#Silent Spring
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Have we fallen into a mesmerized state that makes us accept as inevitable that which is inferior or detrimental, as though having lost the will or the vision to demand that which is good?
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
#necessity#possibility#change#progress#time#values#meaning#humanity#quotes#Carson#Rachel Carson#Silent Spring
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LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
April 21, 2024
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
APR 22, 2024
During her confirmation hearings in 2021, Interior Department secretary Deb Haaland promised “to responsibly manage our natural resources to protect them for future generations—so that we can continue to work, live, hunt, fish, and pray among them.” Noting her Indigenous heritage, Haaland tweeted, “A voice like mine has never been a Cabinet secretary or at the head of the Department of Interior…. I’ll be fierce for all of us, our planet, and all of our protected land.”
Her approach was a shift from the practice the Interior Department had established at the beginning of the twentieth century when it began to prioritize mineral, oil, and gas development, as well as livestock grazing, on U.S. public lands. But the devastating effects of climate change have brought those old priorities into question.
Republicans, especially those from states like Wyoming, which collects more than a billion dollars a year in royalties and taxes from the oil, gas, and coal produced on federal lands in the state, opposed Haaland’s focus on responsible management of natural resources for the future and warned that the Biden administration is “taking a sledgehammer to Western states’ economies.”
On Thursday, April 18, the Interior Department finalized a new rule for a balanced management of America’s public lands. Put together after a public hearing period that saw more than 200,000 comments from states, individuals, Tribal and local governments, industry groups, and advocacy organizations, the new rule prioritizes the health of the lands and waters the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management oversees. Those consist of about 245 million acres, primarily in 12 western states.
The new rule calls for protection of the land, restoration of the places that have been harmed in the past, and a promise to make informed decisions about future use based on “science, data, and Indigenous knowledge.” It “recognizes conservation as an essential component of public lands management, on equal footing with other multiple uses of these lands.” The Bureau of Land Management will now auction off leases not only for drilling, but also for conservation and restoration.
Western state leaders oppose the Biden administration’s efforts to change the Interior Department’s past practices, calling them “colonial forces of national environmental groups who are pushing an agenda” onto states like Wyoming.
The timing of the Interior Department’s new rule can’t help but call attention to Earth Day, celebrated tomorrow, on April 22. Earth Day is no novel proposition. Americans celebrated it for the first time in 1970. Nor was it a partisan idea in that year: Republican president Richard M. Nixon established it as Americans recognized a crisis that transcended partisanship and came together to fix it.
The spark for the first Earth Day was the 1962 publication of marine biologist Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which showed the devastating effects of people on nature by documenting the effect of modern pesticides on the natural world. Her exposé of how the popular pesticide DDT was poisoning the food chain in American waters illuminated the dangerous overuse of chemicals and their effect on living organisms, and it caught readers’ attention. Carson’s book sold more than half a million copies in 24 countries.
Democratic president John F. Kennedy asked the President’s Science Advisory Committee to look into Carson’s argument, and the committee vindicated her. Before she died of breast cancer in 1964, Carson noted: "Man's attitude toward nature is today critically important simply because we have now acquired a fateful power to alter and destroy nature. But man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself? [We are] challenged as mankind has never been challenged before to prove our maturity and our mastery, not of nature, but of ourselves."
As scientists organized the Environmental Defense Fund, Americans began to pay closer attention to human effects on the environment, especially after three crucial events. First, on December 24, 1968, astronaut William Anders took a color photograph of the Earth rising over the horizon of the moon from outer space during the Apollo 8 mission, powerfully illustrating the beauty and isolation of the globe on which we all live.
Then, over 10 days in January and February 1969, a massive oil spill off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, poured between 80,000 and 100,000 barrels of oil into the Pacific, fouling 35 miles of California beaches and killing seabirds, dolphins, sea lions, and elephant seals. Public outrage ran so high that President Nixon went to Santa Barbara in March to see the cleanup efforts, telling the American public that “the Santa Barbara incident has frankly touched the conscience of the American people.”
And then, in June 1969, the chemical contaminants that had been dumped into Cleveland’s Cuyahoga River caught fire. A dumping ground for local heavy industry, the river had actually burned more than ten times in the previous century, but with increased focus on environmental damage, this time the burning river garnered national attention.
