Environmentalism of the 1960s: Kairos in Silent Spring

Wednesday, September 28, 2016

Kairos in Silent Spring

Kairos in Rachel Carson's Silent Spring

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring started a revolution. In looking into the rhetorical situation of her book, it becomes increasingly clear that Carson's work began not only the campaign to use fewer pesticides in agriculture, but became one of the sparks of the entire environmentalist movement. The book mostly revolves around the use of DDT. While some had been skeptical of the pesticide, most had accepted it as a useful tool for agriculture. It was seen as a major innovation, meaning the anti DDT rhetoric was essentially nonexistent, save for a few experts whose criticisms went unheard when the chemical was first introduced during World War 2. One can think of Silent Spring in its rhetorical situation as kind of the Nevermind environmental movement, where the ideas may have been nebulous and forming, but this one work sparked a change in the conversation that we still feel to this day. It was a perfect time for her to write the book as the chemical had just reached its peak in terms of use. All the major companies of the day were using DDT, the ever present and ever controversial Monsanto being a key advocate of the pesticide. It had become such a pervasive force in agribusiness that to question it seemed nearly heretical, and yet had she not people may have never taken a stand. Her simple action of exposing the effects of the chemical caused a pivot in the publics perception, making it apparent that to blindly trust innovation has the potential side effect of sacrificing the integrity of the environment. Thanks to Carson, the public began to question and to work to save the planet from humanity's darker tendencies, all from a kairotic moment that seems not to have existed at all.
Robert Dries

1 comment:

UnknownSeptember 28, 2016 at 7:52 PM
The fact that Monsanto is a key advocate of the pesticide isn't particularly comforting considering that companies track record. I feel as though kairos in this situation is critical, just like the conversation about global warming today depends greatly on the mindset of the general populous. Publishing a work like this depends very heavily on the response that it would receive.
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Critical Introduction

Hello reader and welcome to our blog, “Environmentalism of the 1960s”! We are a group of freshman College Park Scholars at The University of Maryland, and all highly interested in the environment and the various movements to protect it. The Environmentalist Movement of the 1960s was one of the especially big motions in our history, and of the time and therefore many works were produced pushing the environmentalist agenda. Two of these works, which we discuss more thoroughly in our blog, are the book Silent Spring by Rachel Carson and the song “Big Yellow Taxi” by Joni Mitchell. These two works differ greatly on the basis of presentation, syntax, general message, and more, however both support the same general stance that human’s need to protect and stop inflicting such excessive harm on the environment. Our blog explores how the differences in these works enable each author to form concrete arguments backing the Environmentalist movement. In Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi” and Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring, the ideas of the environmentalist movement are pushed onto the audience using strong figurative language in the former and concrete facts in the latter.

In “Big Yellow Taxi” figurative language, specifically imagery, plays an important role in expressing Mitchell’s opinions on the environmentalist movement. Using pleas such as “hey farmer farmer put away that DDT now. Give me spots on my apples but leave me the birds and the bees please” Mitchell creates a visual imagery ‘ultimatum’ for her audience, showing what is being given up for relatively unimportant benefits. Silent Spring appeals to logos and utilizes research-based statistics to instill credibility into the argument presented. The work is flooded with facts which are intertwined with Carson’s opinions on those topics. The major arguments of both works is that a greater public concentration on conservation is needed, and that without this we will surely lose things that can never be replaced. They use stases of action making it clear that unless society changes its ways and evaluates its actions, this planet and all that was once good about it will be lost.

The Environmentalist movement is one that has gained steam throughout the years, yet still has been unable to find truly effective solutions. Finding these solutions has become more difficult as society has grown and industrialization has progressed. A major issue in the 1960s and 70s was the usage of a chemical pesticide, DDT, which is explained further in our blog and the two main works referenced in our blog. Although DDT use is now largely banned, other, debatably worse, problems have presented themselves. We move closer and closer to these issues causing irreversible damage, making it clear just how essential modern environmentalist thought is. For example, air pollution is the world’s number one preventable cause of death, lending credence to the idea that the Environmentalist movement has much further to go before finding true success. With help from activists such as Mitchell and Carson and their works, this movement is able to progress and continue spreading awareness to the importance of protecting the environment.

After reading our blog, you will have gained a better understanding of this movement as a whole, and two influential pieces that supported the movement. We do not have a perfectly ordered approach, as we felt that a more piecemeal approach allows the topic to blend more efficiently and organically, with less of didactic nature. We prove our major arguments by thoroughly examining all the stases and rhetorical appeals from several angles and applying them to both texts with great efficiency and care. We hope you will appreciate the consequences of carelessness in the environment and the true impact mankind has on this one environment we have been given. A feeling that mankind is to blame for many issues should not be a rare feeling, and yet this should also be coupled with hope that we have time to fix it. Have fun reading and learning how together we can all conserve this planet!