Introduction
Silent Spring is a 1962 book that highlighted the environmental and health impacts of pesticides. Particularly, the book highlighted the environmental destruction caused by the pesticide, DDT (Carson 21). Some of the public uproar against the use of DDT that occurred in the 1950s and 1960s stemmed from the book.
The book also drew the world’s attention to the harmful properties of DDT by reporting its many harmful effects on wildlife, the environment, and human health. The main narrative of the book pictured a silent life where there were no birds, because they were killed by DDT (hence the title, Silent Spring).
Silent Spring caused a lot of controversy among scientists, environmentalists, and scholars for its political and scientific implications (Murphy 101; Carson 76). On one hand, politicians criticized the book for its lack of balance between the scientific and environmental effects of DDT (Murphy 94).
For example, some politicians said the book “whitewashed” the contributions of DDT in reducing malaria and other diseases (Murphy 94). They claimed that the human health benefits of the pesticide were more than the negative environmental effects of the same.
On the other side of the debate, environmentalists claimed that Silent Spring created a lot of environmental consciousness regarding the negative environmental and health effects of the pesticide (Murphy 1).
In America, the findings of the book contributed to the strengthening of environmental regulations for chemical and pesticide companies (Murphy 98).
Despite the credibility (or lack of it) for both sides of the argument, this paper agrees with the message of Silent Spring by arguing that although the use of DDT has declined in modern times, the environmental destruction of similar pesticides on the environment, wildlife, and human health exists today.
Therefore, although Silent Spring mainly focused on highlighting the negative effects of DDT, the environmental issues discussed in the book are still relevant today.
Why I Agree with the Argument
This paper agrees with the arguments of Silent Spring because DDT has many environmental and health hazards to human and wildlife. Naturally, the environment is a resilient system that thrives on natural ecosystems.
However, the powerful effects of DDT on this ecosystem could destabilize the entire system (Carson 6). Such concerns have not emerged recently because scientists expressed their concerns about the use of DDT, as early as the 1940s.
Such concerns highlighted the persistence of DDT’s harmful effects in the environment, after contaminating soils and other natural resources (Carson 6). As such, Silent Spring highlights many effects of the pesticide, including the contamination of water bodies, wildlife deaths, egg thinning, and similar effects (Carson 6).
The book also highlights the carcinogenic effects of DDT on human health because it increases people’s chances of developing cancer. Similarly, through its toxic effects, DDT also increases people’s chances of developing diabetes and respiratory diseases.
To understand the core message of Silent Spring, it is important to understand why the book mainly focused on the pesticide and ignored the effects of other environmental pollutants. Scientifically, DDT is a fat-soluble pesticide that can dissolve into animal tissue and remain there for a long time (Carson 6).
For example, grasshoppers (and other animals that are in the low food chain) may ingest harmful components of DDT and it dissolves in their fat tissues. Later, animals that eat the grasshoppers ingest the chemical in a similar fashion and suffer the same damage to their tissues, as the grasshoppers do.
Eventually, people eat the same animals and continue the chain of contamination. Consequently, people suffer from damaged genes, birth defects, and impotence (as a few examples of the effects of DDT) (Murphy 102).
An important part of this argument (that explains why the core message of Silent Spring is crucial to the understanding of the environmental challenges that face us today) is the powerful nature of the pesticide. In other words, as opposed to other types of pesticides, DDT is a non-discriminate “killer” because it eliminates different types of pests and insects (this ability stems from its powerful nature).
The same property makes it potentially dangerous to wildlife and human beings. Based on this analogy, the detrimental effects of the pesticide on human and wildlife explain why I concur with the core message of Silent Spring that no country should use DDT because it is harmful.
Why the Environmental Issues are Relevant Today
Although some countries have banned DDT, others still use it for agricultural purposes. For example, certain part of Asia, Africa, and South America still use the pesticide for agricultural purposes (Carson 270). However, most western governments have banned the pesticide for its negative environmental effects.
Since its use has been limited to some parts of the world and narrowed to specific purposes, some people may argue that the core message of Silent Spring is irrelevant today because the book speaks of a pesticide that seldom used today.
However, a deeper insight of the book’s message reveals that its contents apply to several environmental challenges experienced today. For example, DDT is not the only pesticide that causes human and wildlife destruction today. Indeed, several pesticides account for widespread environmental destruction.
