What could be the main point that Rachel Carson is trying to get across with her book, Silent Spring?
She is trying to raise awareness that the government is not always right on things and that there are negative consequences to the pesticides we are using, and there are other ways we can deal with our pest problems.
What are some of the negative consequences pesticides have?
Pesticides not only kill the pest they are intended to kill, they kill the entire ecosystem which include the praetors of the pest. This makes it so the next wave of the pests will be much worse because there will be nothing left to eat the pest. Pesticides also have a magnifying effect, which means as you go up the food chain the toxin becomes more concentrated.
What are some of the other solutions we could use instead of pesticides?
One solution is to grow multiple crops, this will create a more natural environment that can support not only the pest but also the pest’s praetor, which will keep the pest at a manageable level.
Another solution is to introduce sterol males into the population, this will make them compete for mates and they wont reproduce making the population drop tremendously. You can also confuse the male with phonons making it impossible for them to find a mate.
Is there any way to use pesticides in a responsible way?
Yes I think that we can use pesticides in a responsible way, only using them when it is really necessary and if we limit our use to only a small dose. There are places in the world where they are starving and cant afford to loose any crops and don’t have the money to fund the alternative solutions.
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