One of the most notable changes in my thinking over the course of this semester was during our lessons on Rachel Carson. During these classes, we went over a select number of chapters from her book, “Silent Spring.” Silent Spring focuses on the environment and the effect DDT had on it. For a number of years, DDT was used as a pesticide to kill bugs that spread disease. For a while, this chemical saved a number of lives; however, in the long term did more harm than good. This chemical harmed trees, then birds and then humans. The affects DDT had on humans eventually were sometimes cancers and diseases.
Over the course of this lesson our class discussed modern technology that potentially could have as much harm on our society, that DDT had. We believe these new modern breakthroughs are amazing at the time because they benefit us short term, and as a result of this we do not think about the long term. Some of the things we talked about being iPhones, tanning beds and motorvehicals. With most good things there is a sort of give and take with our environment. We give up our environment ’s cleanliness in return for quicker commutes. We give up our own personal health in return for glowing skin. We give up arthritis and poor vision for fun games and quick communication. We love to simplify our lives and Rachel Carson made note of that when she wrote, “Nature has introduced greater variety into the landscape, but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Thus he undoes the built-in checks and balances by which nature holds the species within bounds.”
I had never thought of my everyday actions and how they might eventually affect my future, but after these few classes focused on this topic I couldn’t help it. I would go about my day and think about every single thing I did and how it might affect me in the long run. Not only was my mind changed with how I thought about my future health, my perception of what is good and bad in our society also changed. I always thought quicker meant better, stronger meant better and more advanced in general meant better. Sometimes all you need is a single moment to open your eyes to a new aha moment, and our first class on Rachel Carson was my aha moment on how I now view the world and human’s impact on it.
The Silent Generation and Beyond 