Guided by the reading of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, an iconic text from 1962, we will trace the interconnectedness of life through circulation of the elements throughout the biosphere. We will examine how the distinction between ‘the organism’ and ‘the environment’ collapses, when we follow the flow or ‘matter’, when individual life appears as a temporary constellation, and explore the implications of this shift to processual understanding of life. This reading continues with the theme of interconnectedness of all life, however, it also brings into attention the disruption and destruction of living beings and their intricate ecosystem relationships caused by the application of toxic chemicals. 

Rachel Carson was a biologist, whose writing on the life in the sea in 1940′ and 1950′ – Under the Sea-Wind, The Sea Around Us, and The Edge of the Sea – brought a unique perspective on marine ecology, conveyed in a beautiful and evocative language. Her final book, Silent Spring, was written as a warning of the unforeseen consequences of the indiscriminate use of chemicals on the web of life. The response to her work was multifaceted – while being vilified by the industry, she nevertheless inspired many to prevent harm to the living world, both on individual and political level. Her famous essay, The Sense of Wonder, and a collection Lost Woods, provide insights into her way of thinking about the natural world of which we are part of – as one of many diverse expressions of life.

readings

Rachel Carson. Silent Spring.

Chapter 2 – The obligation to endure

Chapter 3 – Elixirs of death

Chapter 8 – And No Birds Sing 

Chapter 12 – The human price

Chapter 13 – Through a narrow window

Chapter 15 – Nature fights back

Chapter 17 – The Other Road

questions for discussion

Is human life worth more (to you) than other life?

What does the world look like if we follow individual elements (oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, etc.) as they reconstitute in different chemical forms and become parts of organic matter?

Why do you think that we consider ourselves exempted from the intricate web of life, despite knowing that we share molecular kinship with other forms of life, and therefore are equally vulnerable to the toxins and environmental harms?

Rachel Carson describes in great detail the impact of indiscriminate chemical use to control insect pests. What is the underlying conceptual model of humankind’s relationship to the world around it? 

Can you think of other conceptual models to describe the relationship between humankind and the natural world? 

Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring brings up different examples on how humans eradicate insects as a source of damage. It is either via pesticides, or even mass sterilization as a “newer” even more cruel approach. Are/should insects in general (be) part of ethical concerns? How would you rate “insect killing” from an ethical point of view after reading the text?

Extinction and destruction of the diversity of species is of course an ethical problem in which it is easy to agree, but is the cessation of the root causes of this morally defensible in regards to the likely human cost?

As you see it, are there any species whose removal would be worth the likely consequences to the ecosystem as a whole?

Why do you think this book was so very influential, despite the attempts by the very powerful chemical companies to discredit Rachel Carson’s work?

Do you think anything similar is happening today  – i.e. the destruction of the natural world of insects and plants caused by the use of agricultural chemicals?  What narratives can you find about that? Do you think agricultural chemical businesses would use other strategies to control the narrative than they deployed against Rachel Carson? 

We have looked at narratives, but are there other ways to think about how social processes might change, or be resistant to change?

Considering the notion of socio-technical systems, where a particular technology also constructs a particular social system around it, so that in order to change the use of a particular technology you also have to change the wider social structures within which that technology is embedded (e.g. the way the motor car has created social structures and expectations that rely upon ownership of cars and cheap petrol or, in this case, the way food production and expectations about food – standardisation, cheap food, world supply chains, etc. all rely upon a certain system of intensive chemical-dependent farming), what would need to change in order to transform our society in accordance with ecological principles in order to sustain the abundance and diversity of life?

additional resources

PBS. Rachel Carson (documentary film, the introduction freely available here)

Robin Wall Kimmerer. Becoming Earth. Emergence Magazine (essay)

Anelise Chen. What it would take to see the world completely differently? The Atlantic (essay)

Dave Goulson. Silent Earth. Averting the Insect Apocalypse (book)

Alexandre Antonelli. The Hidden Universe. Adventures in Biodiversity (book)

Willam D. Bowman, Sally D. Hacker. Ecology (textbook)

Michael Begon, Colin R. Townhead. Ecology: From Individuals to Ecosystems (textbook)

Soraya Boudia, Angela N. H. Creager, Scott Frickel, Emmanuel Henry, Nathalie Jas, Carsten Reinhardt, Jody A. Roberts. Residues. Thinking Through Chemical Environments (book)

Scott Gilbert, David Epel. Ecological Developmental Biology: The Environmental Regulation of Development, Health, and Evolution (textbook)

David R. Montgomery, Anne Biklé. The Hidden Half of Nature. The Microbial Roots of Life and Health (book)