'The "control of nature" is a phrase conceived in arrogance, born of the Neanderthal age of bioloby and philosophy, when it was supposed that anture exists for the convenience of man. The concepts and practices of applied entomology for the most part date from that Stone Age of science. It is our alarming misfortune that so primitive a science has armed itself with the most modern and terrible weapons, and that in turning them against the insects it has also turned them against the earth.'
So concludes Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" ... her most noted book of several exceptional environmental works. This book, first published in 1962, set the stage for environmental movements throughout the world and still rings true today... man is part of nature, not excluded from it, nor exempt from the outcomes that we create in our attempt to over come natural trends and realities.
In my work, meger in compaison, I have looked at her efforts and tried to see if we have come to our senses ... and sadly I find that for many we have not. Ask if you would use DDT or its derivitives in your garden and you would probably say no, yet DDT is not gone...it is simply used in far away fields and its toxins are still in our food chain even today from past applications here in North America.
Rachel Carson died of cancer at the age of 56 in 1964, sad that we lost her so young...but you can still find power in her words and answers to how we need to proceed today to create a sustainable world in which to live and as an appropriate legacy for future generations.
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