Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was the starting point of the environmental movement. Carson described numerous case studies where the use of hazardous pesticides, insecticides, and other chemicals led to environmental problems all over the world. Whether directly or indirectly, everything in the environment is connected and affected by each other. Silent Spring describes, in depth, the harmful effects that chemical control has placed on all components of the environment, such as air, water, land, wildlife, plant life, and humans.
Aerial spraying of pesticides, mostly DDT, began on a small scale over farms and forests. With the development of new insecticides and the availability of planes from the war, the sky almost literally turned into a shower of toxic chemicals. The justification behind the massive sprayings of the 1950’s was to exterminate exotic species like the fire ant, and the gypsy moth. The spraying was extremely careless, and resulted in heavily populated towns and cities repeatedly being sprayed with DDT (Carson, 1962). Unfortunately, people and wildlife sprayed with DDT along with other chemicals had no warnings and no way to protect themselves. The government, without consent of those affected, risked the health of those exposed to the pesticides and the quality of the environment. Nearly everyone was exposed to the risks, in a direct or indirect way, from the extensive aerial spraying.
Water is absolutely essential for all living things. However, the lack of respect for nature has led to the devastating reality that we are severely and possibly irreversibly poisoning our water resources and could become a life or death situation for the entire human race. Sadly, for some people and animal species, this has already become a horrible reality. Our rivers, streams, lakes, and groundwater sources have become a breeding ground for hazardous chemicals and pesticides. Since we cannot predict the reactions between...