Module 1.2 - A Turning Point Event for Environmental Science, Rachel Carson. American Experience PBS
- Point of View
The video is told from the perspective of those who praise Rachel Carson and see her as a heroine for speaking up for the environment. It seems like the person who put this video together finds her courageous because Rachel was speaking up against what most believed during a time when she was wrongfully ignored and silenced. I also find her very admirable and brave. I can't imagine what it must have been like to speak up alone and turned down when you try to share your knowledge of something so urgent with a bigger audience. All while simultaneously being publicly criticized by everyone.
- Purpose
The main purpose of this video is to educate the viewer on how Rachel Carson's controversial book "Silent Spring" drastically changed the course of history. It also focuses on the fact that, like DDT, scientists will have many discoveries that can promise to be beneficial to humans at first but, if we are not careful and respectful of nature, can also be irreversibly detrimental in the long run to the lives of humans, animals, and the entire world we live in.
- Questions at Issue
The main problems the video presents are that new and exciting scientific discoveries, such as DDT, can also have extremely harmful consequences. Another problem it shows is that most of the issues that follow will be brushed aside by human negligence, or maybe patched by some "modern scientists" at most, and that those who don't comply and try to speak up may be silenced by those who are more powerful, for contradicting a society's average "acceptable" opinion.
- Information
"Silent Spring" is a controversial book that talks about the effects of human contamination in nature written by Rachel Carson. It became a bestseller in 1962 for introducing people to the severity of environmental destruction caused by humans.
In 1945, Carson warns in a letter sent to Reader's digest that scientists from the Fish and Wildlife serve are now studying the harmful impacts on wildlife of the use of DDT, a chemical that had not been used for decades but had changed lives for many since it was discovered to be a powerful pesticide.
During WWII, thousands of people were sprayed with DDT to prevent the spread of diseases like typhus and malaria. Because it is not believed to be directly harmful to humans, farmers' crops and even entire islands are also sprayed in order to kill insects and grow.
In 1944, DDT is considered "one of the great scientific discoveries of WWII" by TIME magazine. At the same time, Reader's Digest turns down Rachel Carson's article on wildlife damage.
- Interpretation and Inference
The video does not directly show any conclusions or solutions on how to ethically and responsibly use DDT or undo the damage created by its use. However, it is implied that we can put more effort into caring about our world by listening to experts instead of turning a blind eye. The clear consequences of our current major environmental issues should be a guide of what we can do better in the future before it is too late.
- Concepts
The concept of the video is that the Fish and Wildlife Service scientists can confirm with clear evidence that the use of DDT has created harmful issues on the environment and wildlife, such as fish dying in the large areas were the chemical DDT was sprayed.
- Assumptions
The video assumes that the viewer probably does not use DDT as a pesticide, recognizes humans' failure to care for our environment and sees it as an urgent concern. The language used by the people interviewed in the video assumes that the viewer shares the feeling of injustice by how Rachel Carson was silenced by more than just Readers Digest.
- Consequences
The spraying of thousands of people with DDT was seen as a miracle during world war II because it brought the epidemic of typhus, malaria and other insect spread diseases to a halt. Another great consequence was that large areas that had also been sprayed with DDT were free of insects and farmers were able to grow their crops.
However, not all was positive because DDT brought harmful consequences to the environment and killed thousands of animals.
The New York Times Magazine. Sheila Glaser 2012 https://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html
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