HIST 460/560, Spring 2004, Week 5
Reading and Discussion Questions
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring, chapters 1-10, 12, 17.
1. Carson’s first chapter explains the title of her book. Why is
it called “Silent Spring”?
2. Why does she suggest that chemical insecticides and herbicides be
called “biocides”? What idea is she expressing by using this
word? Is Carson opposed to the use of all toxins?
3. What is uniquely problematic about DDT and other chlorinated hydrocarbons?
4. How do toxins contribute to water pollution?
5. “In nature nothing exists alone” (p. 51). Why is this
an important part of Carson’s critique? How would you characterize
her view of the many relationships in nature: between human beings and
their environments, between plants and animals, between water and earth?
6. What alternatives does Carson propose to the use of chemicals to control
unwanted pests and plants? Do you think these alternatives make sense
in the context of agribusiness?
7. Her description of chemical spraying suggests that moral dilemmas
are involved in the use of toxins as well as technical problems of environmental
management. What moral dilemma is Carson worried about? Do you share her
view?
8. Carson’s discussion of Dutch Elm disease leads her to advocate
“the conservation of variety.” What does she mean by this?
9. Why is runoff in rivers and the ocean such a serious problem?
10. What lessons does Carson extract from the stories about spraying
for the gypsy moth and the fire ant? What was the role of local activists?
Of government officials? Of the chemical industry?
11. What is Carson referring to when she writes that there is a “human
price” for the use of toxins? Why is it so crucial that human beings
begin to see themselves as an essential part of the natural world? Why
did she believe that people resisted thinking about themselves in those
terms?
12. Carson invokes the term “ecology” (p. 189) to describe
“the web of life–or death...” What role does this concept
play in her analysis?
13. Do you agree that the project of controlling nature is arrogant,
foolish, and dangerous, as Carson argues? Why or why not?
14. After reading Silent Spring, how would you characterize
its author? Is she a science writer? An environmental activist? A philosopher?
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