Online Seminar Series: Silent Spring

Online Contemporary Issues Seminar Series

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

Saturday, August 10, 2024

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“Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Thus he undoes the built-in checks and balances by which nature holds the species within bounds.”

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Published in 1962 and named one of the 25 greatest science books of all time by the editors of Discover magazine, Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. The book documents the environmental harm caused by the indiscriminate use of DDT. Carson accuses the chemical industry of spreading disinformation, and public officials of accepting the industry’s marketing claims unquestioningly. The book was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, but it swayed public opinion and led to a reversal in U.S. pesticide policy, a nationwide ban on DDT for agricultural uses, and an environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Join us as we read and discussion this foundational book, several chapters at a time, over monthly online seminars.

August 10 Reading:

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

1. A Fable for Tomorrow, 2. The Obligation to Endure, 3. Elixirs of Death, 4. Surface Waters and Underground Seas

(pages 1-51)

Mariner Books Classics; Anniversary edition (February 2022)

ISBN 978-0618249060

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Schedule:

12:00-2:00PM PDT

Tutor: 

Andy Gilman

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Location: 

Online. Register to receive the link.