AP Environmental Science: Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

As human beings we’re all affluent to live on this fascinating place called earth. We live everyday normally just as every other human, animal or insect. But we eradicate insects and animals as if they aren’t as important as we are. Nature is being inherently demolished by humans who are oblivious to know that all living things on the earth have a purpose . However, Annie Dillard, well-known for her ambiguous nonfiction books help support the importance of nature and why we shouldn't intrude upon it. For example, Dillard’s excerpt from “The Fixed” about a Polyphemus Moth uses countless rhetorical strategies to construct a compelling message about the peace and beauty of nature, but it also illustrates how easily mankind can destroy it. Therefore, a part of nature is to be naturally

Rachel Carson’s Man and the Stream of time possesses enlightening perspectives of nature that have been marinating in her mind for ten years. Her writing reflects upon the effects that man has on nature and the role he plays in the ever changing environment. Her sole observation is that it is man’s nature to want to conquer the world, but nature is not one to be conquered. The writer affirms that nature is an entity that must be dignified, Like English poet Francis Thompson said, “Thou canst not stir a flower without troubling of a star.” Most environmentalist would agree that nature is not stationary, we cut the trees now today, its not just the trees that disappear ten years from now. As humanity advances, we create a multitude of

Aldo Leopold laid the foundation for environmental awareness decades ahead of a “ecological conscience” (257). There have many pleas to reconnect humanity with nature since the release of Leopold’s cherished book. Intuition and reason tell us that living in harmony with our world is more than idealistic—the future of our planet depends on it. The desire for harmony is not new one. Humans have long time sought to live in peace. It is genuine feelings of love and

In Dillard’s “Living Like Weasels,” she provides us one way we can try to learn from nature and accept the advice it bestows upon us. Although this is not everything Mother Nature has to offer us, it is one step in the right direction towards enlightenment. In Grice’s “The Black Widow,” he provides us with one example from the many amazing parts of nature that we fail to comprehend. He shows us that although some things do not fit into our idea of a perfect world, we should still marvel at the mysterious workings of nature. If you take the time to stop and smell the roses, you will be fascinated by the various lessons our complex world has to offer us and awed by the aspects of it we have no reasonable explanations

Nature has played an enormous part in our lives. From the childhoods of unwanted or loved trips to the country to the issue of climate change, we have all had our part to play in the matter. And yet it affects us as well. Without the presence of nature, we would not be able to survive. Both Rachel Carson and Henry David Thoreau understand the necessity of nature and humanity's lack of love for it. However, they are not without any dissimilarity. Carson's "A Fable for Tomorrow" and Thoreau's Walden are both serious, persuasive pieces that consider the current habits of the American people to be harmful and use pathos as one of their methods to convey this message. However, the differences in time periods, messages, rhetorical effects, and approaches reveal a clear rift between the two works.

Humankind co-exists with the natural world many may say. However, humankind is constantly drifting away from nature, and we as humans no longer interact with the natural world around us. Today most of the society focuses on technology and other aspects that distract us from being in contact with nature. As we grow in our lives we seem to die in our interactions with nature, causing us to become less involved, and then that causes nature to die itself. From us neglecting the environment we suffer great consequences with the natural world and within ourselves. We lack the ability to understand and connect with the environment, and with us not focused on our world we cause it to become into dangerous hands. We no longer should just sit back and

Besides hard-hitting statistics and real-world examples, Carson’s book includes the overarching theme of the relationship between mankind and nature. In a world so connected, she argues, our ability to change the environment around us must be treated with extreme caution. I hold the belief that nations should embrace science and the scientific method wholeheartedly as a way to improve the means by which we live and treat the environment. In my own book, I reference the fact that “science alerts us to the perils introduced by our world-altering

In this text, William Cronon analyzes the perspective of nature in today’s society. The author elaborates on the concept of nature and the environment; Cronon challenges popular ideas related to these concepts. According to the text, there are many perspectives of nature throughout society. These different perspectives influence how we react and view the environment. A prominent view that is mentioned in the text is nature as something that is “out there.” In short, this perspective perceives nature as something separate from humanity. For example, a person might take a trip into nature and return back to their home that is separate from the nature they experienced. Cronon challenges this perspective by implying that nature might not be disconnected

Some may say we have lost the connection or relationship with nature . The world as a whole has become more and more distant as time has went on. The earth is used for so much but many don’t take enough time to realize how much it is actually used. The relationship between the earth and its people is explored in Ralph Waldo Emerson’s “Nature” and Mark Twain’s “The Lowest Animal” In both of these pieces the authors go into the relationship between nature and the people though they both have this in common they each have their differences as well. While comparing and contrasting these texts it opens up the mind to view things that may not usually be seen. Such as the behaviors and habits of the many people that live on this planet earth.

