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Mankind: The Deadliest Species

4 Pages 1009 Words April 2017

In the 1960’s, professor, aquatic biologist, editor, and writer Rachel Louise Carson published “The Obligation to Endure” in her book Silent Spring. When doing so, she created a national uproar and awareness to the environmental damage that was being created around that time. Have we (America) continued to proceed with caution in regards to environmental delicacy, or have we become a bigger issue than previously before?
She begins to explain how “man” is the only species powerful enough to alter the nature of his world. We have polluted and contaminated the earth, air, and waters with dangerous chemicals. According to Carson, the damage is for the most part “irrecoverable”. Strontium 90, a chemical released due to nuclear explosions, slowly makes its way to our bones where it stays until the day we die. She compares this to the way chemicals are sprayed on crops and vegetation and make their way to a chain of insects, cattle, etc. At one point, one of the worst environmental threats was the natural radiation that certain types of rocks would emit. It took us a millennium to adjust to living with the elements (calcium, silica, and copper). Yet, we expect living organisms to rapidly adjust to the synthetic chemicals that man has created. She begins to transfer into topic about chemicals produced to rid of pests, weeds, insects, etc. We have synthetically created over 200 chemicals that are branded under different names. Since people desire to rid of pests, the chemicals were sprayed on farms, gardens, homes, etc. With no regard to the fact that the chemicals were killing not only the bad, but also the good. When DDT (one of the strongest pesticides) was released for public use, it was utilized so much that certain species became immune to the chemicals. It was determined that more toxic pesticides would need to be created; in return, the insects because of immunity again over time. The process would continuously create a ch...

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