Silent Spring

The widespread use of chemicals to control insects leads to another terrible impact: the disturbance of water habitats like streams and rivers. This is well documented in the case of the salmon in the Miramachi River, where the salmon run was “broken” (130) by wide aerial spraying of DDT in the Canadian government’s attempt to control the budworm. Carson describes that “within two days dead and dying fish […] were found along the banks” (131), and that a larger alteration of the stream environment had taken place. Carson asserts that “modern methods of insect control threaten the fishes inhabiting the streams in the shelter of the trees” (136).

Yet while Carson argues that there is widespread devastation as a result of chemical spraying, she is also hopeful that there are ways to “preserve the forests and to save the fishes, too,” and reminds her audience that there are “alternative methods” (138) to be found. Carson also discusses the effects of chemical pollution on closed water habitats, like ponds, and coastal environments, where shellfish absorb dangerous poisons that have been leaked into these waterways. To Carson, “the whole situation is beset with questions for which there are at present no satisfactory answers” (151).