Rachel Carson's Silent Spring - Essay Example

Rachel Carson's Silent Spring Celebrated as the cornerstone of new environmentalism, Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson marked the launch of the environmental movement in the contemporary world. Reading the book within its historical context, one is introduced to the effects of industrialization, the development of U.S. conservation and environmental policies, and Carson’s revolutionary work in this regard. Significantly, the book reminds the readers about the environmental and human dangers of unsystematic use of pesticides, the relevance of spurring radical changes in the laws affecting air, land, and water in the modern world.

In an ‘Introduction’ to the work, Linda Lear wrote: “Carson’s writing initiated a transformation in the relationship between humans and the natural world and stirred an awakening of public environmental consciousness… Carson’s thesis that we were subjecting ourselves to slow poisoning by the misuse of chemical pesticides that polluted the environment…contained the kernel of social revolution.” (Lear, x) Therefore, it is essential to recognize that Carson, as one of the greatest nature writers in the modern world, inspired and motivated a generation of environmental activists.

This paper makes a reflective exploration of how Silent Spring fits into the larger story of conservation and environmentalism in America and how it changed public opinion about pesticide use and environmentalism in general. In a profound investigation of the major arguments of Rachel Carson in Silent Spring, it becomes evident that the author is mainly concerned about a revolution in the relationship between humans and the natural world. Significantly, the author emphasizes the thesis that uncontrolled and unexamined use of pesticides ultimately harms the nature by killing animals, birds, and, more perilously, human beings.

The author’s arguments concerning conservation and environmentalism become evident in the title of the work itself which refers to a spring season without songs of birds and dynamicity of the nature due to the harmful effects of pesticide abuse. In fact, the author effectively recounts the fable of America’s tomorrow when the “farmers spoke of much illness among their families… There was a strange stillness… The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly.

It was a spring without voices.” (Carson, 2) Therefore, Carson convincingly portrays the destructive effects of pesticide abuse in the contemporary America using compelling images and plausible narrative. According to the author, the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and lethal materials is the most alarming of all man’s assaults. It is fundamental to recognize that the book Silent Spring perfectly fits into the larger story of conservation and environmentalism in America by underlying the inevitability of conservation and environmental policies.

It brings out the dangerous effects of industrialization and pesticide abuse in order to bring about a new public opinion about pesticide use and environmentalism in general. Significantly, Carson makes a link between pesticide abuse and human’s vulnerability to the dangerous chemicals, and between the sudden rise and prodigious growth of industry and the suffering of the animate and inanimate world. By highlighting the two broad fronts in which the environment is affected today, the author establishes the need for conservation and environmental policies.

As Carson maintains, a process of genetic selection which produces the insects developing strains resistant to chemicals is dangerous to the environment. Along with this, “our chemical attack is weakening the defenses inherent in the environment itself, defenses designed to keep the various species in check.” (Carson, 246) It is fundamental to realize that the book Silent Spring absolutely creates a new outlook among general public towards the entire issue of pesticide use and industrialization.

It is through her advocacy of nature and environmental ethics that Rachel Carson, founder of contemporary environmental movement, emphasizes the need for change in environmental policies today. Works Cited Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2002. P 2. Lear, Linda. “Introduction.” Silent Spring. Rachel Carson. New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. 2002. P x.