Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in the New Yorker magazine in June of 1962. The book appeared in September of that year and the outcry that followed its publication forced the banning of DDT and spurred revolutionary changes in the laws affecting our air, land, and water. Carson’s passionate concern for the future of our planet reverberated powerfully throughout the world, and her eloquent book was instrumental in launching the environmental movement. It is without question one of the landmark books of the twentieth century.

Discussion Questions:

1. Was “A Silent Spring” different from what you expected? In what way?
2. Looking back over the 57 years since this book was written, of the things Rachel Carson got right, what surprised you most?
3. Looking back, what did she leave out that she might have known about in 1962 when she was writing?
4. What did she get wrong?
5. The right wing has vilified Rachel Carson and held her responsible for the deaths of millions from malaria in Africa, which they say could have been prevented by the use of DDT. Do they have a point? Here is one example from the American Enterprise Institute – a right wing think tank: http://www.aei.org/publication/the-rise-fall-rise-and-imminent-fall-of-ddt/ And here is a counter-argument from the New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/22/us/rachel-carson-ddt-malaria-retro-report.html
6. DDT was banned in the US in 1972 under Richard Nixon and the EPA's first Administrator, William Rucklehaus, though we continued to manufacture the product for export through 1983. In much of the United States, birds like the Bald Eagle and the Osprey have come back from near-extinction levels, which were caused by DDT. DDT and other chemicals are still in use, today in some parts of the world. Today it is still manufactured by India and China. Did we win the war, just a battle, or none of the above? How do you think we have progressed in general?
7. Step back from the content and look at the tools and techniques Rachel Carson used to communicate science. 57 years later we still feel the impact of her work. What makes her book so effective? How might you use these techniques to teach or write about a different environmental problem, like climate change?
8. The population of the world was 3.1 billion people in 1962 when this book came out. It is 7.6 billion, today. How do we feed everyone without the kinds of chemicals that Carson describes in her book?
9. Rachel Carson spends a great deal of time discussing chemicals that were permitted to be sold and later were found to be carcinogenic or toxic to humans. Many more, such as DDT were still on the market at the time the book was written and were suspected of causing harm. Are these incidents largely behind us or is this still an issue, today?
10. Carson extolls the virtues of biological controls, such as introducing predators or disease to an environment to control a species. 57 years later, how do these techniques seem to you? Are they safe or at least safer than insecticides?
11. IF YOU HAVE TIME: Choose one chemical or other issue that Rachel Carson brought up in her work. Do a quick internet search and find out what’s happened in the 57 years since the book was written. Bring your notes to our Book Club and let’s talk about it.