In February 1970, President Nixon sent to Congress a special message “on environmental quality.” “[W]e…have too casually and too long abused our natural environment,” he wrote. “The time has come when we can wait no longer to repair the damage already done, and to establish new criteria to guide us in the future.”
“The tasks that need doing require money, resolve and ingenuity,” Nixon said, “and they are too big to be done by government alone. They call for fundamentally new philosophies of land, air and water use, for stricter regulation, for expanded government action, for greater citizen involvement, and for new programs to ensure that government, industry and individuals all are called on to do their share of the job and to pay their share of the cost.”
Meanwhile, Gaylord Nelson, a Democratic senator from Wisconsin, visited the Santa Barbara oil spill and hoped to turn the same sort of enthusiasm people were bringing to protests against the Vietnam War toward efforts to protect the environment. He announced a teach-in on college campuses, which soon grew into a wider movement across the country. Their “Earth Day,” held on April 22, 1970, brought more than 20 million Americans—10% of the total population of the country at the time—to call for the nation to address the damage caused by 150 years of unregulated industrial development. The movement included members of all political parties, rich Americans and their poorer neighbors, people who lived in the city and those in the country, labor leaders and their employers. It is still one of the largest protests in American history.
In July 1970, at the advice of a council convened to figure out how to consolidate government programs to combat pollution, Nixon proposed to Congress a new agency, the Environmental Protection Agency, which Congress created that December.
In honor of Earth Day 2024, Democratic president Joe Biden has called for carrying on the legacy of our predecessors “by building a greener, more sustainable planet and, with it, a healthier, more prosperous nation.”
In a statement, Biden noted that no one can any longer deny the impacts and staggering costs of climate change as the nation confronts historic floods, droughts, and hurricanes.
“Deforestation, nature loss, toxic chemicals, and plastic pollution also continue to threaten our air, lands, and waters, endangering our health, other species, and ecosystems,” he said. He noted the administration’s efforts to build a clean energy economy, providing well-paid union jobs as workers install solar panels, service wind turbines, cap old oil wells, manufacture electric vehicles, and so on, while also curbing air pollution from power plants and lead poisoning from old pipes, the burden of which historically has fallen on marginalized communities.
Biden noted that he brought the U.S. back into the Paris Climate Accord Trump pulled out of, is on track to conserve more lands and waters than any president before him, and has worked with the international community to slash methane emissions and restore lost forests.
And yet there is much more to be done, he said. He encouraged “all Americans to reflect on the need to protect our precious planet; to heed the call to combat our climate and biodiversity crises while growing the economy; and to keep working for a healthier, safer, more equitable future for all.”
Happy Earth Day 2024.
LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN
HEATHER COX RICHARDSON
#Heather Cox Richardson#earth day#history#Letters From An American#Conservation#natural resources#Interior Department#Silent Spring#Rachel Carson
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Rachel Carson was born on May 27, 1907. An American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist whose influential book Silent Spring (1962) and other writings are credited with advancing the global environmental movement. Although Silent Spring was met with fierce opposition by chemical companies, it spurred a reversal in national pesticide policy, which led to a nationwide ban on DDT and other pesticides. It also inspired a grassroots environmental movement that led to the creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
#rachel carson#silent spring#environmentalists#environment#environmental protection#environmental protection agency#EPA#DDT#women in science#women in history#science#science history#science birthdays#on this day#on this day in science history
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Grow your own
#askthesunjackers#sja3#silent spring#cyberpunk#ponies#my little pony#silent spring's espresso machine
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Oh boy its 1 am time for unhinged out if context sketch posting from our fallout equestria ttrpg
#my art#my little pony#mlp#mlp fim#art#fanart#mlp oc#my little pony friendship is magic#mlp fim oc#fallout equestria#fallout equestria:all things unequal#sketch#thunder punch#casey#minty shine#doctor scorp#moe#stellaria#shotglass#silent spring#kirin#breezie#barricade
