Silent Spring
My grandpa once owned a t-shirt that read, “Take only pictures, leave only footprints.” As I began to read through the pages of Silent Spring I thought about that powerful message. I wondered what pictures we will have for our future generations? The author Rachel Carson, who was a marine biologist with the US Fish and Wildlife Service warned back in 1962, over forty-five years ago about the effects of chemical usage on our environment and felt obligated to write and inform people about what is going on around them. In the book, some see it as a struggle for nature and is an historical account of chemicals affecting our environment. Each chapter is organized by an historical account of different toxins, such as DDT, Aldrin, Dieldrin, Endrin, and Alkly, where the chemicals come from laboratories, hospitals, nuclear explosions, and factories. The book also has case studies on how the chemicals affect our wildlife, our food, and us as human beings. Throughout the book the reader today is reminded that it is an old book, but one that is very relevant to today’s a headline. Silent Spring’s success is that it is truly is a cry for help for everyone to get involved to defend nature. One of the most controversial stories was that of the Coho salmon which started in 1955 in the Yellowstone National Park system. An insecticide called DDT was needed to maintain control among the forest insects. In the fall of that year so many fish had been killed that the fish and game administration became alarmed. Many thought that one pound of the chemical DDT would be ok over an acre of land. Not so, as many of the fish that perished had DDT in their tissues. The effects of DDT were seen in many other fish besides the Coho salmon. Of these fish many went blind, others swam erratically, gasped at the water surface, and showed signs of spasms and tremors. Another problem of the Coho salmon was that the salmon liked to return to the same spawning stream every three years and when DDT overtook the salmon, they were nonexistent. The destruction of fish is cause for alarm to the 15 million Americans who fish for their livelihood and to another 15 million who are anglers. Another example of chemical destruction in our environment is the use of wide spread treatments against insects by airplanes. A French scientist, Leopold Trouvelot allowed gypsy moths to escape his laboratory in Massachusetts. The gypsy moth’s caterpillar stage is very light and can be carried with the wind, or by plants carrying the egg masses. The moth kills the oak tree and other hardwood trees. In response to the moths, spraying started and even city areas were not untouched. The spray hit salt marshes, dairy farms, fishponds, and truck gardens. The governments pest control department moved on to finding another insect to prey upon, the fire ant of the south and the spraying continued.
I noticed throughout the book the author does not sympathize with farmers. Living on a farm myself I have seen the affects on our families nursery stock and the lingering effects on the plants as chemicals from the air affected them were when nearby fields were sprayed. The human effects are numerous and lie in wait within every aspect of our lives. Symptoms from these dangerous chemicals may not appear until twenty years down the line, in which it may be to late. Many have noticed that there are more cases of memory loss, depression, cancer and even schizophrenia. It was said in 1962 that 45,000,000 would die of chemical related cancers alone, think about the numbers today. Chemicals in some way have afflicted every part of life. All forms of life are alike in some manner and each has a stake in how we treat our earth. Charles Darwin’s principal of survival states; “survive a deadly one, then even a more deadly one” gives cause to the idea of what will the future be like with all these chemicals around in our world. Nature is fighting back constantly shifting and making adjustments. Animal populations have been kept in check by the resistance of the environment. For example insects should be able to keep the numbers sustainable, but because of chemicals all may be irradiated. Nature should also be able to be kept in line through reproduction and animals preying on each other. The ultimate goal is to achieve peace between man and nature in which man has to make a choice, which after all, is ours to make. A great quote made by a Milwaukee, Wisconsin woman in the book was, “can anyone imagine a springtime without a robin’s song?” Think about this profound statement. The statement emphasizes the need for a speedy solution to our environment problem. Rachel Carson would be happy to know that six years after her death we celebrate Earth Day and Congress passed the Natural Environmental Policy to protect our rivers, oceans, the earth’s atmosphere, our wildlife and its streams. The findings in Silent Spring also gave way to the establishment if the Endangered Species Act in 1973. This act is one of the most important pieces of conservation as it has led to the recovery of many animals such as the American alligator and our national bird, the bald eagle. After almost fifty years Rachel Carson still challenges institutions, both physically and scientifically, writing in a way that Silent Spring is still relevant today. Silent Spring has opened my eyes to seek out a way to help in any way to better the world around me. Just like that saying on the t-shirt, we need to follow in her footsteps and allow future generations to have the opportunity to take pictures.