breast cancer. Normally, they are just to get rid of bugs and insects from plants and would have thought it cause one of the worst cancer in women.

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There is always opposition to pesticides because of the harm that it can cause on the environment and the animals alike. Pesticides though have saved a lot of hard work for farmers over the past couple of decades because it does all the dirty work, for example, the killing of weeds and other pests. Pesticides have also saved a lot of money for farmers by preventing pests from damaging crops or taking the nutrients and water supply away from crops. (Whitford, 7) In the future we need to start to find less toxic ways to prevent pests from attacking the crops and vegetation. This would prevent a lot of the other costs associated with pesticides for example, health costs for farmers that are exposed to the toxic chemicals or the killing of the habitats in the surrounding areas.

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Lucille Parkinson McCarthy, author of the article, “A Stranger in Strange Lands: A College Student Writing Across the Curriculum”, conducted an experiment that followed one student over a twenty-one month period, through three separate college classes to record his behavioral changes in response to each of the class’s differences in their writing expectations. The purpose was to provide both student and professor a better understanding of the difficulties a student faces while adjusting to the different social and academic settings of each class. McCarthy chose to enter her study without any sort of hypothesis, therefore allowing herself an opportunity to better understand how each writing assignment related to the class specifically and “what

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The controversy surrounding Atrazine started when the Syngenta company invited Tyrone Hayes, who was then a faculty member in UC Berkeley’s Biology department, to conduct some simple experiments on the herbicide. At first, Hayes got along with the other scientists at the company and everything seemed to be going relatively well. It was only when Hayes concluded in his that Atrazine might have adverse effects on the sexual development of frogs, that the relationship between Hayes and Syngenta started to go downhill, causing Hayes to resign from his job within the company and start studying the effects of Atrazine on his own. The controversy surrounding the topic really just boils down to Hayes VS Syngenta in the fight over what the effects of Atrazine really are, and if the herbicide is really safe to use in America’s agriculture.

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Carson appeals to the arousal of the basic emotions, such as the arousal of fear in the public. Carson also appeals to pathos, or the emotions, by questioning the “highly intelligent” creators of these pesticides. Carson believes irrational bad decisions based on faulty evidence threaten the future existence of mankind. “Along with the possibility of the extinction of mankind by nuclear war, the central problem of our age has therefore become the contamination of man’s total environment with such substances of incredible potential for harm-substances that accumulate in the tissues of plants and animals and even penetrate the germ cells to shatter or alter the very material of heredity upon which the shape of the future depends.” However, the statement supports Carson’s intention to present a persuasive, and logical point of view without confusing the reader; suggesting she ment to go against a patient audience rather than an impatient one.

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The purpose of published “Silent Spring” was to alert and inform everyone about the danger the environment is in due to the spraying of pesticides. Carson wanted to let the public know the truth about pesticides that governments and health organizations were hiding from everyone. In the beginning of Chapter 2 Rachel states “The most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of the air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal material. ”(5). This quote explains Carson’s whole purpose of the book in one sentence; to bring change in the world by preventing the widespread use of DDT and dangerous pesticides.

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Gwen Harwood’s poems ‘At Mornington’ and ‘The Violets’ mirror ideas of circulatory nature of life and relationships between contrasting themes. Through images and references to certain motifs, two distinct stories and journeys are reflected, ‘At Mornington’s’ journey of life and death, and ‘The Violets’ story of the squandering of opportunities. The portrayal of certain voices and the displaying of contrasting ideas, the two poems have both similar and dissimilar aspects. Gwen Harwood uses two contrasting personae’s in ‘The Violets’ and a broadening, progressive voice throughout ‘At Mornington’ to reflect the journey of both narrators. Through the use of first-person narration, ‘The Violets’ emerges with a cold, brittle attitude emphasised through short, sharp sentences.

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In today’s world, there are many people creating new chemical substances that has negative effect to our world. Rachel Carson, in her article "The Obligation to Endure" argues that the pesticides and other chemicals we use are harmful to more than just the environment. I agree with Carson in her article, in that we should reduce most of the harmful chemical use and instead use technological inventions. Carson is a person who seems very passionate about the environment and is very concerned of its inhabitants. It is hard to believe that intelligent human beings would use bad chemicals substances that would affect the environment and themselves negatively.

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