Silent Spring

This book immediately captures attention and reveals the severity of the environmental crisis that was emerging.

Carson paints an eerie picture: a normally vibrant spring, full of birdsong and the sounds of life, transformed into a time of eerie silence due to the use of DDT. This powerful pesticide, initially used to combat elm graphosis (it is a disease caused by an ascomycete fungus that affects this tree. The causal agent is the fungus Ophiostoma ulmi, whose spread is facilitated by a beetle that carries out part of its life cycle in the bark of elm trees. The fungus blocks the vessels that conduct sap to the leaves, inhibiting the transport of water and causing yellowing of the leaves with subsequent death of parts of branches, branches or the entire plant.), has had devastating effects. Applied to trees, DDT kills insects, but when the leaves fall and decompose, the poison enters the food chain. The worms ingest the DDT and, in the spring, the birds that feed on it die or become sterile, leaving the world shrouded in eerie silence [3].

Carson discovers that the problem is even broader: contaminated leaves end up in rivers and lakes, also poisoning fish. It's only a matter of time before DDT works its way up the food chain to humans. He proposes renaming pesticides “biocides”, since they not only kill harmful species, but all living things [4].

Although scientists were aware of the dangers of pesticides, they continued to be distributed for economic reasons. DDT, produced in large quantities during the Second World War to protect American soldiers from lice and to fight mosquitoes, had to find new markets after the war. The chemical companies, according to Carson, deliberately deceived consumers to continue selling the product [5].

Rachel Carson, with her relentless accusation against the chemical industry and her fervent defense of the environment, invites us to reflect deeply on our choices and the devastating impact they can have on nature.