Comment

Dec 08, 2020sgcf rated this title 4.5 out of 5 stars
It’s nearly 60 years since "Silent Spring" was written and I see now why Carson is regarded as the conscience-raiser of the environmental movement. With meticulously checked data regarding the effects of thousands of multi-syllable poisons (insecticides, herbicides, fungicides), she rattles off case after case after case of destruction. They are in our air, soil and water and absorbed into the food we eat. She enables the reader to see the interconnection of all life affected by these poisons – insects, worms, birds, fish, grain crops, vegetables, pets, cows and their milk, humans – all have died or been sickened in enormous numbers. As a child in the 1950s I recall the nightly spraying of DDT up and down the streets of the summer lake resort we went to. I find myself wondering if sicknesses and physical damage I now experience was due to this. I also wonder if this serious caution has truly been heard by those in positions of power and responsibility. Or is it still all about economics??