SILENT SPRING
BY RACHEL CARSON
NAME ________________________
INTRODUCTION:
SILENT SPRING WAS ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN 1962. IT WAS WRITTEN BEFORE THE BEATLES
MADE MUSIC HISTORY, BEFORE THE VIETNAM WAR AND LONG HAIR CONSUMED AMERICA,
AND BEFORE MUSCLE CARS AND CIVIL RIGHTS LAWS WERE PART OF U.S. HISTORY. MOST
WOMEN WERE NOT YET IN THE WORK FORCE AND THUS CARSON’S MANY REFERENCES TO
“MEN” THROUGHOUT HER BOOK. ELVIS WAS STILL THIN. TELEVISION WAS BLACK AND
WHITE. GASOLINE WAS LEADED.
MORE IMPORTANTLY FOR OUR CONTEXT, STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS DID NOT YET
EXIST. RIVERS WERE CONSIDERED WASTE OUTLETS INTO WHOSE WATERS WERE DUMPED
HUMAN, FARM AND CHEMICAL WASTES. THE POLLUTANT WAS THEN DISBURSED AND
CARRIED DOWNSTREAM—IT DISAPPEARED! MOST FEDERAL CLEAN WATER AND CLEAN AIR
LEGISLATION HAD YET TO BE PASSED.
OUR NATIONAL EMPHASIS WAS ON DEVELOPMENT AND INDUSTRY. BUT, SOMETHING VERY
ALARMING WAS OCCURRING IN THE BACKGROUND. THE CUYAHOGA RIVER HAD CAUGHT
FIRE… AGAIN. ALONG LAKE ERIE, DEAD FISH LITTERED THE SHORE. NOTICEABLE ODORS
WAFTED FROM OUR WATERWAYS. BEACHES WERE CLOSED. CARS AND WHITE HOMES WERE
SOMETIMES DUSTED WITH MYSTERIOUS BLACK SOOT FROM THE AIR. INSECTICIDES WERE
BEING DEVELOPED AND USED WITH IMPUNITY. DYING NATURAL RESOURCES WERE THE
ELEPHANT IN THE ROOM. WHAT WAS HAPPENING?
RACHEL CARSON’S BOOK SOUNDED AN ALARM THAT HELPED AWAKEN AMERICA TO A VERY
REAL LOOMING ENVIRONMENTAL CRISIS. THE CLOCK INDEED WAS TICKING. HAD WE NOT
HALTED OUR FORWARD PATH OF ECOLOGICAL DESTRUCTION, THE COST IN LIVES OF
ANIMALS AND HUMANS COULD HAVE BEEN ENORMOUS.
AS YOU READ THIS BOOK, CONSIDER THE CULTURAL CONTEXT OF THE AUTHOR. WHICH OF
CARSON’S PREDICTIONS DID OR DID NOT COME TRUE?
ASSIGNMENT:
ANSWER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS THOUGHTFULLY AND COMPLETELY IN BLUE FONT AT
THE END OF THE QUESTION. WHERE APPROPRIATE, GIVE YOUR OPINION REGARDING
CARSON’S CLAIMS AND WARNINGS, GIVEN THE CONTEXT. BE SURE YOUR ANSWERS ARE IN
COMPLETE SENTENCES. A TEST MAY FOLLOW.
SILENT SPRING CHAPTER QUESTIONS
NAME________________________________
CHAPTER 1: A FABLE FOR TOMORROW
1. CAN YOU IDENTIFY THE COMMON NAME OF AN ORGANISM THAT WAS ONCE
“SILENCED” IN YOUR COMMUNITY? WHEN AND HOW DID THIS OCCUR? IF IT WAS
LONG AGO, COULD IT HAPPEN TODAY? WHY OR WHY NOT? EXPLAIN.
CHAPTER 2: THE OBLIGATION TO ENDURE
2. SINCE THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1962, HOW HAS THE MAGNITUDE AND
CHARACTER OF THE THREATS TO SPECIES CHANGED?
