BOOK- SILENT SPRING AUTHOR- RACHEL CARSON
Silent
spring which was written by marine biologist Rachel Carson and first
published in 1962 is the first book to explain in detail the harmful
effects of DDT and other chemicals on environment including human
beings. The book is widely credited as helping to launch the environment
movement. It facilitated the ban of the pesticide DDT in 1972 in the
United States. It was named one of the 25 greatest science books of all
time by the editors of Discover Magazine. It has been featured in
many lists of the best nonfiction books of the twentieth century. In
the Modern Library List of Best 20th-Century Nonfiction it was at #5 and
it was at No.78 in the conservative National Review.
Rachel Carson started her career as a marine biologist in the U.S. Bureau of Fisheries, and became a full-time nature writer in the 1950s by writing best-selling books like The Sea around Us
on ocean life. In 1958 she received a letter from Olga Owens Huckin
turned her attention towards harmful effects of chemicals which
subsequently paved the way for ‘silent spring’. It not only created
global awareness about harmful effects of DDT and other chemicals, it
created a global environmental movement. Both her concern for nature and
her courage to take on giant chemical companies and other similar
groups is highly remarkable.
As
contrary to popular misconception silent spring is not only about DDT.
RC Wrote about damages from all kind of chemicals. She also alternative
methods to replace chemicals but more importantly she severely
criticised the human belief(arrogance?) that he can control the nature by showing that
many times he fails to understand the consequences of his reactions.
Her style of writing is very lively also she explained the facts such
that every layman can understand. She managed to strike a perfect
balance between citing relevant facts and maintaining curiosity of
reader.
She starts with a
story of an imaginary village that was destroyed due to use of DDT,
which is sure to shock the reader and will make him realise the great
danger in using pesticides. Then her analysis the effect of pesticides
on humans, water, soil and on the entire ecosystem in a detailed way.
Her main objections to use of chemicals are 1)gradually due to mutations insects
will become resistant to existing chemicals so the chemicals will
become useless and one need to develop more toxic chemiclas.They will
also create mutations in the human genes. 2) They may end up in
destroying essential insects/plants creating ecological imbalances.3)due
to their non-bio degradable nature and solvency in fat, they will enter
the food chain & using them in seemingly small quantities will result in large amount of accumulation in
the bodies of humans and other living beings. She also questions the
wasting huge amount of money on them while there are other cheaper
opportunities available. I think this point is particularly relevant in
India where use of chemicals in agriculture has highly increased the
cost of production of farmers.
She
traces the increase of harmful insects to destruction of biodiversity
by human activities starting from large scale commercial agriculture to
growing predominantly forests with single species. She says that most of
the species that came with explorers to the new lands became pests in
the new environment. In explaining the increased use of chemicals in
agriculture she notes that most of the chemicals used as pesticides were
created during the World War II for the purpose of chemical warfare.
She argues after the world war ended chemical companies rebranded them
and started to sell them as ‘pesticides’. But she doesn’t totally reject
them. She calls for a sensible use of chemicals.
Her
analysis of the structure of DDT and other chemicals like organic
phosphates etc reveals that these chemicals are harmful not only to
human beings but to the entire ecosystem. She severely criticises the
use of systemic insecticides. She then does a
detailed examination of their effect on water, soil, birds, human health
in separate chapters. She cites lot of evidences not only events
occurred but also scientific research. Her style
is so lucid and easy to follow that any laymen can easily understand.
Surprisingly she doesn’t tell anything new, all the things were known
before but by bringing them together and through her way of writing she
created awareness among masses about the hazardous of pesticides. In
this way her book virtually created the modern environment movement
against using chemicals in agriculture.
In
explaining the effect of chemicals on water she argues ‘In the entire
water-pollution problem, there is probably nothing more disturbing than
the threat of widespread contamination of groundwater’. It is due to the
fact that chemicals pass through water cycles contaminating wells and
other water sources. But as she explains the most dangerous consequence
of mixing chemicals in water is that it leads to the creation of new
chemicals due to chemical reactions. These chemicals can be very harmful
even if the initial chemicals were not dangerous. The story of farmers
in Colorado shockingly displays these dangerous of underground
contamination by chemicals. In explaining the effect on species in water
sources she cites several cases like Tule Lake and Lower Klamath where
birds, fishes and other species were died due to accumulation of
chemicals like DDT. There were used as weed killers but because of their
non-bio-degradability they passed to other species through food chain.
