Silent Spring By Rachel Carson

Maya Angelou once said, “You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter the defeats, so you can know who you are, what you can rise from, how you can still come out of it”. Perseverance is exactly that: overcoming struggles and not being defeated. There are many different ways to interpret the meaning of the word perseverance. This is the idea that will be explained in this paper. Perseverance is the topic of this essay because it is a main theme that has been explored in the books read by the freshmen English class. Perseverance is an idea that mostly has one definition, but the meaning of the word can be understood many different ways by different people. Perseverance is a universal

Contrast and Death In the short story “The Flowers” by Alice Walker, she uses the story of Myop to effectively contrast the issue of death that has profoundly influenced her. The utilization of contrast helps develop the main issue that has resided near Myop yet hasn’t effectively shown itself unless physically obtained. Young Myop’s encounter with death has certainly denuded the flower that has come to signify beauty and life.

The oceans need to be protected because it is where life began and if not taken care of, life as we know it will end. The well-being of the ocean is constantly being threatened and needs to stop. When dangerous substances go into the ocean, ecosystems suffer and become endangered along with the lives of people and marine life. The importance of protecting and preserving the quality and biodiversity of the world 's coasts must be recognized because they are truly irreplaceable. If humans are not educated , and become careless about what is thrown on the ground or sprayed on lawns, disastrous effects follow when it comes to the condition of the ocean’s ecosystems, which can endanger life itself, leading to a problem only we can correct. There is historical evidence of ocean pollution, although the problem still shadows us today.

Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, is a writer,and she is known for many auto-biographical novels and she also writes poetry and essays. She also loved to study music, dance,and drama. From 1963 to 1966 Angelou was involved in the black civil rights movement. Maya Angelou wrote this specific poem called; “Phenomenal Women”. Angelou has a very creative way of saying things throughout her poem. Angelou talks about a woman in the poem that talks about herself a lot she repeats the phrase“ I’m a woman Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman that's me”( Angelou) therefore Angelou might be this person in her poem. Angelou is trying to show the reader that you need to have more confidence in your own person instead of worrying about others judgment.

Although everyone is their own individual, society determines who is considered “normal.” In Flowers for Algernon, Charlie Gordon struggles to fit in with the people around him because of his mental illness. Elie Wiesel faces the same struggles while trying to survive in a concentration camp in Night. Charlie and Elie have both been challenged by the concept of identity. In Flowers for Algernon and Night, these characters have faced many conflicts including not having their identity accepted by society, having insecurities about their identity, and being mistreated based on their identity.

Unbroken is the story of the life and hardships faced by Louie Zamperini. Starting as a troublesome child Louie is a constant problem to all around him. He turns his ways around and turns to running where he is rewarded greatly, qualifying for the olympics. After his reign of fame, Louie joins the air corps where he struggles with fear and boredom. During one mission his plane fails and he and two other crew mates are stuck stranded in the ocean.

In the book, “ Reign of Error” by Diane Ravitch, Published on September 17th, 2017 the theme is, Educating people about what’s really wrong with our education system. We seem to have this misconception that all kids who are the same age should be on the same standard of intelligence. What some do not realize is that not all kids learn at the same pace or the same way. In the chapter “ The Facts about Teachers and Test Scores” Ravitch says, “ Educators say that every child can learn, but they understand that children learn at different rates and that some inevitably learn more than others” (Ravitch, 99), she is saying that some do not acknowledge that every child and person is different. Everyone is constantly moving at a different pace,

In World War One, the war was fought in two places, in France and in England. England was never physically in the war, but France truly saw the actions. The citizens of England put their best foot forward when it came to contributing to war. The truth was that there was a great divide between the two fronts. The war front, fields bloodied and smear with greasy mud. The home front, standing tall with pride, patriotism, and power. In the book, Not so Quiet…. written by Helen Smith, who have experienced the cruel harsh reality of the war, she describes the ugly side of the war and how everyone view the war. When the war started in 1914, there was need for manpower on the front line, men and women step up to take on roles, Helen was among a group of other girls that contributed on taking on the role of taking care of the wounded and the deceased.

