A Silent Spring
...a halt to the use of a chemical called "DDT" that was threatening the very existence of birds. DDT is an insecticide that was used during the early to mid nineteen hundreds. The insect population during that period had increased to overwhelming numbers. The United States tried countless chemicals in an effort to halt their growth, but they all failed except for one. DDT proved successful and thus it was widely used. Everything seemed to be going according to plan or was it? Over a period of years, the government overlooked a large shortage of birds. Birds through the food chain were digesting this insecticide, and it caused them to produce soft eggs. Because the birds were laying soft eggs, many would break which caused the threat of their extinction. Rachel Carson, along with numerous other ornithologists, grew furious at the concept of a "silent spring". She decided she would not sit idly by and wait for the extinction of the birds she would write this book, and force the government and the citizens to dramatically see what they were doing to the world of birds. She painted the graphic picture of a world without a legacy of birds. A world where grandparents had to tell their grandchildren of what birds looked like, because their generation had single handedly wiped them off the face of the earth. Rachel Carson's book ended a mystery. She left the world with a challenge; a challenge to put an end to the slaughtering of millions of innoc...