Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4hhp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-30T14:11:21.251Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Happy Birthday Silent Spring: Towards Reconceptualising Science and the Environment

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 June 2015

Justin Dillon
Justin Dillon*
Affiliation:
King's College London
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Rachel Carson's book, Silent Spring, an exposé of the perils of aenal spraying of pesticides in the post-war years, was first published forty years ago, in 1962. Views about the book and its impact vary considerably. This paper takes a critical look at some of the claims made by her supporters, in her name, about the role and value of science. Carson is highly critical of some aspects of science and of some scientists, however, I argue that Carson did not argue against the value of science as a way of knowing. Her message that it is the misuse of science, sustained by individual greed and market forces, that is the problem, has been lost, deliberately or accidentally.

Type
Articles
Information
Australian Journal of Environmental Education , Volume 18 , 2002 , pp. 15 - 18
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2002

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Appleyard, B. 1992, Understanding the Present: Science and the Soul of Modern Man, Pan Books, London.Google Scholar
Burnside, J. 2002, ‘Reluctant crusader’, The Guardian. Saturday Review, pp. 1–2.Google Scholar
Carson, R. 1999, Silent Spring, Originally published in 1962, Penguin, London.Google Scholar
Corcoran, P. B. 1997, ‘Wonderment and Wisdom: The influence of Rachel Carson (1907-1964) on Environmental Education’, in Thompson, P. J. (ed), Environmental Education for the 21st Century. International and Interdisciplinary Perspectives, Peter Lang, New York.Google Scholar
Ellis, R. J. 1990, ‘Frank Herbert's Dune and the Discourse of Apocalyptic Ecologism in the United States’, in Garnett, R. and Ellis, R. J. (eds), Science Fiction Roots and Branches: Contemporary Critical Approaches, Macmillan, London.Google Scholar
Lear, L. 1998, Rachel Carson. Witness for Nature, Allen Lane. The Penguin Press, London.Google Scholar
Lear, L. 2002, ‘Rachel Carson and the Awakening of Environmental Consciousness. Scholars Debate’, http://www.nhc.rtp.nc.us:8080/tserve/nattrans/ntwilderness/essays/carsonf.htm Accessed on June 3.Google Scholar
Lear, L. 2002, Biography, http://www.rachelcarson.org/Accessed on June 3.Google Scholar
Logan, J. 1992, An Introduction to Rachel Carson and her Legacy: A Resource for Maine Educators to Commemorate the 30th Anniversary of the Publication of Silent Spring, Boothbay Region Land Trust, Boothbay.Google Scholar
Porritt, J. 2000, Playing Safe: Science arid the Environment, Thames and Hudson, London.Google Scholar