Carson's Sense of Wonder
INTG-285.H02
February 24, 2014
Experience Essay 1
Carson's Sense of Wonder Rachel Carson was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and after watching these interviews it really shows that she deserves that recognition. Carson’s work has shed light on the dark world of pollution pertaining to pesticides and herbicides. Without her we may have never discovered the correlation between pesticides and the damage they cause to our environment. The issue with the pesticides, mainly DDT, was that they were meant to kill certain insects and or disease, but these chemicals are not selective. Thus, these pesticides did their job to rid the area of the undesirable, but also ravaged the wildlife. Carson uses the example that after an area in Florida was sprayed with a pesticide, much more potent and powerful than DDT, thousands of native fish died instantly. Another example is when after the pesticides are sprayed, the leaves get coated with a film of chemicals. These leaves fall to the ground where they are decomposed and eaten by earthworms. Those earthworms are then eaten by the robins. If these birds didn’t die from eating too many infected worms, they were unable to have offspring. Rachel Carson had a certain ability to see nature in different perspectives. Her artistic side was shown in the interview, when she talked about how she knew that she would end up working at the sea. Her words were somewhere along the lines as “You can’t write about the sea without poetry”. Her scientific perspective is highlighted by her extensive work and research about the effects of the pesticides. Without Carson’s work, the effects of these pesticides may have been discovered too late in time for us to do anything about them. Unfortunately, we cannot reverse the damage we have caused using such chemicals. Carson’s published 4 books in her lifetime, all of which portray her social perspective. She received heated
February 24, 2014
Experience Essay 1
Carson's Sense of Wonder Rachel Carson was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the 20th century, and after watching these interviews it really shows that she deserves that recognition. Carson’s work has shed light on the dark world of pollution pertaining to pesticides and herbicides. Without her we may have never discovered the correlation between pesticides and the damage they cause to our environment. The issue with the pesticides, mainly DDT, was that they were meant to kill certain insects and or disease, but these chemicals are not selective. Thus, these pesticides did their job to rid the area of the undesirable, but also ravaged the wildlife. Carson uses the example that after an area in Florida was sprayed with a pesticide, much more potent and powerful than DDT, thousands of native fish died instantly. Another example is when after the pesticides are sprayed, the leaves get coated with a film of chemicals. These leaves fall to the ground where they are decomposed and eaten by earthworms. Those earthworms are then eaten by the robins. If these birds didn’t die from eating too many infected worms, they were unable to have offspring. Rachel Carson had a certain ability to see nature in different perspectives. Her artistic side was shown in the interview, when she talked about how she knew that she would end up working at the sea. Her words were somewhere along the lines as “You can’t write about the sea without poetry”. Her scientific perspective is highlighted by her extensive work and research about the effects of the pesticides. Without Carson’s work, the effects of these pesticides may have been discovered too late in time for us to do anything about them. Unfortunately, we cannot reverse the damage we have caused using such chemicals. Carson’s published 4 books in her lifetime, all of which portray her social perspective. She received heated