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“[Rachel Carson] wanted her readers to take warning and take action, not just revert to contemplating (with either pleasure or depression) the inevitable end of life.” And No Birds Sing: Rhetorical Analyses of Silent Spring, ed. Craig Waddell
“There’s no ‘we’re fucked’, it will get better or it will get worse.” Lovett or Leave It Podcast
"Despair is paralysis. It robs us of agency. It blinds us to our own power and the power of the earth. Environmental despair is a poison every bit as destructive as the methylated mercury in the bottom of Onondaga Lake. But how can we submit to despair while the land is saying "Help"? Restoration is a powerful antidote to despair. Restoration offers concrete means by which humans can once again enter into positive, creative relationship with the more-than-human world, meeting responsibilities that are simultaneously material and spiritual. It's not enough to grieve. It's not enough to just stop doing bad things." Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
“Talking about it makes it seem like giving up might be the cool thing to do, and it’s definitely not. It’s a betrayal of the future. It’s a betrayal of the past too! It’s also a betrayal of the present. Don’t give up! We are only past saving when we believe we are past saving.” youtube video “Is It All Hopeless?”, Hank Green
“If Carson had given over totally to apocalyptic rhetoric, she would have forsaken her scientific outlook on life. There may be no completely happy endings in the master narrative of scientific research, but neither is there a scene of total destruction. There are, as in tragedy, the signs of rebirth and continuance. The work continues, the search goes on.” And No Birds Sing: Rhetorical Analyses of Silent Spring, ed. Craig Waddell
"We could take the path of fear and despair. We could document every scary scene of ecological destruction and never run out of material for a Haunted Hayride of environmental disasters, constructing a shocking nightmare tableaux of environmental tragedies, in rooms carved from a monoculture of invasive plants, on the shore of the most chemically contaminated lake in the United States. […] What could such a vision create other than woe and tears? Joanna Macy writes that until we can grieve for our planet we cannot love it--grieving is a sign of spiritual health. But it is not enough to weep for our lost landscapes; we have to put our hands in the earth to make ourselves whole again. Even a wounded world is feeding us. Even a wounded world holds us, giving us moments of wonder and joy. I choose joy over despair. Not because I have my head in the sand, but because joy is what the earth gives me daily and I must return the gift.” Braiding Sweetgrass, Robin Wall Kimmerer
“We need all hands on deck, and there’s a lot of deck.” Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg
“Say these words when you lie down and when you rise up,
when you go out and when you return. In times of mourning
and in times of joy. Inscribe them on your doorposts,
embroider them on your garments, tattoo them on your shoulders,
teach them to your children, your neighbors, your enemies,
recite them in your sleep, here in the cruel shadow of empire:
Another world is possible.” “V’ahafta”, Aurora Levin Morales
#is this what the kids call web weaving??#putting links to the video and poem in the reblog please reblog the version with those#silent spring#rachel carson#and no birds sing#craig waddell#braiding sweetgrass#robin wall kimmerer#hank green#lovett or leave it#rabbi danya ruttenberg#aurora levin morales#mary emma’s posts
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I know everything is speculation at this point, but I can't help feeling like Aabria pitched Burrow's End after reading Silent Spring.
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Ok gang, listen up! I’m posting this here because I’ve got more followers here on my witchy blog than I do my main blog, and this is incredibly important!
Spread the word about what happened in East Palestine, OH regarding a train derailment and a “controlled burn” of toxic chemicals (especially vinyl chloride). This could be the largest environmental disaster in US history, and aside from local news and many people tweeting about it, THERE’S NOTHING BUT SILENCE.
The link above is to my twitter thread piecing together many linked sources and accounts regarding what people on twitter are experiencing (chemical smells, respiratory issues, etc.) as well as some smaller media outlets. Go through that, get informed, look up more info on the situation if you have to, but PLEASE GET THIS SITUATION TO GO VIRAL BECAUSE THE GOVERNMENT IS GASLIGHTING THE PEOPLE.
If you are NOT from the US, I encourage you, as well, to kick up a big stink about it in your country and on your platforms, too! I’m almost tempted to ask you to contact your country’s news media outlets because maybe that’ll put pressure on ours to maybe FUCKING TALK ABOUT IT MORE. (And maybe the MSM will shut the fuck up about that stupid fucking balloon.)