Rachel Carson opens her book Silent Spring with a fable that reads, “There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings.” Carson goes on to describe this town, a place of beauty, situated in the midst of farmlands. But then, she proclaims, “a strange blight crept over the area and everything began to change.” Carson states, “There was a strange stillness. The birds, for example – where had they gone? Many people spoke of them, puzzled and disturbed. The feeding stations in the backyards were deserted. The few birds seen anywhere were moribund; they trembled violently and could not fly. It was a spring without voices.” Rachel Carson was born into the noise of the industrial age. She grew up in the town of Springdale, Pennsylvania, where she witnessed the once beautiful land surrounding her home rapidly destroyed, polluted by the engines of industry. Carson attended the Pennsylvania College for Women and later went on to receive a master’s in zoology from Johns Hopkins University. Carson then worked as a marine biologist from 1936 to 1952 for the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and later, the Fish and Wildlife Service. However, Carson was not only a research scientist but a renowned writer. She wrote several books, that describe in intricate detail the inner most workings of the sea, including The Edge of the Sea, Under the Sea Wind, and The Sea Around Us, for which Carson was awarded the 1952 National Book Award. Truly,

Throughout American history, humans have never had a positive and unified way to name and interact with nature. Many disagree on a definition for nature, and when a definition gains traction, it often leads to destruction masked as “progress” (Marx 14). But not all definitions of nature are so damaging. Ursula Goodenough, a biology professor at Washington University in St. Louis, wrote The Sacred Depths of Nature to create a new religion based in nature (Department of Biology). Goodenough’s treatment of “nature” illustrates her unique interpretation of the word. Goodenough understands the word nature to mean life, and life means biology. She uses this appeal to scientific reasoning to inspire humans to care for the world we live in. And while

“Global warming, along with the cutting and burning of forests and other critical habitats, is causing the loss of living species at a level comparable to the extinction event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. That event was believed to have been caused by a giant asteroid. This time it is not an asteroid colliding with the Earth and wreaking havoc: it is us.” This is the statement that Al Gore made in his movie, An Inconvenient Truth: The Planetary Emergency of Global Warming and What We Can Do About It. For the last several years, movies like this have been in the mainstream. The environment, climate change, and global warming have been at the forefront of global sociopolitical issues. But what is “global warming” truly? According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, global warming refers to the recent and ongoing rise in global average temperature near Earths surface… caused mostly by increasing concentrations of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. Global warming is causing climate patterns to change.” (EPA) The EPA, NASA, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, along with 97% of climate scientists all agree – humans are the major cause of global warming and climate change. (NASA) To determine whether or not this is true, one must look at the evidence for rapid climate change itself, and then the evidence of all the causes, and

The two aspects that shaped Rachel Carson’s life was the glue factory right around the corner of her childhood home and her book the Silent Spring. The factory “passers-by could watch old horses file up a covered wooden ramp to their death” (Griswold). As a young child witnessing a particular work left an effect on Carson’s life. Additionally, the citizens were forced “from sitting on their porches in the evening” (Griswold). Rachel Carson surroundings established her opinion on our world’s environment and influenced her to being a biologist.

Rachel Carson was an environmental advocate who believed that us humans, are responsible for the Earth and how it will turn out in future years. She showed the readers of Silent Spring a very vivid image of an idyllic planet. She also showed an even more vivid image of the planet in a type of “void”. Rachel Carson uses imagery, contrast and, inductive reasoning to get her message across.

Scintillating stars dot the night sky, glistening brightly as if to soften the profound blackness that surrounds the Earth. A gentle wind breezes, moving the towering trees in a synchrony that elicits a sense of wonder. Noises, quite dissonant and unintelligible to the human ear, howl dolefully in the distance. For a moment, it seems, a synergy with the greater cosmos is possible. Can one resist being moved by such equanimity with a world unknown? How can one not be provoked to thought, to a pondering of the existences of creatures that live intertwined with humanity, and yet remain so unfathomable? Regretfully, the modern, “civilized” Westerner is inculcated with a mode of thinking that precludes such an equilibrium with the environment. As such, the realities of the nonhuman world fail to have eminence; the importance of nature, and of its destruction, tragically eludes humankind. Such Western antagonism toward nature creates an impasse that not only sunders physical and spiritual well-being, but also threatens humanity’s delicate interspecies relationships, as well as interactions among human beings.