In “It Always Costs”, environmentalist David Suzuki argues that technology, no matter how beneficial, carries with it unforeseen costs. Suzuki begins his argument by using the example of DDT to show chemical spread cannot be controlled in the environment. For example, Suzuki explains how the “biomagnification” (Suzuki 347) of certain chemicals was an unforeseen consequence of DDT use. Suzuki warns that current pretesting of environmental and biological effects are limited and that we “can’t rely on such a system” (348). By examining oil drilling processes and population studies, Suzuki presents how any pretesting is limited in “size, scope, and time” (349).…
School Resource Officer (SRO) Ben Fields uses unnecessary force removing a fourteen year old female student from her seat who was “disrupting class by using a mobile device”. Ben Fields approached the student who was unwilling to move, refusing his orders to get up. Then, grabbing her and slamming her backwards onto the ground in front of all her classmates while one recorded the process on their phone.( Townes, C.).…
Of "De-vyled Ham"and DDT: A Comparison of the Causes, Effects, and Legacy of Upton Sinclair 's The Jungle and Rachel Carson 's Silent Spring…
Chapter 2: The trend of humans harming their environment has grown upward for a time now. Carson claims in Chapter 2 that individuals have debased nature with hazardous and lethal chemicals. She goes into detail in this chapter that the amount of pesticides and chemicals being created and put into the atmosphere is dangerous and happening at a very rapid rate. At a point in the chapter, Carson calls pesticides “biocides” which goes to show that they do much more than just kill the intended insects they are meant for. Rather than that, pesticides kill all creatures including ourselves.…
Have you ever wondered what was it like being a soldier in Washington’s Army? Facing severe weather, imminent death, and sickness in the battlefield this is what happens in the American Revolutionary War when they fought over British taxation. If I were a soldier in Washington’s Army and I had the choice of leaving and getting away from suffering or either staying, having a chance to die I would leave. No, I would have quit due to severe weather, lack of supplies, and deaths and sickness.…
Everyone loves the story of the underdog. In the J.R.R. Tolkien Lord of the Rings novels, the “Miracle on Ice” hockey game of 1980, and The Rocky boxing movie, we witness an underrated ‘little-guy’ taking down a much larger and more powerful threat. While there are many famous fictional stories of overcoming impossible challenges, the ones from real life moments are possibly the most famous and awe-inspiring. One such case is the American Revolution. With the entire war itself being a triumph over a much more powerful enemy, one battle in particular is truly known to show the mentality of “if there is a will, there is a way”. It is The Battle of Bunker Hill. While the British won the fight in the military sense, it gave a boost to the possibility…
This supports the argument Carson has about the pesticide to be discontinued. She points out how the Wildlife center agrees and believes that parathion has the ability to harm all living things besides…
It is a reoccurring problem that whenever an individual sets forth to do something they solely think in the present, rather than the future. This becomes a conundrum because in the end other people, or things, might be negatively affected. Rachel Carson, noted biologist, published "Silent Spring", a book that pertained to the environment and was written to change American'a attitude toward the environment around us. In "Silent Spring" Carson targets the hostile actions committed towards birds which result in other animals also being negatively impacted. Carson uses an array of rhetorical strategies, ranging from creating a serious and justified tone, to exaggerating the situation, and lastly by using rep it ion to get her point across. To begin with, the start of…
“The plain truth of the matter is that we can’t stop them!” (Fast 90). April Morning, written by Howard Fast, is a novel about the start of the Revolutionary War, specifically the Battle of Lexington in 1775. Adam Cooper, the protagonist of the story, is a 15-year-old boy who is forced to become a man to defend his home from the British. Moses Cooper, Adams father who is also the antagonist of the story, is extremely hard on Adam and does not see him as a man. Not until Adam signs up to fight that is. Moses Cooper is a loving father that is disciplined, dutiful, and wise.…
Goodall exemplifies,”they have been attacked by farmers, gardeners, and governments. Unfortunately the weapons of choice have been chemical pesticides-and this has led to horrific damage of all too many organisms”(62). This depicts that beetles will become extinct due to “chemical pesticides”. Chemical pesticides cause organisms mostly insects to perish if it damages certain things such as crops. Knowing how self-centered most humans are this product may be used extensively and damage more than what is needed. The ecosystem is being affected the more people try to get rid of organisms and especially when there is no background understanding of the role of these animals. Each living thing is a part of a puzzle. It is like a play but particular individuals are interfering with the…
