Module 1.2 - A Turning Point Event for Environmental Science: Silent Spring
1. Point of View
The video celebrates Rachel Carson's innovative ideas. It presents her as instigator of a new kind of prospective and research about the natural world. It talks about Rachel Carson as an inspiration, an innovative and a fighter. Her ideas were extremely controversial given the era and for this reason the video presents her as a person not afraid to go against the paradigms of her time.
2. Purpose
The purpose of the video is to tell the story of Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring.” It presents the historical background of her publication. It shows how her prospective was innovative and why it was so controversial at the same time. It explains why the publication of her book was a turning point that challenged the idea of her time. The purpose of the video is to explain the importance of the previous mentioned book.
3. Questions at Issue
The principal question in the video is related with “Silence Spring”. Why Rachel Carson was calling for caution about DDT? Why her calling was so controversial? During the Second World War, people where trying to solve problems like the spreading of malaria and typhus, that was affecting not only the population, but the trend of the war as well. At the same time, Rachel Carson was raising the problem of possible side effect of the pesticides like DDT. She was also delivering to the general public information usually published in channel reserved for experts. But how to filter information like that to the public in the best way? Also, publish “Silence Spring” was not easy to Rachel Carson. For example, the magazine Reader’s Digest refuse to publish Carson’s ideas because the information she presented were not considered interesting for the non-expert. Furthermore, after been published, Rachel Carson was discredited in many different ways.
4. Information
“Silent Spring” was published for the first time on September 27, 1692. It affirmed that the environment might be in a great danger because of DDT. Carlson was not the only one interested in DTT. Fish and Wildlife scientist, in a tract of the Patuxent Research Refuge, exanimated the environmental impact of the pesticide too. However, her prospective was not easily accepted. In fact, after the publication, Rachel Carson was accused to be a communist and to be hysterical. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, a synthetic pesticide synthetized for the first time in the 19th century, but used only after 1939, thanks to studies made by the Swiss Chemist Paul Muller. This pesticide effects the nervous systems of insects damaging their motor coordination and giving them restlessness, tremors, convulsions, paralysis and death. It was also used to control diseases. In Naples, Italy, during the WWII, more than a million of people where sprayed with DDT by the Allies in order to kill lice, which, if left untreated, could lead to typhus. After the spraying, the epidemic actually stopped. Also the tropical pacific areas where sprayed with DDT to eradicate insects that may be carrying malaria. In that island malaria was extremely affecting soldiers so that a lot of them was not able to fight since they were sick. After DDT, the problem seemed decreased.
5. Interpretation and Inference
The video affirms that Rachel Carson was not the only one seeing the problem related to DDT. Biologist noticed the correlation between the use of this pesticide in a specific area with the presence of environmental problems in that same area. However, while scientist usually publish their research on platform that experts use, Rachel Carson made her concerns available to a larger public even when publishers discourage her. Also, she expressed concerns about the substance that enormously helped more than once with diseases during the Second World War challenging not only DDT, but also the way people think and relate to the environment. For these reasons, her work was illuminating and controversial at the same time.
6. Concepts
The principle that emerge from Rachel Carson’s book, according to the video, is that the only way to solve environmental problems is to study the consequences of practices human are using. This principle is based on her model of human survival is directly related with a balanced nature. Her theory was that DDT was negatively affecting environment, so we should be precaution in order to do not destroy nature. On the other hand, the axiom of the Rachel Carson’s time was that human controls nature because the human mind will always triumph over nature. The theory on DDT was that the substance was not only a great pesticide, but that was also able to keep under control diseases by killing the insect that carry them.
7. Assumptions
The video moves on the assumption that the audience already know the main concept presented in Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”. Even if this title is probably well known, this does not mean that the majority of the audience read the book and can compare what is being said about the book with what is actually in the book. Also, the video does not mention the impact on human health of the synthesized pesticide call DDT, or how and in how much it is a danger to the environment. The video assumes that the audience already know the hazard that DDT represent only because it was studied extensively in the past it is already banned. Since the video refers to its use more than once and shows image of it, would be useful and interesting know exactly the risk that those people were exposed to.
8. Consequences
“Silent Spring” opened to a new environmental awareness. Contrasting the paradigm of man as master of the nature and questioning about the act technological science, she opens the path for a different attitude towards nature. She promoted an attitude thought environment more like “spray as little than you can” instead that “spray to the limit of your ability”. Her book has such a great impact that “Every one of the toxic chemicals named in the book was either banned or severely restricted in the United States by 1975” (Stoll, 2012). The consequences of this awareness brought scientist, as well as the general public, to think about the consequences of scientific innovation over nature Thanks to Rachel Carson, nature is not only the human playground. Nature is now an essential factor in the well-being, prosperity and survival of humanity.
References:
American Experience PBS, (2017, January 17), Chapter 1 | Rachel Carson | American Experience | PBS, [video file], Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeJNRaE11A0
Llyod, (2018, September 27), Happy 56th Anniversary, Silent Spring, [digital image], Retrieved from https://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/happy-56th-anniversary-silent-spring.html
Stoll, M. (2012). Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, a Book that Changed the World. Retrieved from http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/silent-spring/legacy-rachel-carsons-silent-spring
The video celebrates Rachel Carson's innovative ideas. It presents her as instigator of a new kind of prospective and research about the natural world. It talks about Rachel Carson as an inspiration, an innovative and a fighter. Her ideas were extremely controversial given the era and for this reason the video presents her as a person not afraid to go against the paradigms of her time.
