3/11/05
Russell 11

how did people come to be much more worried about pesticides?

1. do the chemicals make people sick
2. people become more aware of effects on other animals that people care about
3. are we disturbing the balance of nature
4. animals have rights too

change in attitude--we are part of the environment, not separate from it
nature is not just out there in national parks and forests

more knowledge of ecology makes us more aware of the interactions--more things are connected than we thought.

scores of farm workers died from pesticide accidents

1950s:

movement to suburbs, more involvement with nature, more pesticides used in yards

efforts (by Chemical Corps and chemical industry) to reassure public fears about pesticides backfired

movies playing into popular fears of chemical dangers

people are getting worried about nuclear fallout

large-scale spraying for gypsy moths


1960s:

photos of the earth from space--view of the earth as a single system

Vietnam: use of herbicide Agent Orange--control the whole environment in the cause of war
plan (abandoned) to destroy enemy food crops

"This is a book about man's war against nature, and because man is part of nature it is also and inevitable a book about man's war against himself." Rachel Carson  (p. 221)