3. PAUL SHEPARD EXPRESSED, “WHY SHOULD WE TOLERATE A DIET OF WEAK
POISONS…WHICH IS JUST NOT QUITE FATAL?” DO YOU AGREE, DISAGREE OR OTHER?
EXPLAIN AND DEFEND YOUR OPINION WITH FACTS.
CHAPTER 3: ELIXERS OF DEATH
4. DEFINE ELIXER.
5. DO YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE WITH THE STATEMENT, “FOR THE FIRST TIME IN
HISTORY, EVERY HUMAN IS NOW SUBJECTED TO DANGEROUS CHEMICALS FROM
CONCEPTION TO DEATH.” EXPLAIN AND DEFEND YOUR ANSWER.
6. LIST NINE PRODUCTS FROM WHICH SYNTHETIC INSECTICIDES ARE DERIVED.
7. IS DDT STILL USED IN THE U.S. TODAY?
8. WHERE DOES CHLORDANE LODGE WITHIN A HUMAN?
9. DRAW A FOOD CHAIN DIAGRAM TO SHOW THE ACCUMULATION OF DDT.
10. LIST SIX CHLOINATED HYDROCARBONS.
11. NAME TWO ORGANIC PHOSPHATE INSECTICIDES.
12. HOW HAS SELENIUM BEEN USED AS A PESTICIDE?
CHAPTER 4: SURFACE WATERS AND UNDERGROUND SEAS
13. WHAT IS THE “STRANGE PARADOX” REGARDING THE EARTH’S WATER?
14. LIST FIVE SOURCES OF WATER POLLUTION.
15. EXPLAIN, “IT IS NOT POSSIBLE TO ADD PESTICIDES TO WATER ANYWHERE WITHOUT
THREATENING THE PURITY OF WATER EVERYWHERE”.
16. DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED AT CLEAR LAKE.
17. DIAGRAM THE CLEAR LAKE FOOD CHAIN.
18. HOW COULD VERTEBRATE ANIMALS REMAIN AFFECTED IF THE WATER NO LONGER
CONTAINED MEASUEABLE PESTICIDE?
CHAPTER 5: REALMS OF THE SOIL
19. WHICH THREE GROUPS OF ORGANISMS ARE THE PRINCIPLE AGENTS OF DECAY?
20. WHICH TYPE OF SOIL SUFFERS THE MOST—SANDY OR HUMUS?
21. WHICH COMMONLY EATEN VEGETABLE ABSORBS THE MOST INSECTICIDE?
CHAPTER 6: EARTH’S GREEN MANTLE
22. LIST SOME ANIMALS THAT FEED UPON WILD SAGE.
23. EXPLAIN HOW NEMATODES CAN BE CONTROLLED ON ROSES BY COMPANION
PLANTING.
24. HOW HAS ST. JOHNWORT BEEN CONTROLLED?
CHAPTER 7: NEEDLESS HAVOC
25. HOW WAS THE JAPANESE BEETLE ATTACKED IN MICHIGAN? WHAT WERE SOME
UNEXPECTED SIDE-EFFECTS?
26. EXPLAIN A BETTER, MORE SELECTIVE WAY TO CONTROL JAPANESE BEETLES.
CHAPTER 8: AND NO BIRDS SING
27. HOW DID DUTCH ELM DISEASE ARRIVE IN THE U.S. AND HOW IS IT SPREAD?
28. LIST THE WELL-KNOWN SYMPTOMS OF PESTICIDE POISONING.
29. HOW WERE ROBINS POISONED?
30. CARSON LISTS “PEST BIRDS.” ARE THESE BIRDS LESS VALUABLE? IS THIS SPECIES
DICRIMINATION? EXPLAIN YOUR RESPONSE.
