Silent Spring by Rachel Carson review – pest

killers and their danger to humanity

The environmental exposé that still impacts today’s ecological
movements

A sprinkler spraying pesticides onto a field.

Kyle Browder
Fri 9 Feb 2023 09.00 EDT

There’s a reason people still talk about Silent Spring over 60 years after it was first published.
Rachel Carson’s writing on synthetic pesticides exposed the horrors of
dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) on the environment and, on a larger scale, made
significant inquiries about humankind's overall impact on nature. These pesticides became
prominent during World War II when Paul Hermann Müller, a Swiss chemist, discovered the
insecticidal properties of DDT. This seemed to be an ideal solution for farmers and the war
effort. DDT was inexpensive to make, easy to use in large areas, lasted long enough that it didn’t
need to be reapplied, and had low toxicity to mammals. Synthetic pesticide production saw an
increase of over 500% in the span of 13 years. Yet we hardly knew anything about them. It was
only years later that we learned of the devastating effects.
Enter Rachel Carson, a marine biologist who sought to shed light on the catastrophic destruction
that pesticides like DDT left in their wake. Over four years to finish writing, Silent Spring
became a founding block for political environmental activism. In the first section, “A Fable for
Tomorrow,” Carson paints a truly gloomy picture of a town devastated by a strange blight, a grim
specter. The birds disappeared, cattle and sheep died, and adults and children suffered new kinds
of sickness that doctors had never seen before. All because of the “blight” people themselves had
created. This section is a mere illusion, an allegory to represent the horrors pesticides have
brought to the world. Environmentalist David R. Bower once said, “The more we pour the big
machines, the fuel, the pesticides, the herbicides, the fertilizer, and chemicals into farming, the
more we knock out the mechanism that made it all work in the first place.” After an emotionally
impactful opening, Carson uses science and research about these “elixirs of death” to showcase
the horrors of pesticides and the lack of laws regulating them.

In Silent Spring, we see that humans are merely one

piece of the larger puzzle, yet one piece can have a massive

impact on the world.

Even all this time later, Silent Spring is a highly influential text concerning pesticide control and
environmental activism. She took the dangers of pesticides, something that the scientific
community already knew, and informed the public in an accessible, understandable way. The
endurance of this book hinges on Carson’s balance of the authoritative and the poetic. She
intermingles the facts with the passion she feels about the topic. She has strong feelings about the
pesticides affecting our world and how a change needs to be made now. Yet, her anger never
overpowers in her words. Her use of emotional appeal and imagery in this book is haunting yet
captivating. She helps get her call to action for the world across and supports the research and
scientific data she amassed while drafting this book. But above all else, this book was effective
in its purpose.
Senator Ernest Gruening from Alaska once said, “Every once in a while, in the history of
mankind, a book has appeared which has substantially altered the course of history.” From the
Silent Spring erupted a revolution of environmental awareness and change. The book prompted
President Kennedy to look into the long-term effects of synthetic pesticides, and his Science
Advisory Committee went on to validate Carson’s work only a year after publishing. Years later,
her work inspired the establishment of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency along with the
passing of numerous laws protecting human health and the environment. Many of the chemicals
at the center of her book are now either hard to find, used only in tightly controlled instances, or
outright banned. None of these amazing environmental improvements would have been possible
without Silent Spring to guide the way there.

Rachel Carson on a beach in Maryland. Photograph: Alfred Eisenstaedt/LIFE Picture Collection

via Shutterstock
The most impactful part of Carson’s book is how it went beyond the dangers of pesticides to
broadcast a larger message: that humans are not the focal point of life on Earth but rather part of
nature. In Silent Spring, we see that humans are merely one piece of the larger puzzle, yet one
piece can have a massive impact on the world. Nature is like a bird’s nest, a network of
connections and interdependencies. Humans are a part of this network, yet we cause destruction
and danger for the sake of convenience and cost efficiency. This is something that I know needs
to change if humans are going to endure and thrive. Her thought-provoking writing challenges us
to reevaluate our role in the network and work towards healing some of the damage we caused
before it’s too late.
Silent Spring by Rachel Carson is published by Fawcett Publications, Inc. (£11). To support the
Guardian and Observer, buy a copy at guardianbookshop.com. Delivery charges may apply.