The book Silent Spring (1962) by Rachel Carson has been selected and given a crucial place in the Value/Risk Canon. In my view, this selection is where public values not only meet public risks (as ‘possible harmse of something of value’) but hav already crossed the line of ‘risk’ and entered the domain of actual harm and loss.
This beautiful essay by Maria Popova, owner and publisher of the website The Marginalian, explores the background of this book, this moment in time, and the author’s life and convictions. It is also enriched with hyperlinks to her own studies.
“Her lyrical writing rendered her not a mere translator of the natural world, but an alchemist transmuting the steel of science into the gold of wonder. The message of her iconic Silent Spring rippled across public policy and the popular imagination — it led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency, inspired generations of activists, and led Joni Mitchell to write lyrics as beloved as Hey farmer farmer — / Put away the DDT / Give me spots on my apples, / but leave me the birds and the bees. / Please!” (Redactie: from the song is Big Yellow Taxi from album Ladies of the Canyon)
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