The Obligation to Endure is the second chapter from the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. Carson presents the persuasive argument that pesticides such as DDT should be kept away from our homes, our place of business, and our children. In the 1950s and 60s DDT was a very popular pesticide that was commonly used. The hazardous effects were unknown. Carson expresses her founded concerns about the adverse risks and toxicity associated with these pesticides using logical, emotional, and ethical appeal. This is demonstrated in the quote, “ Can anyone believe it is possible to lay down such a barrage of poisons on the surfaces of the earth without making it unfit for life?”…
The last essay that I studied was, “John Brown, Quietist” by W. Caleb McDaniel. Personally, this was my favorite of the essays to have read. McDaniel’s main argument in his essay was to prove the fact John Brown was not a quietest. Although he is called so by many, it is an extreme paradox, which is a statement or proposition that, despite sound (or apparently sound) reasoning from acceptable premises, leads to a conclusion that seems senseless, logically unacceptable, or self-contradictory. Throughout McDaniel’s essay he gives many examples from his and direct quotes in order to prove his reasonings. His first claim was the commonly used question, “Did a religious commitment to nonviolence amount to inaction? We learn that some of the abolitionists…
In America today, many people do not realize the impact they have on the environment. We come from a more educated generation, yes, but many people do not realize, that even just recycling can led to less deforestation, and ensuring that the environment of many animals is still there and safe. Much like how deforestation can negatively affect animals, it negatively affects us, less trees means less oxygen, and less oxygen, less to breathe, causing more. In Silent Spring, by Rachel Carson, she attempts to enlighten the reader on how the use of pesticides has an overall negative effect on the environment, animals and humans. Carson draws this conclusion based on her belief that humanity is ignorant, and that we are under the false impression that we are in some way superior. Following this she also suggests that we, as humans, are victimizing nature, and attempting to cure it like a disease.…
Facts; There were two types of widely used pesticide organic phosphates and chlorinated hydrocarbons. Chlorinated hydrocarbons consist of DDT, dieldrin, aldrin, chlordane, hexachlor, lindane, and heptachlor; in the 1950’s through 1960’s these were commonly applied to vast tracts of land in hopes to improve farming by eliminating plant-consuming insects. The legal supposedly safe amount was one pound of DDT per acre or one part per million but it was concentrated as it was moving up the food chain and metabolized. It was later discovered that they had poisoned the bottom of a variety of food chains in the area sprayed. Birds were killed indirectly through eating worms that had absorbed the toxins through decomposing sprayed leaves. Fish were poisoned mainly through runoff of the toxins from areas sprayed locally and by the spraying near water sources for pesky insects. Specific plants that needed removal almost always resulted in the eradications of all local species as well as the desired ones leaving a massive gap in the ecological systems that kept other organisms in check. The organism filled soil receives the most direct poisons and is the base of most life cycles and drastically alters the landscape. Humans and small mammals store these toxins in fat after exposure, which is due to either the direct exposure during the spreading of the chemicals or residue in foodstuffs. Until a certain point it is relatively unnoticeable until it causes acute…
The use of the chemical, dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT), is a prime example of how public health benefits and environmental costs tradeoff. DDT was extensively used worldwide beginning in the 1940’s as a means to kill insects; it was also used to prevent malaria from spreading and control agriculture pests. DDT became so popular that at one point the U.S. was the leading producer, developing thousands of metric tons of DDT. With years of scientific research, researches came to find that effects of DDT were a serious threat. In return, as Kathleen Walker from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Marie D. Ricciardone and Janice Jensen from the U.S. Department of State report in the International Journal of Hygiene and Environmental Health, the United States alongside ninety-one countries signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) on May 23, 2001, “thereby pledging their commitment to protect human health and the environment from 12 toxic chemicals of global concern”( 1); DDT was one of the twelve hazardous chemicals designated by the Stockholm Convention. By the 1970s, the EPA cancelled all use of DDT on crops in the U.S. In 1972, the United States and ninety one other countries banned use of DDT. The illegalization of DDT was a crucial safety measure that ensured the prevention of harmful effects caused by DDT. To fully understand why the global ban came to be, a discussion of DDT’s historical background including empirical examples of DDT use is necessary. An understanding of the chemical properties followed by the long term effects of DDT on both the environment and humans will help explain why controlling DDT use became a top priority.…