Summary Of Rachel Carson's 'Obligation To Endure'

Rachel Carson’s “Obligation to Endure” is an informative dissertation about the hazardous effects implemented by the careless distribution of pesticides in an uneducated society. Carson states that, “The most alarming of all man’s assaults upon the environment is the contamination of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials.” (Carson. Para. Intro). She exposes the dark side of these chemicals with an overall goal to raise awareness and regulate control of the substances by the government. First her goal is to make the citizens, pesticide companies, and government aware of this serious threat. Next, she hopes to not ban these pesticides, but to persuade a regulation on what amount is reasonable. Carson effectively conveniences her audience of the dangers of these chemicals by using her own credibility, apocalyptic tone, and logic. In her article, Carson first sets the stage by describing how man’s assault upon the environment is irrevocable and also irreversible. By using a specific radioactive isotope, strontium 90, released in nuclear fallout, to explain how man’s creation can have repercussions on the environment she para 9). She is comparing these chemicals to that of nuclear war again to reiterate this is a serious problem for everyone. Nuclear war would affect everyone in a devastating way, and similarly to the long term effects of contamination of DDT . The effects of unknown chemicals being ingested will eventually “penetrate the germ cell to shatter or alter the very material or heredity upon which the shape of the future depends.” as Carson says. (Carson. para 9). By explaining how these chemicals are penetrating the body makes her argument more credible and appeal to pathos and