SILENT SPRING

An Essay On Silent Spring Written by Rachel Carson



An Essay On Silent Spring Written by Rachel Carson

Introduction

Rachel Carson was a US marine biologist and author best known for writing Silent Spring, a book that documented what the improper usage of pesticides such as DDT did to the environment. Published in 1962, Silent Spring first serialized in the New Yorker, allowing its message to penetrate the public conscience and gain notoriety among its detractors. The book credited with bringing about the environmental and “green” movements. Carson's other books were Under the Sea-Wind (1948), The Sea Around Us (1951), The Edge of the Sea (1955), and The Sense of Wonder (1965). In 1992, Silent Spring got selected as the most influential book of the past 50 years and was a motivating factor in the creation of Earth Day in 1970. Despite her accolades and supporters, Rachel Carson and her book still remain controversial so many decades later. Houghton Mifflin ordered 100,000 copies of Silent Spring to be printed as a result of interest that the articles had generated among the public. Her book opened people up to the idea that something they had thought of as a miracle chemical might be harmful to the environment, and more important, to themselves.

Discussion

Silent Spring is a classic of environmental literature. The idea behind the Silent Spring project had percolated within Rachel Carson for years. In the mid-1940s, she learned about the dangers of DDT. What prompted Carson to write about these chemicals was a 1957 to 1958 lawsuit to block the aerial spraying on DDT on private property. According to her contracts with Houghton Mifflin and the New Yorker, Carson was to serve as the editor for a book regarding the impact toxins had on the environment and have her chapter ...