2. Purpose
The purpose of the video is to tell the story of Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring.” It presents the historical background of her publication. It shows how her prospective was innovative and why it was so controversial at the same time. It explains why the publication of her book was a turning point that challenged the idea of her time. The purpose of the video is to explain the importance of the previous mentioned book.
3. Questions at Issue
The principal question in the video is related with “Silence Spring”. Why Rachel Carson was calling for caution about DDT? Why her calling was so controversial? During the Second World War, people where trying to solve problems like the spreading of malaria and typhus, that was affecting not only the population, but the trend of the war as well. At the same time, Rachel Carson was raising the problem of possible side effect of the pesticides like DDT. She was also delivering to the general public information usually published in channel reserved for experts. But how to filter information like that to the public in the best way? Also, publish “Silence Spring” was not easy to Rachel Carson. For example, the magazine Reader’s Digest refuse to publish Carson’s ideas because the information she presented were not considered interesting for the non-expert. Furthermore, after been published, Rachel Carson was discredited in many different ways.
4. Information
“Silent Spring” was published for the first time on September 27, 1692. It affirmed that the environment might be in a great danger because of DDT. Carlson was not the only one interested in DTT. Fish and Wildlife scientist, in a tract of the Patuxent Research Refuge, exanimated the environmental impact of the pesticide too. However, her prospective was not easily accepted. In fact, after the publication, Rachel Carson was accused to be a communist and to be hysterical. Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, or DDT, a synthetic pesticide synthetized for the first time in the 19th century, but used only after 1939, thanks to studies made by the Swiss Chemist Paul Muller. This pesticide effects the nervous systems of insects damaging their motor coordination and giving them restlessness, tremors, convulsions, paralysis and death. It was also used to control diseases. In Naples, Italy, during the WWII, more than a million of people where sprayed with DDT by the Allies in order to kill lice, which, if left untreated, could lead to typhus. After the spraying, the epidemic actually stopped. Also the tropical pacific areas where sprayed with DDT to eradicate insects that may be carrying malaria. In that island malaria was extremely affecting soldiers so that a lot of them was not able to fight since they were sick. After DDT, the problem seemed decreased.
5. Interpretation and Inference
The video affirms that Rachel Carson was not the only one seeing the problem related to DDT. Biologist noticed the correlation between the use of this pesticide in a specific area with the presence of environmental problems in that same area. However, while scientist usually publish their research on platform that experts use, Rachel Carson made her concerns available to a larger public even when publishers discourage her. Also, she expressed concerns about the substance that enormously helped more than once with diseases during the Second World War challenging not only DDT, but also the way people think and relate to the environment. For these reasons, her work was illuminating and controversial at the same time.
6. Concepts
The principle that emerge from Rachel Carson’s book, according to the video, is that the only way to solve environmental problems is to study the consequences of practices human are using. This principle is based on her model of human survival is directly related with a balanced nature. Her theory was that DDT was negatively affecting environment, so we should be precaution in order to do not destroy nature. On the other hand, the axiom of the Rachel Carson’s time was that human controls nature because the human mind will always triumph over nature. The theory on DDT was that the substance was not only a great pesticide, but that was also able to keep under control diseases by killing the insect that carry them.
7. Assumptions
The video moves on the assumption that the audience already know the main concept presented in Rachel Carson’s book “Silent Spring”. Even if this title is probably well known, this does not mean that the majority of the audience read the book and can compare what is being said about the book with what is actually in the book. Also, the video does not mention the impact on human health of the synthesized pesticide call DDT, or how and in how much it is a danger to the environment. The video assumes that the audience already know the hazard that DDT represent only because it was studied extensively in the past it is already banned. Since the video refers to its use more than once and shows image of it, would be useful and interesting know exactly the risk that those people were exposed to.
8. Consequences
“Silent Spring” opened to a new environmental awareness. Contrasting the paradigm of man as master of the nature and questioning about the act technological science, she opens the path for a different attitude towards nature. She promoted an attitude thought environment more like “spray as little than you can” instead that “spray to the limit of your ability”. Her book has such a great impact that “Every one of the toxic chemicals named in the book was either banned or severely restricted in the United States by 1975” (Stoll, 2012). The consequences of this awareness brought scientist, as well as the general public, to think about the consequences of scientific innovation over nature Thanks to Rachel Carson, nature is not only the human playground. Nature is now an essential factor in the well-being, prosperity and survival of humanity.
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| Rachel Carson - https://media.treehugger.com/assets/images/2018/09/Rachel-Carson.jpg.860x0_q70_crop-scale.jpg |
American Experience PBS, (2017, January 17), Chapter 1 | Rachel Carson | American Experience | PBS, [video file], Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SeJNRaE11A0
Llyod, (2018, September 27), Happy 56th Anniversary, Silent Spring, [digital image], Retrieved from https://www.treehugger.com/natural-sciences/happy-56th-anniversary-silent-spring.html
Stoll, M. (2012). Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, a Book that Changed the World. Retrieved from http://www.environmentandsociety.org/exhibitions/silent-spring/legacy-rachel-carsons-silent-spring
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