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Devastating Effects Of Pesticides On The Environment In A Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

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A Silent Spring, written by Rachel Carson in 1962, is a seminal work that brought attention to the dangers of pesticide use and its impact on the environment. The book, which was met with both praise and criticism upon its release, has become a classic in the field of environmental literature and has had a significant impact on the way we think about the environment and our relationship with it.

The book begins with a description of a silent spring, a springtime in which birds no longer sing and flowers no longer bloom. This is a metaphor for the effects of pesticide use on the environment, which Carson argues is causing a decline in the population of birds and other wildlife. She argues that the widespread use of pesticides, particularly DDT, is having a devastating effect on the environment and that this is something that we need to be aware of and take action to address. …show more content…

She describes how pesticides are not only killing the pests they are intended to control, but also killing other species that are important to the ecosystem. She also describes how pesticides are contaminating the soil and water, making it difficult for plants and animals to survive.

One of the most compelling arguments in the book is Carson's argument that pesticides are not only harmful to the environment, but also to human health. She describes how pesticides are not only toxic to the environment, but also to the people who are exposed to them. She argues that this is something that we need to be aware of and take action to address.

Carson's book was met with both praise and criticism upon its release. Some praised her for bringing attention to the dangers of pesticide use and for her clear and well-researched arguments. Others criticized her for being alarmist and for not providing enough evidence to support her

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Carson emphasizes the impact humans have on the environment by integrating a disdainful tone and rhetorical questions. In the beginning of the Silent Spring, Carson’s disdain towards the careless farmers’ use of parathion is evident by her constant use of strong language such as “eradicating”, “habit of killing”, and “distasteful”. By using blunt diction, Carson emphasizes that the use of a dangerous poison, like parathion, are worsening the condition of the environment, and even portrays the farmers who use the poison as murders when she states that they are on a “mission of death”. In addition, Carson further highlights the unethical actions of the farmers by providing an example of how the “growing trend” of killing the “inconvenien[t]” has not only affected the animals living in the environment, but the humans as well.

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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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As a result, the chemicals “ had only limited success” due to the insects evolving their immune systems. As well as damaging the living space of many people by exposing the chemicals into the air. Thus, contaminating the same air the people’s breathes as well as the water supplies that many organisms depend on. Therefore, allowing Carson to express the need to find an alternate route to protect the future generation’s

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Occasionally problems in society are suppressed, made worse, or even outright ignored. Some problems could never be addressed until one day a person or group of people decide to challenge the status quo, and to present to masses a problem that they themselves may have never really thought about before. One particular issue addressed by Rachel Carson is the use of pesticides. Rachel Carson wrote the book Silent Spring to combat and question the use of these pesticides. In the excerpt of her book Silent Spring, Carson employs the use of rhetorical questions, a cynical tone and militaristic diction to emphasize that due to the thoughtless actions of farmers and authoritarian figures who have used pesticides carelessly, we are seeing collateral effects on the

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She continues to ask the reader detailed questions such as “who has made the decision?” to provoke the readers’ minds into analyzing the horrendous outcomes such as the “pitiful heaps of many feathers” from pesticide use to present the idea of unjust authority in an ecosystem and suggest the dictatorial behavior of those who have granted themselves the decision making power. Carson starts by continuing to demonize the use of pesticides using imagery such as the “wave of death” to metaphorically link the expansion of the poisons on multiple species of animals to the ripples caused by dropping a pebble into a still pond. The correlation between this image and the use of pesticides shows the reader how disturbing the use of one pesticide can be on an environment and the universal effect it will have. Carson juxtaposes “the lifeless remains” of the birds with the leaves eaten by beetles after the method of poison control saved the crop, showing that society has come to value crops infused with pesticides over the lives of birds who fell to the “unselective bludgeon” of poison control.

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International Journal of Applied Psychoanalytic Studies, 16(2), 137–143. White, S. (2014). Animals, climate change, and history. Environmental History, 19(2), 319-328.

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The challenges will be caused from the inability of mankind to logically think on a broad spectrum about the devastating effects of using a mass produced pesticide on the sacred earth. Carson says, “ Future historians may well be amazed by our distorted sense of proportion. How could intelligent begins seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind? Yet this is exactly what we have done.” Carson also logically relates statistical evidence when she says, “ 500 new chemicals which the bodies of men and animals are required somehow to adapt each year, chemicals totally outside the limits of biologic experience.

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Rachel Carson’s “Silent Spring” influenced the views of many after it exposed just how harsh the use of pesticides are. “A generation of Americans found their perspectives widened and their activism inspired by Carson’s powerful work” (Stoll). Carson’s work helped to open the eyes of citizens to how the chemicals that they were using everyday affected the wildlife and environment around them. Carson wrote in such a way that was understandable and offered many suggestions, which makes it readable even

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Silent Spring was a controversial book because it challenged long held beliefs on both environmental health and gender roles. The government had put a lot of effort into creating images of the rise of pesticides use as a positive societal advancement. These chemicals were marketed as helping our children and making our lives easier. Carson’s book directly challenged this belief. Suddenly people were forced to confront the fact that their actions (or alternately their inaction) related to at home and governmental pesticide usage could actually be harming their families.

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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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Imagine having so much pesticides in use that people and animals were actually dying from it. In the 1950’s the overuse of pesticides was a serious problem. Rachel Carson was an activist who was against the use and overuse for these pesticides. She wanted to address this problem to the government and the public and warn about the harmful effects pesticides have on the environment and the people. In “A Fable For Tomorrow”, Rachel Carson utilizes ethos, logos and pathos in order to bring awareness to the overuse of pesticides.

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