Essay On Taking A Stand

Through discussing possible solutions using a critical and cynical tone, Carson identifies the common mistakes and effects that humanity has been creating. The article starts by explaining how common poisoning as a way to control pesky animals has become. Rachel Carson demonstrates, “In southern Indiana, for example, a group of farmers went together in the summer of 1959 to engage a spray plane to treat an area of river bottomland with parathion. The area was a favored roosting site for thousands of blackbirds that were feeding in nearby cornfields. The problem could have been solved easily by a slight change in agricultural practice,” (12-19.) By presenting an example in which poision seems to be the answer and then presenting an uncomplicated solution which would benefit the ecosystem and the farmers, she is emphasizing how simple it is to destroy the Earth. To add on, when the author utilizes the words “easily” and “slight” she brings the audience’s attention to her critical tone by accenting the transparent fix. As the audience is exposed to how mindless their actions were with the the parathion, they understands the author’s discontent of the dangerous manipulation of the farmland.

Carson’s next argument is that the volume of new chemicals coming on the market each year, the universal use of these chemicals on farms, gardens, forests, and homes, and the lack of information on the short or long-term effect of these

Rachel Carson is a noted biologist who studies biology, a branch of science addressing living organisms, yet she has written a book called Silent Spring to speak about the harmful effects of pesticides on nature. Carson doesn’t write about birds’ genetic and physical makeup, the role of them in the animal food chain, or even how to identify their unbelievable bird songs, yet strongly attests the fight for a well developed environment containing birds, humans, and insects is just and necessary. To Carson, the war for a natural environment is instantly essential for holding on to her true love for the study of biology. Thus Carson claims that whether it be a direct hit towards birds or an indirect hit towards humans and wildlife, farmers need to understand the effects and abandon the usage of pesticides in order to save the environment by appealing to officials, farmers, and Americans in her 1962 book, Silent Spring. She positions her defense by using rhetorical devices such as rhetorical questioning to establish logos, juxtaposing ideas, and using connotative and denotative diction.

In her essay Rachel Carson targets anyone who will listen as her audience. She wants to inform human beings of the effects chemicals have on the environment. Rachel Carson’s audience had little knowledge of the effects radiation and pesticides might have on nature or to themselves. She successfully enlightened her audience to the harm man was causing to the environment not only presently, she also wrote of future ramifications. She predicts “Future historians may well be amazed by our distorted sense of proportion. How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by methods that contaminated the entire environment…?” (Carson 615). This statement might make her audience scrutinize their actions through the eyes of future generations.

Rachel Carson is considered one of America's finest science and nature writers. She is best known for her 1962 book, Silent Spring, which is often credited with beginning the environmental movement in the United States. The book focussed on the uncontrolled and often indiscriminate use of pesticides, especially dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (commonly known as DDT), and the irreparable environmental damage caused by these chemicals. The public outcry Carson generated by the book motivated the U.S. Senate to form a committee to

The following involves the second chapter of Carson’s book, Silent Spring that was written in 1962. In this chapter Carson argues persuasively the adverse impacts of pesticides upon the environment and the risks on human health and the environment associated with these “genetic invaders” (Carson, 1962). Many of the extremely diverse people from Carson’s audience targeted were under the impression that chemicals like DDT, at that time in history, were safe for their health. Carson reconciles and attempts to persuade the public to consider the idea that DDT, which in the 1950s and 60s was one of the many chemical pesticides being manufactured and sold to

By this time I had obtained courage to speak out against topics of that were controversial or even at the least uncomfortable for me. The class was structured around climate change and sustainable energy. There was harmonious agreement that water bottles were inefficient and not needed at the university. The opinion further spread to doing away with all water bottles because they were contributing to the decline of the environment. While I agreed water bottles were bad for the planet, I thought about times they were useful in third world countries,not only in third world countries but even in the United States. I was slightly upset because this was after the water crisis in Flint, Michigan had occurred. There was no mention of the importance of water bottles for those in crisis. I was also sensitive because I could recall a time where segregation forced people to drink from two separate fountains. Packages of water bottles were donated were being sent to families affected, I watched this story on the news. I watched this story because Flint, Michigan had a very high population of african-americans affected by this water contamination. Race in my mind, plays a valuable factor when it comes to climate change. The environmental justice movement had gone hand in hand with the civil rights movement. The environmental justice movement sought to stop the minority from paying the consequence of poor

