Chapter Summary: Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

Imagine a world cluttered with trash, once beautiful beaches and parks now overflowing with garbage. Roads no longer driveable, air no longer clean. Masks will be worn, and disease is on the rise. Now, imagine if you could have prevented this. I believe recycling is the first step. As of 2006 America is in the lead for producing the most waste, producing 236 million tons annually. Not only are we producing the most waste but by 2100 scientists estimate the amount will triple which will have serious effects on the Earth. Both physical effects and fiscal which means public services and government budgets will be impacted. Our planet is already feeling the effects of pollution at the rate we're going we won't be able to stop the damage nor repair

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,

The book, Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, warns people about the use of insecticides. When people use pesticides to kill insects, it leads to problems because pesticides transfer from people to animals. Carson shows us when the earth is contaminated with pollution, it is going to take generation after generation to fix. When the chemicals were discovered to make pesticides they were found by accident. People started to use pesticides to kill insects, but the pesticides started to make people sick and to kill them. Pesticides enter the bodies of animals, and then they would transfer the pesticide to their offspring of the animals. Also, pesticides enter the bodies of people and they would transfer the pesticides to their offspring.According to Carson pesticides go into the

Companies constantly face the ethical problem of destroying the environment to create a product. There is a dilemma between creating a good people want, and preserving the environment. I believe there must be a balance between serving the present and the future. Regulations must be more strict in unnecessary destruction, but also understanding that some processes are needed for the well-being of present society. Considering the future and understanding that we are digging a deeper hole for humanity is required, but completely rejecting this change is

The book Silent Spring by marine biologist Rachel Carson was first published in 1962, the central argument is that something mysterious has caused the birds to be silent and new life to be absent in all the farms and back yards of America. This devastating force is revealed as the widespread use of pesticides, including notably the toxic mixture known as DDT, which poison plants, insects, birds and mammals by interrupting key biological processes at the cellular level.

This was a very interesting piece to read. This source is a news report dialogue between the reporter, a former Green Piece activist, and an economics professor. Discussed in the dialogue between the three of them was one main topic; stuff. More importantly, stuff that isn’t used by humans anymore. This stuff is thrown away and dumped in landfills. They start by talking about “The Book of Stuff” written by Annie Leonard who also is the former Green Piece activist. She wrote this book about all the stuff that Americans throw away and don’t always deteriorate. The other person is Russ Roberts who is an economics professor from George Mason University in Washington. He counter-argues Leonards’ topics with saying that the “stuff” made by humans

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There are the manufacturers and corporations whose main concern largely is to profit. there are the environmentalists who want to preserve the community and promote recycling to help diminish the landfills. Then there are the consumers: some who buy what is cheap, and often created with planned obsolescence in mind, some who buy with the environment in mind, but do little research to ensure it is a wholesome company, and then there are those who to extensive research to make sure they are hurting the environment as little as possible. Consumers have the opportunity to make conscious decisions to help our environment, but the reality behind products is well-hidden and needs to be brought to higher attention. Waste epitomizes the American consumer culture to continuously buy new products, and not think about the harm it is causing the environment. Recycling has evolved over time into a ploy to make consumers spend more money, and is causing more harm to the environment by increasing the amount of packaging used over product. The growing consumerist culture can be attributed to the increased “greenwashing” scheme. Is it morally right for companies to increase their waste in order to make more

The Industrial Revolution began in the 18th century; the United States constructed big cities and factories which primarily relied on fossil fuels before government regulations were implemented. These large factories and companies released tons of unfiltered waste products into the atmosphere. By working in these factories, for many American’s their standard of living significantly increased. Fast forward a century and a half later and almost everything in this world today emits carbon; trains, planes, cars, construction, factories, and even breathing. It is time to stop making excuses and being part of the problem. Instead, we should be apart of the solution. We are treating our one and only home, the earth,

In conversations globally the environment is a hot topic. Issues with the ozone layer, depleting natural resources, and health risks associated with emissions and changes in climate coupled with its resulting natural disasters; have pushed conservation issues into the spotlight. The environmental issues presented today are not the result of one country, one type, or one-industry actions but a communal failure of a mixture of several. With that said many countries and industries are going through policy changes to combat environmental issues that will hopefully benefit the environment, the consumer, and industries.

Today's society presents many challenges that were previously unseen in previous generations. The human way of life is threatened by over-consumption, greed and waste. Each individual can combat this trend by accepting responsibility for their environmental impact.

Society as a whole is struggling to balance old dominant western environment ideals with new green environment ideals. As science shows the effects of climate change, and the detriments of a Western consumerist culture on the environment, many people are shifting towards a more green, eco-friendly philosophy. This shift of being conscious of the environment, has prompted some people and companies to make honest changes to preserve and help the environment. This starting shift in society of being eco-friendly has prompted many businesses to jump on this trend, as it looks better to consumers and often saves or makes the companies money. Despite, this new societal shift toward a green paradigm, many parts of society want to hold onto to dominant western ideals of controlling and using the environment’s resources to the advantage of humans. Society is currently wrestling, with whether to follow the ideas of the dominant western paradigm, or the newer green paradigm. Many parts of society are shifting towards a green paradigm, but is this for genuine environmental reasons, or to make money and products, that continue to feed into the consumerism ideals of the old dominant western paradigm?

Due to the larger amounts of products being made, there are more pollutants being emitted, more land is being used, and the harmful gases that is being released into our atmosphere helps to accelerate our climate change problem. In his book No Impact Man, Colin Beavan states, “we work out butts off so we can get the stuff, but the making of the stuff destroys the planet, which makes us more depressed,...” (Beavan, pg 142). In this quote, Beavan states how people keep on buying despite the negative effects it has on our environment.

Faced with the evidence, that finite resources are being depleted; that we are using more than we can replace (D. Meadows et al. 1972); and that climate change is likely to worsen the situation for many people of the world (Stott et al. 2010), business models have to change toward a more sustainable way of living, manufacturing and consuming; moving away from neoclassical industrial approaches. This represent the need for a fundamental conceptual shift away from current ‘take-make-dispose’ system, which generate toxic, one-way, ‘cradle-to-grave’ material flows, moving toward a ‘cradle-to-cradle’ system that can be conceptualized and represented in the Circular Economy; integrating economic activity and environmental welfare in a sustainable way.

Much of this arises from manufacturing organizations that continue to produce large amounts of unnecessary waste or emissions rather than investing in better technologies or practices to prevent its generation at the source (Klassen,2000; King and Lenox, 2002). External pressure applied by customers to achieve the requirements of reduced cost, increasing quality and faster delivery leads to production of unnecessary waste or the choosing of lower-cost but environmentally unsustainable production alternatives (Green et al., 1998).