The publication of Silent Spring in 1962 led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency and a ban on the production of DDT in this country. The book popularized the idea that human health depends on the health of the ecosystem as a whole, but Carson did not use the word ecosystem. She preferred the metaphor of an “intricate web of life,” in which a disturbance anywhere on the web sends tremors across the entire web. “Silent Spring,”
I can’t help but be reminded of this TedTalk (https://youtu.be/V8APZmk82xc?si=0S8zfdqK1TK5cqY5) by an epidemiologist on the pandemic. She calls for reform, and tells us there is no going back. She emphasizes it’s possible that we have done it before (firefighting and fire safety).
