Silent Spring - Rachel Carson - Part 1

Silent Spring - Rachel Carson

2017 Reading Challenge - Day 13

 January 13, 2017 

Book 3 - Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson (1962)

 Part 1 - Pages x-xix, 1-51

Reading Time - 80 minutes

I wasn't born in 1962 when Rachel Carson published her book on the dangers of chemical contamination of the environment. Somehow, this book also never crossed my path in university - possibly because I didn't take a lot of biology and/or chemistry classes. Having read the first 50 pages though, I am appalled.

I know that nicotinoids are bad for bees. I know that they are sold by Home Depot under a variety of names. I know that RoundUp is bad for the environment. We don't fertilize our lawn or use weedkiller or mosskillers. We prefer to take out little stabbing tool and tear each weed out of the ground. On the other hand... we have used rat poison and we have used wasp spray. That is going to change.

I just find it hard to believe that 50 years after the publication of this book, we can still get our hands on pesticides and insecticides? How can that even be possible? Knowing how these man-made chemicals accumulate in our bodies. Knowing how they have polluted our waterways. Why do we keep using these things? Why do I still see "Sprayed with Pesticide" signs along railway right-of-ways or highway right-of-ways?? The questions that come up just boggle the mind.

We're concerned about oil pipelines polluting our waterways because that's a Big issue. But, honestly, the amount of pesticides, insecticides and fertilizers being pumped out onto farms, orchards, fields and forests is way more than the oil that would spew out of a ruptured pipeline. Pipelines are Big though... whereas Farmer Joe spraying his crop of apples is Small. The thing is... even Organic isn't safe anymore. Carson quotes studies that found DDT in water supplies that were miles away from any spraying. It's everywhere... even in places that haven't been touched.

Oh... and I learned about systemic insecticides that you put on plants to make them toxic to insects. Or that you put on your pet dog to make its blood toxic to fleas. Seriously? We do this??

I think one of the most telling points she brings out is this:

We shouldn't be calling them insecticides or pesticides...
We should be calling them biocides.

I'm going to have a whole new appreciation for gardening and pest-control by the end of all this, that's for sure.