Silent Spring by Rachel Carson

After years of work, s ome s uccess has now been reported. When this ‘breakthrough’ is
thoroughly es tablis hed perhaps s ome s anity and pers pective will be res tored to our dealings
with the Japanes e beetle, which at the peak of its depre dations neve r jus tified the nightmare
excesses of some of these Midwes tern p rogra ms....
Incidents like the eastern Illinois spraying raise a question that is not only scientific but moral.
The ques tion is whethe r any civilization can wage relentless war on life without destroying
itself, and without losing the right to be called civilized. These insecticides are not selective
pois ons ; they do not s ingle out the one s pecies of which we des ire to be rid. Each of t hem i s
used for the simple reason that it is a deadly poison. It therefore poisons all life with which it
comes in contact: the cat beloved of some family, the farmer’s cattle, the rabbit in the field, and
the horned lark out of the s ky. Thes e creatures are innocent of any harm to man. Indeed, by
their very existence they and their fellows make his life more pleasant. Yet he rewards them
with a death that is not only s udden but horrible. Scientific obs ervers at Sheldon des cribed the
s ymptoms of a meadowlark found near death: ‘Although it lacked mus cular coordination and
could not fly or s tand, it continue d to beat its wings and clutch with its toes while lying on its
s ide. Its beak was held open and breathing was labored.’ Even more pitiful was the mute
tes timony of the dead ground s quirrels , which ‘exhibited a characteris tic attitude in death. The
back was bowed, and the forelegs with the toes of the feet tightly clenched were drawn close
to the thorax...The head and neck were outs tretche d and the mouth ofte n contained dirt,
s ugges ting that the dying animal had been biting at the ground.’
By acquiescing in an act that can cause such suffering to a living creature, who among us is not
diminis hed as a human being?