"Silent Spring" is a book of ecological literature published by Rachel Carson, the mother of world environmental protection, in 1962.
Rachel Carson is an American marine biologist who has devoted her life to studying environmental resource protection. Ecological literature is relatively boring. If you are interested in ecology, that is a different matter. The entire book tells how pesticides and insecticides such as dieldrin, chlordane, etc., have a series of chain effects on ecological destruction, leading to an indefinite vicious cycle that ultimately has humans paying the price. As the book says at the end: These chemical weapons, apart from attacking insects, have turned their guns to attack and threaten our entire planet. This is the great tragedy of our time.
"Man's foresight and self-control have disappeared, and mankind will destroy the earth and subsequently itself." This is the opening quote from Albert Schwytz when Carson dedicated this book to him . When you first read this book, you will be confused or tasteless. Those so-called DDT, chemicals, and various insects sound familiar, but you have no in-depth understanding. As the chapters progressed from the shallower to the deeper, with point-by-point narration, my scalp started to feel numb and shocking. After reading the entire book, I couldn't calm down for a long time. It turns out that the environment we live in is not everything we see with the naked eye. How many pesticide-laden foods do we swallow without even realizing it? How much air containing formaldehyde and the like have we breathed in, and how many years of pesticides have we drank that seeped into surface water? Can't imagine.
In the past, in the countryside, I often heard peasant women chatting: If some vegetables are infested with worms, they need to be sprayed with pesticides, if the rice is infected with pests, they need to be sprayed with pesticides, if the tea plants are eaten by worms, they need to be sprayed with pesticides, etc. At that time, we knew nothing about this. We always thought that insects growing on crops were just like people getting sick. It was natural to use pesticides when insects appeared. There was nothing strange about it. I also went to the field with my mother and saw her pour the medicinal powder into a small watering can, fill it with water and then pump the piston, so that the melted medicinal powder falls on the vegetable seedlings in the form of a spray. For rice fields and tea plants, there is a sprayer that can hold about ten liters of water on the back. Hold the long water outlet pipe in your left hand, press the handle up and down with your right hand, and shuttle back and forth in the fields. The medicine will be gently sprinkled on the rice seedlings and tea plants. superior. When a gust of wind blows, it may spread on the wild flowers and grass in the fields, or it may inadvertently sprinkle on insects, or the medicine may fall on the land and seep into the surface water and flow freely across the surface. Then, as the book says, the food chain starts from the top or the bottom and is circulated infinitely, and humans cannot escape from any link in the middle. Therefore, Carson said that the term "controlling nature" is a product of arrogant imagination.
When the rooster crows in the morning and the crows quarrel in the dusk, who doesn’t want to go out and make trouble in the world of mortals? In today's days, moons, mornings and evenings, many people can only rely on memory to recall the scenes that have happened and are disappearing day by day. It has been many years since I heard the chirping of cicadas in summer and the flickering fireflies at night. In fact, I didn't pay much attention to these before reading this book. When the book mentioned that the spring mornings that were once stirred by the chorus of robins, doves, grouse and many other birds were now dead silent and silent, Only the iron-like loneliness was left... I suddenly woke up. I don't know when these noises that I disliked when I was a child disappeared. Maybe we have forgotten these in the busy day after day. Or maybe the numbness of life makes it impossible to think about it at all. These originally ordinary scenes of harmony between man and nature are now difficult to reproduce. Everything was just ordinary at the time.
My home is by the beautiful Lushui River. My childhood joy was catching fish, catching shrimps and picking snails in the river, which was also rich in aquatic plants. The water is so green and cool. Under the big rocks on the diving beach, if you touch it with both hands, you can always touch the two-inch long grouper fish, and sometimes you can touch the slippery loach. Just step hard on the grass by the river in the direction of the mouth of the dustpan, and the small river shrimps and crabs will be driven ruthlessly into the dustpan and become delicacies in your mouth. Villagers sometimes also cook fish. As the name suggests, they throw herbs into the river to stun or kill the fish. At this time, there are always many villagers in the river happily picking them up, playing and laughing. It is said that this herb is non-toxic to the human body, but there is no way to know whether it is toxic to the human body. However, people who have eaten fish seem to be alive and well. Now that I think about it, I find it incredible. How could it be harmless to the human body? Perhaps it is just because the dose of retained fish is too small, and the toxicity is weakened after cooking. It is still unknown whether this residual toxicity will stay in the human body for a long time and cause permanent damage.
