Silent spring evalution

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson was published in 1962 and the words that she shared with the world then are still influencing us decades later. In a world that is full of pesticides that are harmful to the Earth and the people living in it, Carson took it upon herself to bring forward the issues at hand. She believed that not a lot of thought was going into the chemicals being sprayed into the world and to make others aware was the next step towards a better world. As Brandi Hope Johnson states in her review on the novel, “The book describes the chemical warfare in the United States and other countries that have killed so many organisms”, she shows Carson explains how many species in the world were being killed off because of the carelessness when pesticides were being sprayed. DDT is a major chemical that Carson talks about that has killed off species and how these dangerous materials are being pushed into the foods we eat every single day.

Carson wrote about these deadly chemicals while battling something deadly herself; cancer. I believe this was a motivation for Carson to write Silent Spring because she had her own struggles and wanted to make a difference in the world by researching these different chemicals that were causing a struggle for the Earth. Carson had a deep passion for nature and she wanted to make it known that without nature, man would be nothing. “The “control of nature” is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of biology and philosophy, when it was supposed that nature exists for the convenience of man” (Carson 297). It is just as important then as it is now for us to understand that we need nature to survive. Nature goes through it’s natural cycles and that isn’t something we should try to control with our carelessness. Nature has been here for an ample amount of time and it will be here plenty long after we are gone as well.

Silent Spring is a ten out of ten read and it makes you stop and think while reading. I recommend this book for all ages because I believe you are never too young or too old to make a difference in the world. This book can help you get started on the understandings of the danger chemicals that are wiping out species and entering the food we eat everyday. Chalk full of research, Carson is trusted decades later with her points and we are still learning from her teachings every time we pick up the book.

Work Cited

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Penguin Classics, 2012.

Johnson, Brandi Hope. “Review: Silent Spring by Rachel Carson.” Journal of Sustainability Titles , 1 June 2016, www.unalionsden.com/jnlsustainability/2016/06/johnson-review-carson/.