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Silent Spring Research Paper

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Silent Spring Essay A Fable for Tomorrow, the first chapter of Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, shows the effects of using pesticides, specifically dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane, or DDT, on an environment. In this first chapter, she refers to pesticides as the “pest” which causes many problems. Carson describes the beauty and peacefulness of a town before it was ruined by this “pest”. Pesticides are any chemicals used by man to control or kill weeds, insects, rodents, or other animals which harm human food or humans. This chapter brings the effects of chemical pollution to people's attention. Even though DDT has been banned for a long time, scientists still find traces of it in the environment. Many, many years later we are still trying to fix the effects of DDT pesticides. …show more content…

Then, Carson describes in detail the effects of the pest, DDT. Farm animals, including chickens, cattle, and sheep, died. There were no bees to pollinate the plants, therefore fruit could not grow and farmers had no way to make a living. The birds, which were once so plentiful, became ill, and others no longer migrated here. “The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly.”(2) Humans, including young children, were suddenly becoming sick and rapidly dying, puzzling the doctors. People no longer visited the town because there were no fish in the streams and no birds to

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2.21 PESTICIDES Manahan (19..) discusses pesticides as water pollutants. DDT was introduced after World War II which accelerated pesticide use. Manahan (19..) states that by the mid-1990s agricultural use of pesticides was over 300 million kg per year and millions more kg of pesticides were used in non-agricultural applications. Manahan: Insecticides such as diazinon, carbaryl and chlorpyifos are most commonly found in water.

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In the first chapter of “Living Downstream” by Sandra Steingraber discussed about personal experiences living in Illinois and discovering how much the landscape has changed over the years. In addition to the changing landscape, cancer, especially breast cancer, has increased in the prairies of Illinois and pesticides usage may cause. Much of the discussion first begin with the change of landscape as the prairies of Illinois has become a place for farming and pesticides. As farming became an important aspect of Illinois, pesticides were created to remove any bugs or insects from the product that is being farmed. A few pesticides formulas that came to be are atrazine, dichloro diphenyl trichloroethane (DDT), and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).

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529 Words | 3 Pages

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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761 Words | 4 Pages

Louisiana: The History of an American State discusses how culture and geography relate to each other in Chapter 1 and 2. In Ch. 2,”Louisiana ’s Geography”, the writers of the textbook divide the discussion about geography into five different topics. Organized into their own section, the topics include ’location’, ‘waterways’, ‘natural regions’, ‘climate’, and ‘human environment interaction’.

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(Doc A) We also don’t have much supplies left. We are low on food, weapons, and having no food leads to death and horrible sickness. The vomit surrounds our camp, and the smoke pollutes our air. (Doc C)

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Montezuma II, also known as Moctezuma or Motecuhzoma Xocoyotzin, was the 9th emperor of the Aztecs. Montezuma II was born around the year 1466. He was already becoming a successful ruler before he even became an emperor from 1502-1520. Evidence show that Montezuma II was quite a diligent, smart and hard-working ruler. He ruled an empire that had 5-6 million people.

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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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711 Words | 3 Pages

There was once a time where the rivers were venomous, the fields were poisonous, and even the air breathed by men, women, and children alike was toxic. This is a world that Rachel Carson, the famous and honored biologist, that wrote Silent Spring, lived in and envisioned as a world that could be saved. She immediately slams down on the national arena and alarmingly claims that the environment that humans thrive in is a world seeped with death and killing, and that the use of parathion (a type of pesticide) is the agent to blame. She targets farmers who she claims poison and kill creatures that they deem as pests to their crops, including insects and even birds. In the end, she mainly targets the “authoritarian” that was given the power to take

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A New York Times article examines the changing of EPA regulations regarding toxic chemicals. Despite scientists warning that certain chemicals cause birth defects, cancer, and other health issues, the EPA has made it harder to evaluate the effects of these chemicals and thus regulate them. The deregulation has been spearheaded by a representative of the chemical industry, who now holds a high position in the EPA. The decision to deregulate chemicals that pose a danger to the public is a prime example of the trend that government increasingly caters to powerful interests.

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Lord of the Flies, a book that proudly displays the insanity in all of us. Lord of the Flies is about a group of boys who learn to survive on an island after their plane crashes and leaves them deserted. The 12 year old boys learn to hunt, sleep and survive. In Golding's Lord of the Flies, fear dominates the island as the boys start to fear the unknown, they fear abandonment and they fear their insanity that has gotten the best of them.

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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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1555 Words | 7 Pages

Sound of silence meaning One of the biggest hang ups we have today is inability of people to touch other people, unable to love other people. This is a song about the inability to communicate - Paul Simon Sound of silence is about a struggle to share and exchange MEANINGFUL ideas. The people “talking without speaking” and “hearing without listening” are too afraid to share their deep and personal ideas or consider the ideas of others. Sound of silence interpretation Interpretation 1 I find that this song isn’t only just about the ignorance and willingness of people to follow a set regime, but also about consumerism, with the “neon gods” being brightly lit adverts seen everywhere.

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757 Words | 4 Pages

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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1817 Words | 8 Pages

Pesticides and How it Works Abstract: A pest is "a plant or creature unfavorable to people or human concerns". Pesticide is Chemical or natural substance intended to slaughter or retard the development of pests that harm or meddle with the development of products, bushes, trees, timber and other vegetation coveted by people. Keywords: Antimicrobials, Antimicrobials, Herbicides Introduction:

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With time comes changes, and these changes are widely observed throughout history as the societal norms, values, and politics of a region shift. In the text The Silent Revolution by Ronald Inglehart, there is an analysis of these changes between the people of a jurisdiction and their influence on politics. The topic of this work still holds true today, because the first world continues to prioritize more post material values, as opposed to the bare necessities, and it is demonstrated in the ideals of differing generations.

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