"heart of America" where all life once lived in harmony with its surroundings. Carson quickly

presents her central issue by quickly describing the disasters this made-up town faces. Because

what silenced the made-up town was the inhabitants and their ignorance to the environmental

hazards they had imposed as a result of their decisions. Although the town does not exist, the

potential of the occurrence of these disasters is an eye-opener for the reader, as well as a great

A reoccuring theme in biology, life is a result of the interaction between living things and

their non-living environment. However, this balance is disrrupted when the non-living

environment is contaminated by dangeroud materials. Carson states that "since the 1940's over

200 basic chemicals have been created for killing insects, weeds, rodents, and other organisms

considered 'pests' by our society." The introduction of such chemicals into our environment

have caused an unmeasurable amount of damage. "The environmental damage caused by a

pesticide must be measured in the totality of life forms it affects, ie., along the entire food c

Several species of birds were driven to near extinction before the full impact of the insecticide

because there have been a substantial number of people that have come in contact withteh

Carson also goes on to discuss the design sof insect control programs in the 60's.

contact with it through drifting spray comming from vegetation coated with it. By destroying

These cities receiving their drinking water from rivers had a higher death rate from cancer than

mend an amount of the damage, at the rate at which these chemicals are introduced into the

been passed on till now. The irony is this desire for total control could become an "alarming

waste reactors, factories, fall-out from nuclear explosions and even domestic waste from cities.

Some common words found in the essay are:
World War, Silent Spring, Age Neanderthals, Al Gore's, non-living environment, made-up town, insect control programs, phosphorus insecticides, control programs, living organisms, environmental damage, drinking water, amount damage, food chain, people contact,
Approximate Word count = 912
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)