31. MONOCULTURE IS GROWING ONLY ONE SPECIES. HOW CAN THIS PRACTICE BE
PROBLEMATIC? COULD WE PLANT CORN AND BEANS TOGETHER TODAY AND REMAIN
COMPETETIVE? EXPLAIN.
CHAPTER 9: RIVERS OF DEATH
32. HOW WERE NEW BRUNSWICK SALMON HARMED?
33. WHAT DO TROUT EAT?
34. EXPLAIN WHY FISH ARE VALUABLE.
CHAPTER 10: INDISCRIMINATELY FROM THE SKIES
35. WHICH TWO INSECTS WERE MOST TARGETED BY AERIAL SPRAYING?
36. HOW WAS THE GYPSY MOTH BROUGHT TO THE U.S.?
37. HOW CAN THE GYPSY MOTH BE CONTROLLED WITHOUT PESTICIDES?
38. HOW WAS THE FIRE ANT INTRODUCED TO THE U.S.? HOW DANGEROUS IS IT? DID IT
WARRANT MASS SPRAYING?
CHAPTER 11: BEYOND THE DREAMS OF BORGIAS
39. WHEN WAS DDT FIRST FOUND IN HUMAN FAT TISSUE?
CHAPTER 12: THE HUMAN PRICE
40. THERE IS AN ECOLOGY OF THE WORLD WITHIN OUR BODIES. EXPLAIN.
41. IF ONE’S LIVER IS IMPAIRED, WHAT FUNCTIONS ARE ALTERED?
42. WHAT EFFECTS DID THE PESTICIDES HAVE ON THE VOLUNTEERS?
CHAPTER 13: THROUGH A NARROW WINDOW
43. IN THE ANALOGY OF THE STORAGE BATTERY, ____ REPRESENTS THE CHARGED
BATTERY, WHILE ____ REPRESENTS THE DISCHARGED BATTERY.
44. LIST FOUR CAUSES OF MUTATIONS.
45. CARSON REFERRED TO TRISOMY OF CHROMOSOME 21 AS MONGOLISM. WHAT DO
WE CALL THIS GENETIC CONDITION TODAY?
CHAPTER 14: ONE IN EVERY FOUR
46. WHAT HAPPENS TO ONE IN EVERY FOUR?
47. LIST AT LEAST THREE CARCINOGENS.
48. ACCORDING TO ALBERT LEVAN AND JOHN J. BIESELE, “CHROMOSOMAL
IRREGULARITIES PRECEDE THE ____________________.”
49. HOW DID JOHN SNOW SLOW THE OCCURRENCE OF CHOLERA IN LONDON?
50. WHICH IS MORE HUMANE; CURING CANCER OR PREVENTING CANCER? EXPLAIN.
CHAPTER 15: NATURE FIGHTS BACK
51. WHAT HAPPENED WHEN KAIBAB DEER WERE “PRESERVED?”
52. LIST PREDATOR INSECTS.
53. EXPLAIN WHY SPIDER MITES BECOME MORE ABUNDANT AFTER SPRAYING.
54. WHY IS IT NEGATIVE THAT SNAILS ARE IMMUNE TO MANY INSECTICIDES?
CHAPTER 16: THE RUMBLINGS OF AN AVALANCHE
55. HOW DO INSECTS DISPLAY “SURVIVAL OF THE FITTEST” WHEN SPRAYED WITH
INSECTICIDE? EXPLAIN IN DETAIL.
56. WHICH INSECT VECTORS SPREAD TYPHUS, PLAGUE AND AFRICAN SLEEPING
SICKNESS?
57. HOW CAN A FLY SURVIVE INSECTICIDES BEHAVIORALLY?
CHAPTER 17: THE OTHER ROAD
58. DESCRIBE SOME INSECT CONTROL STRATEGIES BESIDES SPRAYING.
59. THIS BOOK WAS PUBLISHED IN 1962. WHAT INSECT CONTROL STRATEGIES DO WE USE
TODAY WHICH CARSON COULD NOT HAVE FORESEEN? USE GOOGLE.