This site is dedicated to ‘Silent Spring’ a book written by Rachael Carson about half a century ago. 24 students of ENV 102-section 002 will be working on this site.
Students will be divided into 4 teams with 6 students in each team. Each team will select on one specific topic from the following list and post their research and findings on this site. Of course, each topic should have a heading and a list of contributors.
These topics are:
(1) The life of Rachael Carson and the impacts of Silent Spring on American Environmental Awareness.
(2) Environmental toxicity of chlorohydrocarbons.
(3) Environmental toxicity of organic phosphates
(4) Unsustainable environmental impacts of industrial farming
(5) Bio-magnification of environmental toxicity
Rachel Carson was an amazing woman who with her unique writing style showed the impacts of toxic chemical agriculture in her book Silent Spring. Although she had written and published 4 books as well as had a book published posthumously, Silent Spring remains the most popular amongst them all. According to the New Yorks times, Carson knew that housewives would be the majority of readers and as a result Carson had to appeal to them. It is astonishing that Carson shed light to modern ecology and ultimately started a motion that allowed people to see the effects of synthetic pesticides such as DDT. No only did it affect wildlife but also could have an impact on children, which proved to be a horrible consequence of DDT becoming a part of the food chain. Carson also used simple terms when explaining topics that not every citizen would be aware of, and ultimately it allowed a broader audience for the information she was trying to convey. As a result of her work, no only did she make a huge contribution to the banning of DDT, but she also received a handful of awards for her works and contributions. She received numerous honorary degrees from universities as well as became the second woman who was elected in the National Institute of Arts and Letters. Even though she died on April 14th, 1964 her legacy remains and inspires new environmentalists even today, 55 years later.
We have the first one, the Life of Rachel Carson. I really enjoyed the book and how she created so much influence within our Government back then and being a woman on top of that. The fact that a Woman in American Society in the sixties being able to do that? Especially with that much charisma and knowledge but had the ability to steer our country in the right direction was pretty much amazing, to say the least. In the last 70 years or so, not much has really changed. Yes, the EPA has come out with different policies, different methods of enforcement, etc. I get that, however, we still are damaging our society as a whole. The names like DDT which was used for agricultural use for insecticides, for example, were used and then removed for public use in the early seventies due to health and environmental hazards. (see Rachel Carson) Yet, still today we are still doing the same type of things, so my question is “when do we break the cycle of idiocy”? We never seem to learn from history in regards to needing the necessary amount to sustain our planet and the human race.
TEAM SEA TURTLES
Blog Topic:
(1) The life of Rachael Carson and the impacts of Silent Spring on American Environmental Awareness.
Rachel Carson was published in 1962 for one of her most influential Pulitzer Prize-winning books, Silent Spring. Publication of her works preceded her death by two years, but still managed to have a profound impact on American culture, as well as across the globe. After citizens were educated on the ramifications of DDT, a known chlorinated hydrocarbon that causes endocrine disruptions, the establishment known as Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came into fruition and blossomed.
Upheaval to the enlightenment of this knowledge, also invited the criticism of the pesticide industry, wherein the chemical DDT was believed to basically kill anything in its path. Slander of the pesticide industry brought on by Silent Spring, would cause an economic loss for the companies and later would ensue in their rebuttal to save face. This led to the attempted ‘disproving of evidence’ and proclaimed ‘female hysteria’ led by the pesticide industries.