Silent Spring

SILENT SPRING

By Rachel Carson. Houghton Mifflin. 2002 (40th ann. Ed). (378 pages)

Subjects: Pesticides. Environmental Science. Conservation.

Recommended for: High school – Adult

 
SUMMARY:

Hailed as the catalyst for the environmental movement, Carson’s Silent Spring paints a dire portrait of the impact of pesticides and other chemicals on our planet and its inhabitants. For many years, governments, businesses & individuals used chemicals fairly indiscriminately, without proper testing or examining the long-term impact of so many chemicals being introduced into our food, water and soil, and thus, into ourselves and wildlife.




IDEAS FOR USING THIS BOOK:

1. There are great opportunities for general discussion. Sample questions might include:

• What is the impact of our choices on the environment and on all life on this planet?
• What is our responsibility toward other species and the environment?
• How are chemicals impacting us today?
• When is it acceptable and/or necessary for humans to “interfere” with nature?

Carson addresses a number of themes that are excellent for exploring with students. Some examples include:

2. CHOICES:

• “It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray.” (8)
• “Who has decided—who has the right to decide—for the countless legions of people who were not consulted that the supreme value is a world without insects….” (127)

2A. Carson’s reminder that something as “trivial as the choice of an insect spray” can have dire consequences is an excellent launching pad for discussing students’ own small, daily choices and the kinds of impacts those choices have. What they eat, what they wear, how they get to school, the businesses and products they support—all add up to enormous consequences for the planet.

2B. Additionally, the issue of “who has the right to decide” things for us is an essential one for students to explore. You could lead a discussion about the decisions authority figures make; the decisions our government leaders make; the decisions businesses make, etc., and an exploration of how and why some of those decisions are made, and what we can do when we feel the wrong decision has been made for us.

3. CONSEQUENCES:

• “The rapidity of change and the speed with which new situations are created follow the impetuous and heedless pace of man, rather than the deliberate pace of nature.” (7)
• “We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effect and to ignore all else. Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard.” (190)

3A. Students could explore the consequences of actions through scenarios. There are a plethora of “What would you do in this situation?” scenarios that explore environmental choices, social justice choices and more.

3B. You could also use samples of actual decisions that have been made by government officials, business people, etc., and track what happened because of those decisions. This activity could lead to a discussion of what happens when we make choices without thinking them through, and/or when we don’t consider the long-term consequences.

3C. You could also have students explore the continued used of pesticides and other toxic chemicals, as well as issues such as the prevalent use of genetically modified organisms (without our consent or knowledge), cloning, marketing to small children, pre-emptive war, and many other contemporary issues.

3D. It might also be enlightening to compare all the environmental progress that has occurred thanks to Rachel Carson, with the perspectives of those who today are championing DDT because of its use in battling infectious diseases in developing countries. Some have even blamed Carson for what they call an “ecological genocide.” It would be interesting to explore the health consequences of banning or limiting use of chemicals like DDT: Is it worth damaging the environment and other species, as well as potentially increasing incidences of cancers and other diseases to save millions from infectious diseases such as malaria and typhus? What alternatives exist that save people from diseases but also protect the health and well-being of animals, people and the planet?

4. HUMAN & PLANETARY HEALTH:

• “For the first time in the history of the world, every human being is now subjected to contact with dangerous chemicals, from the moment of conception until death.” (15)
• “The contamination of our world is not alone a matter of mass spraying. Indeed, for most of us this is of less importance than the innumerable small-scale exposures to which we are subjected day by day, year after year.” (73)
• “This piling up of chemicals from many different sources creates a total exposure that cannot be measured. It is meaningless, therefore, to talk about the ‘safety’ of any specific amount of residue.” (182)
• “It is not possible to add pesticides anywhere without threatening the purity of water everywhere.”  (42)

4A. Students might find it enlightening to document all the instances in their days in which they’re exposed to potentially harmful chemicals. They could run through what they do each day, and record the products they use (as well as the foods they eat, the clothes they wear, etc.) and look at the health and environmental effects of the various chemicals and substances they regularly use.

4B. It might also be interesting to look at the issue of overkill, or “Do the means justify the ends?”. As Carson says, “How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind?” (9) Students could look at the kinds of problems that have occurred, on personal, local and even international levels, and examine and evaluate various “crisis” management techniques used.  Examples might include:

• Going to war to unseat a dictator
• The U.S. Wildlife Services Agency, which kills millions of predators each year, on the chance they might kill some cattle.
• The felony "three strikes & you’re out" law.
• Driving an H2 to get around town.

5. ATTITUDES:

• “Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?” (12)
• “….Why should we tolerate a diet of weak poisons, a home in insipid surroundings, a circle of acquaintances who are not quite our enemies, the noise of motors with just enough relief to prevent insanity? Who would want to live in a world which is just not quite fatal?” (12)
• “The existence of [chemical food residues on the food we eat] is either played down by the industry as unimportant or is flatly denied. Simultaneously, there is a strong tendency to brand as fanatics or cultists all who are so perverse as to demand that their food be free of insect poisons.” (178)

5A. The above quotes can lead to an exploration of how and why destructive, harmful practices are allowed to occur—and allowed to continue to occur. Students could list all kinds of environmental and societal ills and then examine the reasons that they continue to exist. This would also be an excellent opportunity to explore peer pressure, learned helplessness, marketing strategies, propaganda and other techniques that help prevent people from thinking for themselves, as well as how difficult it can be to change well-established systems.

6. INTERCONNECTEDNESS:

• “Man, however much he may like to pretend to the contrary, is part of nature.” (188)
• “Our attitude toward plants is a singularly narrow one. If we see any immediate utility in a plant, we foster it. If, for any reason we find its presence undesirable or merely a matter of indifference, we may condemn it to destruction forthwith.” (63)

6A. There are all kinds of possibilities for exploring interconnectedness: group cooperative games; web of life activities; product tracing activities (following the t-shirt from cotton to store, etc.). Of course, showing what life would be like if we didn’t have certain creatures—such as insects—or other natural resources would definitely be eye-opening.


ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Find out more about the author & her other works.

Want to submit a teaching idea for this title?

Email: Marsha@HumaneEducation.org

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