books.md (5691B)
1 # Silent Spring 2 3 > **Under primitive agricultural conditions the farmer had few insect 4 > problems. These arose with the intensification of agriculture — the 5 > devotion of immense acreages to a single crop. Such a system set 6 > the stage for explosive increases in specific insect populations.** 7 > Single-crop farming does not take advantage of the principles by 8 > which nature works; it is agriculture as an engineer might conceive 9 > it to be. Nature has introduced great variety into the landscape, 10 > but man has displayed a passion for simplifying it. Thus he undoes 11 > the built-in checks and balances by which nature holds the species 12 > within bounds. **One important natural check is a limit on the 13 > amount of suitable habitat for each species. Obviously then, an 14 > insect that lives on wheat can build up its population to much 15 > higher levels on a farm devoted to wheat than on one in which wheat 16 > is intermingled with other crops to which the insect is not 17 > adapted.** 18 19 Emphasized portions are the sentences that conveyed the message 20 efficiently to my taste: measurable facts punctuated with concise 21 claims. 22 23 The middle sentences probably appeal to people who already buy the 24 author's point: they re-state their own convictions with added 25 cosmological sugar ("the principles by which nature works"), 26 antagonizing metaphors ("agriculture as an engineer might conceive 27 it"), sweeping generalities ("man has displayed a passion for 28 simplifying it"), and romantic allegories^[See also: the Gaia 29 hypothesis and its [criticism][gaia-critic].] ("the built-in checks 30 and balances by which nature holds the species within bounds"). 31 32 These sentences take a grim and uncomfortable (and well-documented) 33 reality, and transform it into a lyrical fresque of Good versus Evil. 34 They take what could be the basis for a technically deep and 35 insightful report, and twist it into a sublime, emotional, and 36 *simplified* depiction of some Universal Truth. 37 38 What bothers we with this vocabulary is that it is indistinguishable 39 from zealotry. Cults thrive on broad, universal explanations for 40 complex issues: Us versus Them, individual redemption for collective 41 sins, Mother Nature… To me, these tropes are red flags; they invite 42 me to wonder where the fallacy is: why should the speaker need to 43 appeal to some nebulous higher principle? Is it as universal as they 44 claim? Why can't they root their point into observable evidence? 45 46 I actually do buy the authors's point; I merely wish it didn't come 47 with fake gold plating, since it makes people I want to share it with 48 go "Wait, what's up with that cheap cheesy decoration? It looks 49 silly". 50 51 [gaia-critic]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis#Criticism_in_the_21st_century 52 53 > Parathion is one of the most widely used of the organic phosphates. 54 > It is also one of the most powerful and dangerous. Honeybees become 55 > ‘wildly agitated and bellicose’ on contact with it, perform frantic 56 > cleaning movements, and are near death within half an hour. A 57 > chemist, thinking to learn by the most direct possible means the 58 > dose acutely toxic to human beings, swallowed a minute amount, 59 > equivalent to about .00424 ounce. Paralysis followed so 60 > instantaneously that he could not reach the antidotes he had 61 > prepared at hand, and so he died. Parathion is now said to be a 62 > favorite instrument of suicide in Finland. In recent years the 63 > State of California has reported an average of more than 200 cases 64 > of accidental parathion poisoning annually. In many parts of the 65 > world the fatality rate from parathion is startling: 100 fatal cases 66 > in India and 67 in Syria in 1958, and an average of 336 deaths per 67 > year in Japan. Yet some 7,000,000 pounds of parathion are now 68 > applied to fields and orchards of the United States—by hand 69 > sprayers, motorized blowers and dusters, and by airplane. The 70 > amount used on California farms alone could, according to one 71 > medical authority, ‘provide a lethal dose for 5 to 10 times the 72 > whole world’s population.’ 73 74 It gets worse. 75 76 > Potentiation seems to take place when one compound destroys the 77 > liver enzyme responsible for detoxifying the other. 78 79 Chapter 4 in a nutshell: 80 81 > In 1943, the Rocky Mountain Arsenal of the Army Chemical Corps, 82 > located near Denver, began to manufacture war materials. Eight 83 > years later the facilities of the arsenal were leased to a private 84 > oil company for the production of insecticides. Even before the 85 > change of operations, however, mysterious reports had begun to come 86 > in. Farmers several miles from the plant began to report 87 > unexplained sickness among livestock; they complained of extensive 88 > crop damage. Foliage turned yellow, plants failed to mature, and 89 > many crops were killed outright. There were reports of human 90 > illness, thought by some to be related. 91 > 92 > The irrigation waters on these farms were derived from shallow 93 > wells. When the well waters were examined (in a study in 1959, in 94 > which several state and federal agencies participated) they were 95 > found to contain an assortment of chemicals. Chlorides, chlorates, 96 > salts of phosphoric acid, fluorides, and arsenic had been discharged 97 > from the Rocky Mountain Arsenal into holding ponds during the years 98 > of its operation. Apparently the groundwater between the arsenal 99 > and the farms had become contaminated and it had taken 7 to 8 years 100 > for the wastes to travel underground a distance of about 3 miles 101 > from the holding ponds to the nearest farm. This seepage had 102 > continued to spread and had further contaminated an area of unknown 103 > extent. The investigators knew of no way to contain the 104 > contamination or halt its advance.