What lessons does Carson extract from the stories about spraying for the gypsy moth and the fire ant? What was the role of local activists? Of government officials? Of the chemical industry?



Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson published in 1962 that documented the adverse environmental effects caused by the indiscriminate use of pesticides. The work was originally published in 3 parts in the New Yorker.

Also a documentary titled ‘American Experience: Rachel Carson’ (1:53:59) for prompt 3.

 

FORMAT: Arial 11, 1.15 line spacing

Prompts (Limit per page 1-1.5 pages):

1. “For each of us, this is a problem of interrelationships, of interdependence—essentially, of ecology. … But there is also an ecology of the world within our bodies.” -Part 3 of the serialized New Yorker publication of Silent Spring. Explain why the interrelationships in ecology in nature and the “ecology of the world within our bodies” are each important components of Carson’s critique.

2. What lessons does Carson extract from the stories about spraying for the gypsy moth and the fire ant? What was the role of local activists? Of government officials? Of the chemical industry?

3. Based on historical context provided by the documentary American Experience: Rachel Carson, give the counterpoint to Rachel Carson’s argument that synthetic pesticide use in the early 1960s imposed more risks than benefits.

What were some of the benefits of the synthetic pesticide use at the time? What alternatives does Carson propose to the use of chemicals? Do you think these alternatives make sense in the context of agribusiness?

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