The most dangerous thing is that even though the initial amount used was
not harmful due to accumulation the amount found in fishes & birds
were very high.It also affected the migratory pattern of birds due to
contamination of water sources. In explaining the hazardous effects she
basically criticises the human arrogance of trying to change nature as
he wishes.
She explains
the intricate relations existing between species and shows how
insecticides are destroying it. Along with pests good & important
species like earthworm etc are also killed. Birds which eat these
insects are died due to poisoning. More dangerously as case Florida
shows pesticides like DDT, BHC destroys nitrogenity of soil. Due to
their non-biodegradability these chemicals get collected in large
quantities even when applied in small quantities. On above all that
these crops grown in those fields wii contain these chemicals, and get
accumulated in body of people who consumes it.
The
almost universal presence of these pesticides shocks anyone. They have
spread from places of Eskimos in arctic to Antarctica, from our dining
tables to deserts. Her concern for environment shows reflects in her
writing. She clearly demonstrates that human beings in their egoist
attempt to control nature as their wishes are actually acting with total
ignorance of complex interconnections of nature. She warns that
ultimately it will lead to his own demise. It amazes me how prophetic
her words were! For example she gives examples of birds dyeing due to
accumulation of DDT, but recently we have seen cases like Endosulphan
where people died due to exposure of pesticides.
As
the incidence she cites clearly demonstrates that the effect of
chemicals on human beings is more disastrous. Since these chemicals are
non-biodegradable there cumulative affects over long periods of time are
hazardous. As they are fat soluble they are stored in human body, but
there effects are not seen until they reach a critical stage. But then
it will be too late to take any action. As human beings are top of the
food chain, significant amount of chemicals get stored in their body
even if only small amount was sprayed. They adversely affect internal
organs and in some cases physically challenged children are born due to
the affects of chemicals that get passed to them in mother womb through
placenta. Furthermore they disturb the activities of individual cells by
affecting oxygen cycle and other important functions. Some chemicals
are identified as carcinogenic i.e. cancer causing even when taken in
small quantities. But the most fearful of all the things she cites is
that some chemicals are even capable of causing mutations in genes and
damaging chromosomes resulting in alternation of hereditary material
itself. It makes mockery of all things human beings do since man’s
attempt to control nature resulting in destruction of his own hereditary
materials.
She just
didn’t explain the harmful effects of chemicals Carlson but expressed
universal outlook challenges the human belief in his understanding the
nature. She clearly demonstrates his very limited understanding of
complex ecological system. She severely criticises his arrogance for
trying to control nature by make him to realise that he is the one who
need to adjust. I really appreciate her courage for writing.As the book
published many chemical companies launched smear campagains against her.
She bravely fought them & as her book had high standards in terms
of facts and references her critics lost their ground. Lately she has
been criticised for ‘causing deaths due to malaria due to her call for
DDT ban’. Nothing can be more farther from the truth. DDT was not used
for malaria because after few years mosquitoes became resistant to them.
This was exactly the thing she suspected while explaining that insects
gain resistance to chemicals due to mutations in their genes.
Furthermore
she didn’t call for total ban of insecticides .She called for their
limited and intelligent use. She argued for understanding their
implications on ecological system before using them. She called for
other alternative methods like using natural enemies of insects,
sterilization techniques, ultrasound, and transgenic methods. Contrary
to her critics, her views on transgenic crops etc were so advanced that
research on them just started in 1990’s. But some of these methods like
transgenic crops caused adverse side effects (like BT cotton). But other
methods like organic farming, using insecticides made from plants as neem have proved to be quite useful.
Carlson’s book surprises by its relevance to today’s problems. It is shocking that in India and other developing
countries many chemicals represented in her book are still used despite
their harmful effects are well known. In India Endosulphon case is a
best example. Surprisingly she didn’t cite any new research on the topic
but she chronicled all the facts and presented in such a way that
anyone can understand. It created awareness in people and they started
fight against these chemicals. It demonstrates the importance of popular
science.
Overall I
think this book must be read by anyone who is concerned about
environment. I am sure that after reading the book there perspective
about human activities will itself will change. They will appreciate the
complexity of environment surrounding us.
