Rachel Carson is best known for her 1962 book, Silent Spring, which is credited with beginning the modern environmental movement in the United States. That book turned public attention on the problem of pesticide and other chemical pollution, and led to such landmark legislation as the U.S. Clean Water Act and the banning of DDT in many countries throughout the world. Whatever Carson's arguments were in Silent Spring, they succeeded.
The book also focused on the uncontrolled and often indiscriminate use of pesticides, especially dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (commonly known as DDT), and the irreparable environmental damage caused by these chemicals. The public outcry Carson generated by the book motivated the United States Senate to form a committee to investigate pesticide use. Her eloquent testimony before the committee altered the views of many government officials and helped lead to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Silent Spring constitutes an extended argument for strictly limiting the use of pesticides, herbicides, and other dangerous agricultural and industrial chemicals, and for their careful application and safe disposal when such use is necessary. This argument rests on both factual and evaluative premises. Factually, Silent Spring's case rests on numerous scientific and accounts of the abuse of these chemicals.In my thoughts Rachel Carson's book made a major impact on the environmental health of the United States .
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