In 17 chapters, many of which can stand alone as essays, Carson develops a deceptively simple premise: the use and overuse of synthetic chemicals to control insect pests introduces these chemicals into the air, water, and soil and into the food chain where they poison animals and humans, and disrupt the many intricate

Wanting to continue her studies as a doctoral candidate, she reluctantly went to work full-time supporting her mother after her father’s death (Mahoney, n.d.). During World War II, she worked with the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries on two different opportunities. The first was writing scripts asking individuals to eat less meat which was rationed at the time; her writing was engaging and simplistic which easily communicated the details. The second was a study about submarine detection by learning about sound waves and sea-life.Carson continued her work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service researching and writing about different issues and studies using layman’s terms for all audiences. She wrote multiple series that were extremely popular because people from non-science backgrounds could understand the issues at hand due to her simplistic writing style while including all the necessary scientific information. She wrote and published multiple books during her 15 years with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service including: Under the Sea Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951) which won multiple awards including a National Book Review and The Edge of the Sea (1955). After 15 years and winning a Guggenheim grant, Carson left the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to focus on writing full-time purchasing a house in Maine and binocular-microscope (Mahoney,

In the book Silent Spring, Rachel Carson’s main concern is the widespread use of synthetic pesticides and their impact on the environment. Carson concentrates on a commonly used pesticide in the 1950s called DDT. She opposes the indiscriminate spraying of DDT because it has profound consequences on the environment, humans and animals. Carson collected information about how the DDT can cause cancer in humans, harm animals such as birds and remained in the environment for long periods of time. Subsequently, the chemicals in the pesticides are extremely harmful so she tries to raise awareness and convince others that there are better alternatives.

This book was focused on the concern of pesticides that industries, along with us as individuals, have been dumping (both knowingly and unknowingly) into water. Carson was concerned that the chemicals which the farmers spread on their fields, and even the chemicals we use in our homes (among others), in the end, might come back around and harm us. The beginning of the book tells a story of a place, that was once so beautiful, turned dead and ugly due to a “strange blight that crept over the area” and destroyed everything. Later in the book, she goes on to explain that chemicals, particularly one known as DDT, are the major cause of environmental damage and the near extinction of

When my history class was told the new NHD theme for this year's History Fair is Taking A Stand in History, I had already known what I wanted to focus on; The battle for women's rights, or the women who have helped. I did not know what I wanted to do at first, but I had remembered seeing a protest on abortions. I then searched abortions and feminism/feminist and what I had found was extremely interesting, yet I still did not know what I wanted to do. My teacher gave me suggestions, and one of the suggestions was Roe v. Wade. I looked up Roe v. Wade up having no idea what it was about, it is about a woman who wanted an abortion not only for the reasons of a mental illness or being endangered but for the reason of wanting an abortion and being her right.

Rachel Carson played a pivotal role in shaping the Environmental Movement and American culture because of her honest, direct disclosure of the matters at hand. Although Carson was not the first person to make these scientific discoveries, she was able to radically change the way millions of Americans perceived the environment and the dangers of toxic chemicals to themselves through vivid, articulate, yet easily understandable language. For instance, in her chapter titled “Elixirs of Death,” she says “For these chemicals are now stored in the bodies of the vast majority of human beings, regardless of age. They

She tries to get across the fact that the aerial spraying campaigns to kill the gypsy moth in the northern states and the fire ant in the southern states were very much damaging, ineffective and also expensive. This incident had a chain reaction resulting in crop failure, hurting wildlife and also cattle products (such as milk) and vegetables were found having DDT and thus unhealthy for human consumption.

We as members of the human race, need to recognize the disregarding we show towards the environment because it may not be long before until this devastation can occur. Though, the way Carson brought up her perspective, may not be an opinion of what the reader may see when taken into deep consideration. The different tactics Carson approaches this topic lets readers think out of the box. It is a matter of opinion of what the reader may see when taken into perspective. We all have different outlooks and aspects when reading, watching, or listening to a scenario. However, one thing we all have in common is our unique minds to how we perceive it, just like how Rachel Carson distinctively uses imagery and rhetorical devices to convey her aspect, unlike any other