Rachel Carson's Significant Contributions to the Environmental Movement

MERCER UNIVERSITY COLLEGE OF HEALTH PROFESSIONS

BLOG: RACHEL CARSON’S CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL MOVEMENT

A PAPER SUBMITTED TO

DR. BRIAN ROOD

IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR

GLOBAL ISSUES IN ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH MPH 720

MASTER OF PUBLIC HEALTH

BY

ABRAHAM DENG

MACON, GEORGIA

JULY 2014

Rachel Carson (1907-1964) was both an American biologist and environmentalist, who made tremendous impacts on the environmental health. The scientific discovery of pesticides to rid of insects and thus potentially save farmers’ crops prompted Rachel Carson to confront the fate the humanity created against its self. Rachel Carson’s portrayal of miseries of human creation led to consideration of current environmental degradation and effects of chemical accumulation in living organisms, which pose potential threats to human health.

 

Rachel Carson brought tremendous impacts on the conservation of marine life. During her life, she devoted her career on marine life regarding the potential risks linked to chemical pollution. She educated the general public about the danger of chemical hazards to humans and whole humanity. Interestingly, she laid the foundation for the Environmental Movement.

Most importantly, in her book, Silent Spring, Rachel Carson provided chronically the potential hazards that result from the widespread application of pesticides, chemical fertilizers, and chemical treatments to maximize agricultural production.

 

The dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) was one of the toxic chemicals that Rachel Carson argued strongly because of the lethality of the pesticides synthesized from this chemical. She pointed out precisely that these pesticides entered and affected the food chain and thus compromised the lives of birds, fish, human beings, and other living creatures.

Rachel Carson provided maps regarding the evolution of planet Earth, including formation of mountains, islands, and oceans. She also provided detailed chronological description of the sea beginning with creatures living on the sea surface to those residing on the bottom of the sea.

Carson’s views of humans’ destruction to the environment led to the creation of the environmental justice, which brought significant impact on environmental health. The compromise to the environment prompts the provision of justice for the disfranchised segments of our societies. The disadvantage populations disproportionally experience environmental hazards. The vulnerable groups, including, children, elderly persons, and people with disabilities, continue to be the victims of environmental health hazards.

Carson’s discovery of environmental health effects on humanity led to creation of the built in environment, which has brought tremendous impact to the field of the environmental health (Frumkin, 2005). According to Frumkin, the built environment can be identified in housing, food, transportation, parks, green spaces, and squalor. Although some people continue to live in unfavorable conditions, we see the fundamental transformations that Rachel Carson brought to the nature of our environmental health.

References:

Frumkin, Howard. (2005). Health, equity, and the built environment. Environmental Health Perspectives, 113 (5), 290-291.

Photo links:

http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Bi-Ca/Carson-Rachel.html#b

How ‘Silent Spring’ Ignited the Environmental Movement

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/23/magazine/how-silent-spring-ignited-the-environmental-movement.html?pagewanted%253Dall&_r=0

http://www.pophistorydig.com/?tag=ddt-1960s

https://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images;ylt=A0LEVyVudcBTLTwAt1xXNyoA?p=DDT&fr=yfp-t-901&fr2=piv-web