Rachel Carson wanted to limit the use of DDT since it was a very powerful pesticide. Since people were using this pesticide, Rachel Carson was the one who pushed towards the American environmental movement. DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) is a powerful pesticide that was used to try and fight malaria. Many people including Dana Rohrabacherand and a Fox News reporter called Stossel referred to Miss Carson as a mass murderer since malaria came back when they put stronger regulations around that pesticide thanks to her. In a quote by Rachel Carson says, “Man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably, a war against himself.”
We as humans came from nature and everything we’ve built is based on those natural resources that we still fight for. It killed multiple insects due to the intensive spraying, which more so caused a bigger problem than what the pesticide was supposed to solve in the first place. They sprayed it to such an extent that mosquitos were able to adapt. Meanwhile, a book called Silent Spring was considered one of the most controversial of the year. They said that it was a book full of lies or illogical statements, since most of the men scientists didn’t want a woman to be right.
The intensive spraying of DDT caused insects like mosquitoes to develop new defenses and new eating habits which led to them developing immunity. In the video, it informs a lot about human behavior in terms of what we choose to believe and what we can trust. Once they made more rules surrounding the usage of pesticides, malaria came back and people made the association. Especially during those times where women were looked down upon, smart or not. Even with proof of harm caused by the pesticide, it was something hard to accept and when people feel like something is getting taken from them, they rebel. The same can be said when people refused to wear masks during the peak of the COVID- 19 pandemic.
