Essay on Silent Spring: Unsilenced

Carson was an environmentalist who studied the world intensely. Her book, Silent Spring established the significant discovery on the harmful effects of pesticides. Silent Spring stirred up much controversy and even became a best seller since it was the first work on pesticides. The book recognized how individuals felt about the earth and showed what was to come if they would not change their lifestyle. Her book expressed sincere concern for the environment, and even people’s lives. The concern claimed that both nature and individuals would be in danger if people continued to use pesticides. Reaction to her writing was immediate and led to monumental ideas and

Carson’s primary argument is that the ecosystem is unable to adjust and rebalance itself due to the rapidity of the introduction of chemicals into the environment. She points to the common knowledge that it took hundreds of millions of years for life to evolve to its current state. She goes on to explain how, given time (eons), the environment adjusted to natural dangers such as radiation emitted from certain rocks and short-wave radiation from the sun, but that it is impossible for the earth to adjust and rebalance in the face of man-made threats in the relative miniscule timeframe of decades. Her appeal is both logical and emotional. Logically, chemicals sprayed on croplands, forests or gardens will kill not just “pests” but other living organisms, and that some amount of these chemicals will end up in ground water, causing problems for anyone or anything that depends on this water. Emotionally if the possibility of permanent gene damage, which cause deformities, cancers, and early death, is not enough to encourage a second look at this issue then there is no hope for the planet’s future.

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 “The Obligation to Endure”, Rachel Carson alerts the public to the dangers of modern industrial pollution. She writes about the harmful consequences of lethal materials being released into the environment. She uses horrifying evidence, a passionate tone, audience, and the overall structure of her essay to express to her readers that the pollution created by man wounds the earth. There are many different ways that pollution can harm the environment, from the nuclear explosions discharging toxic chemicals into the air, to the venomous pesticides sprayed on plants that kills vegetation and sickens cattle. The adjustments to these chemicals would take generations. Rachel

In the mid-20th century, farmers used a toxic insecticide named parathion in an attempt to control pests detrimental to their crops. Rachel Carson was a biologist who wrote pamphlets (Lear) on conservation and natural resources designed to inform people on the beauty of the living world. In an excerpt from her 1962 work Silent Spring, Carson calls upon the public to take action against the use of parathion by highlighting its catastrophic nature and vilifying the agricultural community for their negligence.

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

In the article “The Obligation to Endure” by Rachel Carson she explains the danger and harm that comes with using toxic chemicals such as pesticides on our crops. By doing so Carson brings to light that are numerous amounts of people that are un aware of the toxic chemicals that they are unknowingly inviting into their homes and bodies. This is also seen in “Preface” when author Carl G. Herndi  says, “Writers need to make the invisible visible” (xxiv). Furthermore, this can be seen as a wake up call to all humanity. Both Carson and Herndl want to inform people onto what is going on in the world we live in, and to get people to start questioning rather harmful toxics are truly needed, and if so to what extreme.

Rachel Carson purposely uses ethos, a means of convincing someone through an ethnic appeal, in her book Silent Spring. Using a variety of means of persuasion, she pleads to the readers in ways that affect them personally. She starts in chapter one, “A Fable for Tomorrow” by first describing the perfect world. Carson then proceeds to portray a fabricated story of the perfect storm scenario of chemical poisons in the atmosphere. She further clarifies this is not an attack, but rather self-infliction. From there, she describes in details the underlying problems brought upon humans by the chemical poisons used to control insects in chapter two, The Obligation to Endure. It additionally specifies the layout of the history of intervention by

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

Many people have questioned a lot of the government’s actions dealing with chemicals in general. Pesticides have been a popular topic since the realization that these chemicals were poisoning the earth. Rachel Carson led this extremely controversial environmental movement with her book Silent Spring in 1962. The book The Gentle Subversive tells the story of the life of Rachel Carson and how even as gentle, polite and proper she was, she was a subversive by encouraging the rethinking of the “relationship between the human beings and nature by shifting from an anthropocentric notion of earth to a biocentric worldview in which people coexisted with nature and not over it” (Lytle 237). Carson grew up on a farm in Springdale, Pennsylvania with a mother pushing her to learn as much as she could about nature.

The Obligation to Endure is taken from the book Silent Spring by the author Rachel Carson. This piece was written in 1962. It is a very richly worded excerpt, written with the intention of grabbing hold of the reader and opening their eyes to what she sees as a problem within the rise of humanity. The main focus of the topic is that the overuse of insecticides and chemicals which are not only a problem but also a detriment to man as well as nature. Carson makes a very effective argument, bringing awareness to readers and inspiring a call to action.

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.

Albert Einstein once said, "Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." Similar to Einstein, the author Rachel Carson believed that human kind should embrace nature's and help preserve its beauty and life . In the passage from the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, the author informs and persuades her audience against the dangers and misuse of pesticides. Rachel Carson is a renowned writer, ecologist, and scientist who dedicated her life to the conservation of the environment. Throughout her career as an editor in chief, marine biologist, and environmental activist, Carson continued to educate the public about the

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

Carson’s use of an emotional appeal portrays the chemical Strontium 90 as the epitome of the chemicals destroying the environment. Carson tells the reader that humans create deadly substances that tarnish the fabric of society by damaging many aspects of the environment. Carson gives an emotional appeal where a man-made creation hinders the society, “Strontium 90, released through nuclear explosions into the air… and in time takes up its abode in the bones of a human being, there to remain until his death” (245-246). Carson’s explanation of this chemical goes on to say, these chemicals are killing humans by infecting their bones with unneeded poisons. Carson’s emotional appeal executes speaking out for the betterment of the human race. Continuing, Carson uses a rational appeal in the next paragraph by giving logical reasoning about the progressive adaptation and desensitization of insects to these man-made chemicals.