Silent Spring (1962) By Rachel Carson

For my recent vacation I purposely packed Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. The vacation, in the Galapagos Islands, seemed the perfect setting for a re-read; and the timing couldn’t possibly be more urgent.  Carson’s book when published in 1962 ignited a firestorm which elevated environmentalism into a movement.  Within eight years the movement, with bi-partisan political support, led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The EPA came into being because Carson scared the living daylights out of the American public by reporting on the myriad of documentation connecting the dots between chemical pesticides and environmental poisoning. Unlike the plethora of documents she referenced, Carson’s book was readable to the non-scientist public.  Collectively pesticides, such as DDT, designed to target and eliminate specific insect pests, paid no regard to whatever else they might impact. 

What they eliminated was everything they came in direct contact with, pest or not. The impact was far greater, ricocheting through the entire food chain and ecology, including humans.  The chemical industry was advertising the pesticides’ alleged effectiveness with little regard to consequences.  That the U.S. Department of Agriculture also gave little regard to consequences, ignoring the documentation they possessed, remains unforgivable. 

While the emphasis in Carson’s book is on agricultural pesticides, it does not end there. Her book also provides ample examples of environmental poisoning with industrial use chemicals, water contamination through agricultural run-off and industrial dumping, and air pollution (i.e. acid rain).  GMO’s were only theoretical when the book was written.

Although the creation of the EPA began to address these issues, they continue to this day.  Industrial farming cares greatly about this year’s profits, and little about consequences.  Refineries and steel mills on Lake Michigan still dump poisons into its tributaries, and sometimes even directly into the lake.  The Ohio River is basically open to shipping, and ill-advised for fishing.  The idea of fishing the Calumet River is enough to make one retch.  And, then there is the visible evidence of what happens when industry is given a blank check: Butte Montana, in the otherwise beautiful state.

What makes Silent Spring a classic is its continuing relevance.  What makes it an important reminder is the current federal administration’s hell-bent attempts to destroy the Environmental Protection Agency.

 

Recommendation:  Yes, read (or re-read) the book.  Then, register to vote as though your life depends on it, because it does.