Rachel Carson: Legacy of Environmentalism

Rachel Carson was a scientist and an environmentalist who loved nature and wanted to share that love with the public by writing about it hence creating awareness. However, she was also alarmed by the nature of human being of overstepping our bounds by destroying the environment and this alarmed her; therefore part of her writing was to warn us. One of her most famous books was The Silent Spring which she is best known for. It accounts for her reputation. In her book, she was against the use of pesticides and the effects that such had on the environment. The main component of pesticides that she was specifically against was dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane abbreviated as DDT. Carsons legacy can be summarized as finding the wisdom and insight for global environment citizenship. This paper is going to evaluate the significance of Rachel Carsons legacy on environmentalism and whether people should still carry on this legacy or not?

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The environment that we live in is imperative. Therefore, one cannot stress enough on the need to keep it clean and in a proper state. The reason that most people probably do not pay attention to the environment is because the consequences are long term and might not end up affecting the current or even the next generation. Nonetheless, this is a very selfish school of thought that does not pay attention to the future generation. Such people miss out on the bigger picture that at the end of the day, the human population is the one to lose.

Modern technology is coming up with chemicals that are very dangerous and toxic to the environment. The old ways of dealing with problems have become obsolete and are now replaced with newer faster ways. Thanks to the technology. The part we all fail is, in the making life easier and enhancing the modern technology to better our lifestyles, what price do we pay and is it too much a price to pay? Chemicals like DDT are used in making pesticides because in the modern world people are so busy that they do not have time to deal away with pests instead they let chemicals step in for them. The relative risk of DDT in the environment far outweighs the cost of eliminating its use. Our ecosystems are out of balance due to the same. Meanwhile, people can opt for alternative measures such as the use of mosquito netting has yielded phenomenally positive results.

They fail to realize that such chemicals are not only harmful to the pesticides but also to the environment and the overall impact of the same is negative. Protecting the environment is our higher calling. Environmental issues such as global warming as a result of destruction of the ozone layer would not be there were we keen enough in our role. With the current trend and state of affairs, the scientists predict increased deforestation and more adverse environmental calamities. This can simply be averted by paying attention and continuing with the work that was long began by Rachel Carson. It is the high time that people realized that protecting the environment is more of an obligation than it is a hobby or part time activity.

In my own opinion, people need to uphold the legacy of Rachel Carlson if we are serious about our environment.