Silent Spring

by Rachel Carson

They should not be called ‘insecticides’, but ‘biocides’.

Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it.

The public must decide whether it wishes to continue on the present road, and it can do so only when in full possession of the facts. In the words of Jean Rostand, ‘The obligation to endure gives us the right to know.’

Seldom if ever does nature operate in closed and separate compartments, and she has not done so in distributing the earth’s water supply.

Our attitude towards plants is a singularly narrow one. If we see any immediate utility in a plant we foster it. If for any reason we find its presence undesirable or merely a matter of indifference, we may condemn it to destruction forthwith.

Another almost unexplored area is the question of interactions between chemicals, a question that becomes especially urgent when they enter the marine environment where so many different minerals are subjected to mixing and transport.