Carson/Pollution

"Carbon dioxide is essentially for keeping Earth's temperature warm enough for life, but when it builds up faster than the earth system can accommodate, climate regulation is disrupted." (Robertson 2017)

This is the problem that we are seeing now. Due to many reasons, we have produced to much carbon dioxide that has built up in the environment and it has disrupted the natural climate. Its only February but it feels like summer in Florida and other parts of the country. This weather change disrupts plant growth, animal habitats, and many other things critical to our lives. We need to find a way to scale back the amount of carbon dioxide that we are producing and maybe even work to reduce the amount built up in the atmosphere. If we don’t do this we will continue down the same path that we are on and it may become the end of our existence. 

Global warming posted on Insurance Journal by Alex Morales

"Since DDT was released for civilian use, a process of escalation has been going on in which ever more toxic materials must be found." (Carson 2011)

When DDT came out everyone thought it was the cure all for all our crop problems. People would spray it everywhere. This even included spraying it in the presence of humans, even kids. If we did that today we would probably be arrested because we know what it could potential do to people. DDT has opened the door for other companies to produce other chemicals that kill more insects or that kill insects more efficiently. We again spray this on our crops without knowledge to what it does to the ecosystem when it is presented to it. It seems that we are repeating the mistakes of the past and Im sure that we will be talking about these chemicals the same way we talk about DDT today.  I know Counting Crows wrote the song “Big Yellow Taxi” that mentions DDT. They talk about not wanting someone to spray DDT on apples they would rather save the birds and the bees that it affects. I wander if another band will sing a song about the chemicals we put on our plants today.

DDT spraying posted on Sustainable Pulse

"We train ecologists in our universities and even employ them in our governmental agencies but we seldom take their advice." (Carson 2011)

This seems to be the biggest problem that we have when it comes to effective change in the way we produce crops. The people that are in position to enact change don’t do it because they are in the pockets of the companies that produce the chemicals. They are making a bunch of money with the way we are producing crops now so why would they want change. It doesn’t matter how many ecologists or experts say what we are doing is wrong if these people are always in power. It all comes down to money and the people in power don’t want to lose the money that they make in order to change the way we do things

Bribe posted on SEC Whistleblower

Carson, R. (2011). A Fable for Tomorrow. In University Colloquium: A Sustainable Future (pp.151-160). Acton, MA: Copley Custom textbooks

Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.