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Rachel Carson

What Rachel Carson thinks about sustainability

@rachel-carson · 20 positions · 0 changes of mind

American marine biologist, writer and conservationist (1907 to 1964) whose sea trilogy and 1962 book Silent Spring are credited with advancing marine conservation and the global environmental movement.

Everything they publish, on ppll ↗

Rachel Carson did not write this page.

We collected these quotes from things they published elsewhere, and every quote links to where it was said. They have no account here and have not endorsed this site. Quotes are word for word; the short line under each one is our own restatement, not their wording. Their own site. Is this you? Claim it or ask us to remove it. Or tell us what is wrong here.

8 dated positions, c. 1962, in their own words. Our reading of what Rachel Carson has said — not written or endorsed by them.

  1. Our readingContaminating air, land, rivers and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials is humanity's most alarming assault on the environment

    Their wordsThe most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  3. Our readingPesticides were allowed into use with little or no advance study of effects on soil, water, wildlife and people

    Their wordsI contend, furthermore, that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife, and man himself.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  5. Our readingFuture generations are unlikely to condone our lack of prudent care for the natural world that supports all life

    Their wordsFuture generations are unlikely to condone our lack of prudent concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  7. Our readingSpraying campaigns like eastern Illinois's raise a moral question: can a civilization wage relentless war on life without destroying itself

    Their wordsIncidents like the eastern Illinois spraying raise a question that is not only scientific but moral. The question is whether any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  9. Our readingChemical insect control seems to have assumed that soil could absorb any amount of poison without striking back

    Their wordsChemical control of insects seems to have proceeded on the assumption that the soil could and would sustain any amount of insult via the introduction of poisons without striking back.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  11. Our readingShifting even a small share of spending on ever more toxic sprays into research could help keep poisons from waterways

    Their wordsIf we would divert to constructive research even a small fraction of the money spent each year on the development of ever more toxic sprays, we could find ways to use less dangerous materials and to keep poisons out of our waterways.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  13. Our readingA primitive science of insect control has armed itself with modern weapons and turned them against the earth

    Their wordsIt 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.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book

  15. Our readingKnown alternatives to chemical spraying should be used more widely, and ingenuity and resources devoted to developing new ones

    Their wordsWe must make wider use of alternative methods that are now known, and we must devote our ingenuity and resources to developing others.

    ↗Silent Spring (Houghton Mifflin, 2002 edition)books.google.com All 20 from this book