I don’t give a shit if you follow me on tumblr, twitter, or where the fuck ever. I’m not trying to get attention on me. Get the attention on this topic. I’m getting friggin’ flashbacks from when I read Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring after reports of dead fish 2 miles from the site in a creek and someone’s chickens all dying. People on twitter here and there have mentioned something about this movie on Netflix called White Noise (which I haven’t seen), so if you’ve seen it, you know what the situation is about, I guess?
IF YOU ARE FROM THE EASTERN GREAT LAKES REGION AND CANADA, SOME OF THIS SHIT MIGHT BE BLOWING YOUR WAY.
IF YOU ARE FROM WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA, YOU MIGHT GET ACID RAIN.
IT ALL DEPENDS ON THE WIND SHIFTS.
I really hope all the railroad workers decide “fuck it” and strike, now. Like, I really fucking hope they all go on strike. It’d be even better if many other industries/businesses did so in solidarity, because our railroad infrastructure is so fucking shit right now.
IN THE EVENT YOU ARE TO SHELTER IN PLACE IN SUCH A SITUATION, MAKE SURE ALL GAPS IN THE SEALING OF YOUR HOME ARE TIGHTLY COVERED. DO NOT RUN YOUR FURNACE OR AIR CONDITIONER. And depending on where your water is sourced from, you may not even be able to safely use the tap.
I actually do not know if N95 masks would help, but let me explain why even if it did, you should NOT rely on that alone: vinyl chloride in liquid form boils at 8 degrees Celcius (or Farenheit... I’ve heard both; I’m not sure which), and when it becomes a vapor, it easily attaches itself to water, turning into hydrochloric acid. YES. YOU CAN GET ACID RAIN FROM THIS. But because of the moisture in our lungs, if you breathe those vapors, hydrochloric acid forms in your lungs, and this is exactly how my dad almost died when they endangered his life at the steel mill he worked at back in 1996. This is why I say if an N95 mask works, that alone might not be enough and you will NEED eye protection, because our eyeballs have moisture on them!
At least the bit about the eyeballs part is how I’m making sense of it. Cuz eyes aren’t dry. (I also hope I got everything right in the previous paragraph; I’m overwhelmed and bouncing everywhere between getting word out and trying to get some shit done around the house.)
Remember: this isn’t a comic book or a cartoon. We don’t get superpowers from this. We get cancer. We get sick. We die.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
#East Palestine Ohio#Ohio#Pennsylvania#environmental disaster#ecological disaster#Rachel Carson#Silent Spring#White Noise
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A personal hero of mine, Rachel Carson was born #OTD (27 May 1907 – 14 April 1964). While Silent Spring (1962) is her most famous & influential work, before it she wrote The Sea Trilogy - Under the Sea-Wind (1941), The Sea Around Us (1951), and The Edge of the Sea (1955). Here are vintage book covers for each:
#BookCovers#BookArt#WomenInScience#WomenInSTEM#Rachel Carson#Silent Spring#OTD#birthday post#trilogy
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have some memes i made for ec in my entomology class
#bugs#insects#entemology#entomologist#rachel carson#silent spring#Warwick Estevam Kerr#africanized honey bees#killer bees
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Most of us walk unseeing through the world, unaware alike of its beauties, its wonders, and the strange and sometimes terrible intensity of the lives that are being lived about us.
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
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The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings, has been relatively slight. Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species-man-acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.
—Rachel Carson, Silent Spring (1962)
[Robert Scott Horton]
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Mother Earth
Image generated by the-path-inside using Stable Diffusion.
View my other creations here.
“Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”
- Rachel Carson
#My Creations#My AI Art#Mother Earth#Rachel Carson#Quotes#Nature Quotes#Earth Quotes#Environmentalism#Silent Spring
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Elementary
#askthesunjackers#sja3#cyberpunk#ponies#silent spring#rainbow code#kobal#silent spring's espresso machine#oh dear somebody gave kobal coffee
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We may have finally met the big bad of our pathfinder fallout equestria game after almost 9 years goddamn
#my art#my little pony#mlp#mlp fim#art#fanart#mlp oc#my little pony friendship is magic#fallout equestria#brainiac#fallout equestria all things unequal#the general#minty shine#silent spring#shotglass#shot glass#breezie#unicorn#kirin#brony
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