For example, persistent organic pollutants cause environmental destruction, as DDT does. Here, it is pertinent to mention that DDT already falls in this category (persistent organic pollutants), but other contaminants such as Aldrin, and Chlordane still have the same properties as DDT (Carson 23).
Some of these contaminants can stay in the soil/environment for long periods, thereby affecting the natural ecosystem. Most of them also affect non-target species and contaminate vital components of the natural ecosystem, such as water and air. Therefore, today’s global environment does not only suffer from DDT, but also similar pesticides that cause the same effect on the environment (Carson 25).
Therefore, the argument that Silent Spring is irrelevant today is narrow because DDT is not the only pesticide that causes environmental destruction. Moreover, the same concerns that characterized its use still apply to other pesticides with similar or close environmental characteristics.
Besides the above insights, it is crucial to mention that Silent Spring also informs many environmental challenges we face today because it addresses the need for finding sustainable solutions to our pressing human development needs.
The book addressed this issue by striving to find a balance between the environmental needs and human health concerns. In detail, by investigating the use of DDT to address the prevalence of malaria and other communicable diseases, the book sought to address the health challenges faced by human populations.
More specifically, the book addressed the challenges faced by science in solving this problem because it emphasized on the importance of following the best (sustainable) approaches for achieving this purpose.
For example, Silent Spring supported the need to prevent malaria by findings sustainable scientific solutions for killing mosquitoes, as opposed to the use of environmentally destructive methods for doing so.
Certainly, many people understand the purpose of solving perennial human problems through scientific means, but few people understand the implications of these methods on the environment and human health. Particularly, people do not understand the scope or magnitude of the effects of these methods on their health, or the environment.
In fact, a broader understanding of this argument reveals that many people may easily “defeat” the methods for solving these problems because we create new problems by introducing unsustainable solutions.
One argument that supports the core message of Silent Spring (against the use of DDT) is the fact that most people did not stop using the pesticide because of the contents of the book, but because of its developed ineffectiveness in serving its purpose (Carson 269).
For example, mosquitoes developed a resistance to DDT, thereby rendering it ineffective in preventing malaria (Carson 269). This analysis shows the importance of striking a balance between environmental and human development needs.
This balance is especially relevant in today’s fast-paced global society where nations compete among one another, based on their economic developments. For example, emerging economies are expanding their economic activities at the expense of the environment.
Illustratively, global environmental reports show that China accounts for a significant percentage of the global carbon footprint. Developed nations, like the US, also contribute to the high volumes of greenhouse gas emissions in the globe.
The effects of the rapid industrial growth reflect the same concerns raised by Silent Spring (concerning environmental destruction). For example, the emission of harmful pollutants from different industries contaminates water bodies, upsets the natural ecosystem, and causes serious human health problems (as DDT does).
Based on this analogy, the concerns raised by Carson in Silent Spring therefore apply to modern environmental problems. At the center of this argument is the concept of sustainable development because many human activities in the 19th and 20th centuries ignored the environmental impact of economic activities.
Silent Spring appeals to the need to have sustainable development because it supports the introduction of environmentally friendly interventions for solving human development needs. This support blends with the need to have sustainable solutions for human development needs. Overall, the core message of Silent Spring is still relevant today.
Conclusion
After taking into account the core message of Silent Spring, it is pertinent to say most of the issues discussed in the book are relevant today, as they were in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Particularly, this paper agrees with the core environmental issues discussed in the book because scientific evidence shows that DDT and other pesticides (discussed in the book) have a detrimental effect on wildlife and human health. Unlike people who say the contents of the book are highly political, I believe the contents of Silent Spring are important today.
Based on the dilemma created by highlighting the negative use of pesticides and the persistent diseases caused by the failure to use them, someone may ask, what is the solution to this problem? The best solution for this problem is achieving the intended purpose of pesticide use by using non-chemical methods.
For example, the manual elimination of weeds is an effective way of reducing the negative effects of weeds on crops. Applying heat and covering unwanted plants with plastic are also other effective methods of achieving the same purpose. This framework should guide future scientific research.
Works Cited
Carson, Rachel. Silent Springs, New York, NY: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Print.
Murphy, Priscilla. What a Book Can Do: The Publication and Reception of Silent Spring, Boston, MA: Univ of Massachusetts Press, 2007. Print.