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 Silent Spring :: 0618249060
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| Silent Spring, released in 1962, offered the first shattering look at widespread ecological degradation and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists. Rachel Carson's book focused on the poisons from insecticides, weed killers, and other common products as well as the use of sprays in agriculture, a practice that led to dangerous chemicals to the food source. Carson argued that those chemicals were more dangerous than radiation and that for the first time in history, humans were exposed to chemicals that stayed in their systems from birth to death. Presented with thorough documentation, the book opened more than a few eyes about the dangers of the modern world and stands today as a landmark work. Editorial Descriptions are usually submitted by the manufacturers, publishers and authors. Contact us if you are one of them, and wish to change the above description. |
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Author: Guest
It certainly doesn't take a rocket scientist to understand that whatever "inputs" we put into a system (Earth, humans, water, air, etc.), will in turn impact the system and the systems "outputs." If we put poison into the soil, air, and water, we will ultimately re-ingest these materials and create a toxic environment that will be unable to support the system that we are purportedly trying to save. Do the logic yourself. What kind of logic is it that would say that malaria deaths justify the use of DDT? We have no idea of how many millions, or billions, of people globally have been impacted by its use in the forms of debilitating illnesses and death from cancer and the like. With this false rationale, just as in the current debate over the use and subsequent output of carbon materials, we are again showing our naivete in believing that we can put a "technological" fix on an issue that is better addressed by the way we live and consume. So, we save all these poor souls from malaria, but then we give them a planet that is poisonous? Nonsensical at best.
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Author: Guest
Although this book was published more than 40 years ago, it's still worth a read. I found it interesting, informative and disturbing. Although I know DDT has been banned, I can't help but worry about some of the lasting effects of it and other chemicals used as pesticides or insecticides.
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Author: Guest
Before this misguided book was published, DDT was successfully reducing malaria deaths across the globe. After it, and the subsequent ban on DDT, millions of people have suffered and died needlessly. For example, in Sri Lanka in 1948, there were 2.8 million malaria cases and 7,300 malaria deaths. With widespread DDT use, malaria cases fell to 17 and no deaths in 1963. After DDT use was discontinued, Sri Lankan malaria cases rose to 2.5 million in the years 1968 and 1969, and the disease remains a killer in Sri Lanka today.
Carson' science is dodgy, her conclusions false and her prescriptions plain wrong. Do not buy this book
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Author: Guest
When Silent Spring was first published I was a young chemist working for a chemical company in Philadelphia. I remember well how she was engaged in a TV debate with one of the big guns from one of the major manufacturers of insecticides. I thought she handled herself very well then and for the remainder of her life while she endured withering attacks from vested interests and people who want to live in a dream world. To the people who say she caused the deaths of millions because she stopped the use of DDT, you didn't read the book! Mosquito resistance to DDT is easily developed and its continued use will lead to mosquitos of greater resistance. It may be true there are application methods for DDT that are relatively safe for protection against various mosquito borne diseases but she did not cause them to be outlawed. Even though the Government screws up often,it does ocasionally makes fact based decisions that are correct. If DDT is outlawed, it is because the facts dictate it, not Rachel Carson.
For those misinformed souls who think DDT is not toxic, you lie or you have been lied to. Just goggle "DDT toxicity" and you will find out what a danger this chemical really is.
Her science is sound. After 44 years, her book is still worth a read. Much progress has been made to protect our environment. This book has played an important part in making this happen.
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Author: Guest
Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" was the impetus that brought about the environmental movement as we know it today. Her unparalleled research, during 1962, exposed and condemned the use of DDT and ADT as forms of chemical pesticides and insecticides. The book provides shocking evidence and anecdotes of the affects of contamination, which often lead to death. Her stories and evidence was shocking because it not only opened the eyes of millions Americans to the carcinogens they were eating daily, but it opened up an entirely different area of environmental science. No long was it limited to preservation, such as the Sierra Club, but now the idea that humans have a negative impact on the environment.
I believe Carson wrote this book as a wake up call to the American Public. After observing a "Silent Spring", in which no birds chirped or bugs buzzed, she dug deeper into the extent at which these chemicals were being used. She was compelled to do research and write this book because she wanted people to know what havoc these chemicals were having on the earth.
If you are interested in environmental science I feel this book is a great tool for learning where environmental history begins, a lot of it begins with this book. If Carson hadn't written this book, then the use of DDT and ADT would still be in effect today. That thought alone would provide us with a much different future, in both a negative and positive light, because while DDT and ADT were bad, we have to this day, not found equivalent replacements that are as effective.
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