The book Speak is written by Laurie Halse Anderson. This moving novel expresses the struggle a victim can experience after rape and or physical and mental abuse from family and friends. Also the harshness that can sometimes come along with high school and adapting to the type of group you want to fit in with. Throughout the book the author try to teach or at least make you think as the reader who you can really trust as friends and people in general.

In the eighteen hundreds, women were expected to love their husbands, clean and cook, and take care of the children. Most women had to listen to what their husbands said and follow it, so there were not much equal rights in the time. However, in the book The Awakening, the main character Edna is not the typical nineteenth century women. Edna cares about her children, but she is not the motherly figure. Furthermore, she does not worship her husband like many other women do, and she becomes rebellious towards her husband, which is very odd at the time. Throughout the Novella, Edna awakens to her true potential. However, after a couple obstacles she could not take it and decides to kill herself. People argue if Edna’s suicide is her full transformation to awakening, but in all actuality it is her failed attempt of truly becoming free.

In 2009, Dr. Sylvia Earle wrote The World is Blue to educate and alert the reader about human impacts on marine ecosystems. Through this book she conveys her passion and methodical arguments concerning the importance of the conservation of the ocean, which encompasses approximately 80 percent of the earth’s surface. Dr. Earle states “the ocean touches you with every breath you take, every drop of water you drink, every bite you consume” (17). This statement emphasizes the significance of the ocean, not only for marine life, but all life forms on earth. The book implies that currently in today’s world, the conservation of the ocean requires a global effort to reduce human damage from the past generations. Using facts gleaned from credible scientific resources, she defines the problems of overfishing, bycatch, and pollution. By analyzing human impacts on marine ecosystems, Dr. Earle determines successful and unsuccessful solutions to these problems and suggests various ways individuals can change their lifestyles to reduce impact on the environment as a whole.

After the industrial revolution the Earth left its sustainability (Holocene) era to enter an uncertain future. The Anthropocene period involves the Earth’s well-being since this period of sustainability ended and the Earth has become more susceptible to the destructive ways of its human inhabitants. A group of twenty-eight scientist have recently (2009) gathered to devise a way to ensure humans do not continue their trend towards irreversible damage. These scientist came up with the framework for defining a reasonable range for humans to work in. Passing these thresholds could mean effects to local and regional problems to global effects depending on which boundaries are pushed. These planetary boundaries, with each threshold threat stated,

With the 1960s came a need for change, as an immense amount of smog and toxic chemicals used in agriculture and industry caused, the blue to fade away from the sky and water in America. Rachel Carson provided the catalyst for this change with her book Silent Spring published in 1962, which revealed the harmful impacts of pesticides on almost all wildlife and human beings. People reading a book wouldn’t be enough, though, for twenty million Americans came together on April 22, 1970, to celebrate the beauty of Earth and raise awareness about increasing concerns for the environment and declining quality of life. (maybe add a sentence about structure and diversity of the movement) Without these key events leading to the Environmental Movement’s diversity and unique structure through the 1970s, American values in politics and way of life would not have been able to change.

It was Mihaljo Mesarovic, the author of “Mankind at the Turning Point”, who once said “The Earth has cancer and the cancer is man”. He was definitely onto something. In fact, humans have had a major negative impact on the world’s marine environment. Throughout recent human history, it has been obvious that the wellbeing of the marine environment has been in jeopardy. Pollution of the ocean, overfishing and the greenhouse gases these are all the aspects that can cause the destroying of the precious environments, such as reefs, sea-grass and coastal habitats. According to the essay and interview “Seafarming at the End of the World”, written by Peter Meehan, he presents the fact that human impact on the ocean is the main reason that causes the awful situation of marine ecosystem and organisms.

Biodiversity refers the existing variations present which form an ecosystem enabling human survival. However, the alteration of the world habitat has caused a shift in biodiversity. The role of ecologists is to ensure that there is no extinction of various species in the world due to reckless human behaviour. The maritime environment is among the worst hit areas as human activity creates an imbalance in the water levels. Factors such as dumping of human waste consisting of non-biodegradable materials are a causative factor for the possible mass extinction of marine plants and animals (Galgani et al. 45). Oil spills, overfishing, and shipping activities are further causes of adverse effects experienced. Human activity has over the years resulted in drastic climatic changes.