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Rachel Carson... ...continued from page 25
The soil exists in a state of constant change, taking part in cycles that have no beginning and no end. New materials are constantly being contributed as rocks disintegrate, as organic matter decays and as nitrogen and other gases are brought down in rain from the skies. At the same time other materials are being taken away, borrowed for temporary use by living creatures. (Chapter 5) And in another chapter of Silent Spring Water must also be thought of in terms of the chains of life it supports—from the small-as-dust green cells of the drifting SODQWSODQNWRQWKURXJKWKHPLQXWHZDWHUÀHDVWRWKH¿VKHV that strain plankton from the water and are in turn eaten by RWKHU¿VKHVRUE\ELUGVPLQNUDFRRQV²LQDQHQGOHVVF\FOLF transfer of materials from life to life… Can we suppose that poisons we introduce into water will not also enter into these cycles of nature? (Chapter 4) ,QWHUFRQQHFWLRQ WKURXJK UHF\FOHG DQG VKDUHG PDWHULDO ZDV D FRUH HOHPHQWRI&DUVRQ¶VXQGHUVWDQGLQJRIHFRORJ\,WDOVRSURYHGLPSRUW - ant on a more personal level. Nearly a year before she would die at age IURPFRPSOLFDWLRQVIURPEUHDVWFDQFHU5DFKHO&DUVRQH[SODLQHG KHUEHOLHIVRQKHURZQPRUWDOLW\LQDOHWWHUWRKHUGHDUHVWIULHQG'RU - othy Freeman. She felt there is much one cannot know about death and its aftermath, but there were other elements about which she felt “certain.” She knew that, at least in the short term, one can live on in the memory of loved ones, and those who, in Carson’s case, knew KHUWKURXJKKHUZULWLQJ%XWWKHRWKHUVKHVD\VZLWKDPRUHLQ¿QLWH WLPHOLQH ³LV WKH NLQG RI µPDWHULDO LPPRUWDOLW\¶ , ZURWH DERXW LQ WKH
span of a particular plant or animal appears, not as a drama complete in itself, but only as a brief interlude in a panorama of endless change. Each of her sea books — Under the Sea-Wind The Sea $URXQG8V (1951), and 7KH(GJHRIWKH6HD (1955) — included a back- GURSRIFKDQJHÀXLGLW\DQGUHFUHDWLRQDQGWRJHWKHUEURXJKWKHUWKH KLJKHVWOLWHUDU\DFFRODGHVSRSXODULW\DQGHYHQWXDOO\DVHQVHRI¿QDQ - :KHQ 5DFKHO &DUVRQ ZURWH ZKDW ZRXOG EH KHU ¿QDO ERRN Silent Spring , here in Silver Spring, she departed from the sea to the topic of V\QWKHWLFFKHPLFDOSHVWLFLGHV,QWKHSRVW:RUOG:DU,,HUDJRYHUQ - ment and industry were engaged in a destructive and short-sighted attempt to control nature’s unwanted pests through modern techno- logical advancements — by indiscriminately spraying cheap chlorinat- ed hydrocarbons and organophosphates, which had limited long-term success against their insect targets and extensive, harmful impacts on their ecosystems, and possibly on human beings as well. ,Q Silent Spring , as Carson carefully presented evidence against this systemic attack on the natural world, the ecological basis of her argu- ment was that of interconnection, including material recycling. The vital components of an ecosystem were all subject to continuous reuse and reinvention. cial stability for herself and her family. Different Subjects, Same Material
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PATHWAYS—Spring 25—27
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