Writing on the Wall and our Shortsightedness

The Silent Spring by Rachel Carson, which brought the issue of pesticides to the center stage is dedicated to Albert Schweitzer, who said, “Man has lost the capacity to foresee and to forestall. He will end by destroying the Earth”. This paper will try to understand and analyse our position with regard to the prediction made by Albert Schweitzer. Are we still moving in the same direction of self-destruction or have we regained our capacity to foresee and forestall? Man’s interaction with nature has altered it in very significant ways which in turn has been affecting the life of man in unpredictable ways. The way forward is from adverse Anthropocene to conscious Anthropocene. Shankar’s 2018 release, Akshay Kumar and Rajnikanth starrer 2.0 warn us about the problems of radiation which will wipe away the birds from Earth before us going the same way. How the overcrowded telephone network towers and the radiation from them will wreak havoc, if not checked right away is the point of discussion in the movie. 2016 release Remo D’ Souza’s A flying Jatt, starring Tiger Shroff also speaks of the impending doom if we do not manage our waste properly. The pollutants which we are releasing generously into the environment are nothing but our own suicide in installments. The writing has been on the wall for long. Poornachandra Tejaswi in his novel Chidambara Rahasya depicts the picture of a society which ignores this writing on the wall for short term gains and this shortsightedness results in the destruction of nature, culture and the life as we know. This paper intends to study the equation between man and nature as depicted in the above mentioned movies and literature.

Natalie Lo, The Days before the Silent Spring

Curated by Qu Chang, WMA, Hong Kong, 15 December 2020‐15 January 2021

Taking Lessons from Silent Spring: Using Environmental Literature for Climate Change

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring (1962) created a new genre termed “science nonfiction literature.” This genre blended environmental science and narrative while ushering in a new era of awareness and interest for both. With the contemporary climate crisis becoming more dire, this article returns to Carson’s work for insight into ways to engage deniers of climate change and methods to propel action. Further, it investigates and evaluates the writing within Silent Spring by considering its past in our present. Using the corporate reception of Carson’s book as reference, this article also examines ways climate change opponents create misunderstandings and inappropriately deceive and misdirect the public. Through this analysis, connections are made that connect literature, science, and public engagement, which can engender a broader, more comprehensive awareness of the importance of environmental literature as a medium for climate awareness progress.

Reading The Iron Woman in Times of Crisis as a Tale of Hope

What role does literature for children and young adults have in the present environmental crisis and in the context of climate change? To answer this question, I propose to analyse Ted Hughes’s narrative The Iron Woman (1993) which, despite being written almost thirty years ago as a sequel to The Iron Man (1968), reads as both a story of hope and a wake-up call in our current crisis where children act as agents of change. Drawing on Lucy, the female protagonist, and the Iron Woman as symbols of hope, I will look at the impact that Rachel Carson’s seminal work Silent Spring (1962) had for Hughes and place his environmentalism in the context of more recent ecocritical theory, using ecofeminism as a critical framework to analyse the novel. By raising awareness and engaging directly with our environmental crisis, The Iron Woman puts forward Hughes’s own social and political concerns and could be read as a potential healer of broken bonds between humanity and nature, not only as a discourse of hope, but perhaps also as a way to contribute towards much-needed change.

Influence of living in the same home on biomonitored levels of consumer product chemicals

Background Individuals living in the same home may share exposures from direct contact with sources or indirectly through contamination of the home environment. Objective We investigated the influence of sharing a home on urine levels of ten phenolic chemicals present in some consumer products. Methods We used data from Silent Spring Institute’s Detox Me Action Kit (DMAK), a crowdsourced biomonitoring program in the US. Of the 726 DMAK participants, 185 lived in the same home with one or more other DMAK participants (n = 137 pairs, up to six participants in a home). The concentration distributions included values below the detection limit so we used statistical methods that account for left-censored data, including non-parametric correlation estimation and hierarchical Bayesian regression models. Results Concentrations were significantly positively correlated between pair-members sharing a home for nine of the ten chemicals. Concentrations of 2,5-dichlorophenol were the most strongly correlated between pair-members (tau = 0.46), followed by benzophenone-3 (tau = 0.31) and bisphenol A (tau = 0.21). The relative contribution of personal product use reported product use of other household members (up to 5 others), and the residual contribution from a shared household, including exposures not asked about, varied by chemical. Paraben concentrations were largely influenced by personal behaviors whereas dichlorophenol and bisphenol concentrations were largely influenced by shared home exposures not related to reported behaviors. Significance Measuring the influence of personal and household practices on biomonitoring exposures helps pinpoint major sources of exposure and highlights chemical-specific intervention strategies to reduce them.

An historical analysis of united states experiences using stamp-based revenues for wildlife conservation and habitat protection

In the United States, the transition from unchecked hunting, habitat loss, and species endangerment to an ongoing environmental awakening has been examined through various lenses. Despite this gradual perspective shift, recent reports continue to warn of global declines in species and habitat diversity. As the need for biodiversity conservation grows, nations lag behind in their conservation obligations, creating a funding gap. This paper addresses an untapped potential for funding available from stamp revenue as generated in the United States. We begin with an historical summary of wildlife philatelics and end with specialized stamps providing for biodiversity revenue generation. After the publication of Silent Spring, stamp diversification increased due to the recognition of additional environmental and conservation needs, leading to stamp-based revenue as one means to mitigate funding gaps. Having introduced this term, we provide evidence of its potential to fund biodiversity and animal conservation. Historically, stamp-based revenues began with Migratory Bird Hunting license stamps, followed by the semi-postal Amur tiger cub stamp, and eventually local and state stamps whose purchase provides funding for local conservation needs. Specific successful philatelic funding mechanisms are discussed from the United State, with an eye to future development and expansion intentionally in support of conservation and biodiversity.

Silent spring of culture

The paper deals with the problem of library business in the era of “market relations”. Material imperatives, the time of bright applications, flashy advertising, beckoning bad taste suppresses the desire of people to join the true values of world and domestic culture.

Environmental Carcinogens and Cancer Risk

The year 2022 will mark the 60th anniversary of the 1962 publication of Rachel Carson’s seminar work Silent Spring [...]