Nowadays, it is said that when buying vegetables, you should buy vegetables with insect holes, at least if there is no pesticide or relatively small amount of pesticide. When you read this book, you will be shocked by the large amount of factual data. Because the residues of drugs seeping into the land will remain for a long time, so don't think that it is safe if you have not used drugs recently. Even when dandelions fall to other places with the wind, they may be involved in other animals and plants. What else is safe? In the past, I never understood why some foods were marked as “specially available” or “in-house”. However, these foods usually do not enter the market and are beyond the reach of ordinary people. In fact, when I look back and think about it, who can guarantee that these special supplies are absolutely safe?
The Oasis Medium Density Board Factory was very prosperous for a period of time more than ten years ago. It not only promoted economic development, but also paid fiscal taxes every year, which was indeed considerable for a small county with little industrial support. At the same time, A considerable amount of labor has also been eliminated, and the boss's pockets are bulging day by day.
At this time, from the perspective of the government, businessmen and people, it seems that everyone has achieved their own benefits, so why not do anything except the gradually exposed mountains and the increasingly polluted river water. When a steady stream of sewage was discharged into the river in large quantities, the green river water slowly turned into black, and small fish and shrimps had nowhere to escape and lay dead on the river surface. Only then did the nearby villagers realize that the environment they depended on for survival was extremely damaged. The river continued to flow downstream all year round, and it was unimaginable how many residents, animals and plants were affected downstream. This is what we have paid for blindly pursuing economic benefits. price. As the book says: Our current management model is a Faustian devil's bargain. We have achieved short-term benefits and paid a huge long-term price. I can’t remember exactly which year the factory was finally asked to shut down. The river gradually turned green again, and small fish and shrimps found a place to live. Everything seemed to have returned to its former harmonious state. Now every time I pass by and look at the idle buildings in the huge factory area, I have an indescribable feeling. First, I am glad that the sky finally no longer contains the air mixed with pungent smell and thick black smoke. Second, I feel sad. There are so many workers scattered all over the place, including my classmates.
It is the tea season now, and there are small wooden sticks stuck in the tea fields all over the mountains and plains, with yellow sticky paper on them. It is said that they are to stick to various flying insects and ants that come and go. In recent years, my mother said that herbicides are no longer allowed to be used on the weeds in the tea fields, and the weeds must be dug manually to remove the weeds, because herbicide residues were previously detected in tea samples. Although this step increases the labor of tea farmers, it can ensure the quality of tea. If the quality improves, do you still have to worry about poor sales? When the sales are good, the tea dealers will make money, and the price to the tea farmers will naturally rise, and the tea farmers will be happy. This will enter a virtuous circle, and we will ultimately benefit.
The road we have been traveling for so long looks like a comfortable, smooth highway and we can speed along, but there is disaster waiting for us at the end of the road. If we do not pay attention to environmental protection and do not protect the earth on which we live, disasters will always come unexpectedly.
Carson’s spring is silent, but Carson’s cry will not be silent. Carson’s future springs finally have an echo. From the establishment of the National Environmental Protection Agency, we can know that the country attaches great importance and determination to environmental protection. And we also need to start from ourselves to protect the environment, everyone has a responsibility.
The willow buds by the river are showing new green again, and the flowers on the mountain are already blooming. Occasionally, I see a few butterflies dancing in the grass. It turns out that spring has come quietly.
If possible, I suggest you read Carson's "Silent Spring" this spring. I believe you will have a new understanding and thinking about your environment.