RACHEL CARSON SILENT SPRING, 1962
ÒONLY WITHIN THE MOMENT OF TIME REPRESENTED BY THE PRESENT CENTURY HAS ONE SPECIES–MAN–ACQUIRED SIGNIFICANT POWER TO ALTER THE NATURE OF HIS WORLD.Ó
ÒTHE MOST ALARMING OF ALL MANÕS ASSAULTS UPON THE ENVIRONMENT IS THE CONTAMINATION OF THE AIR, EARTH, RIVERS, AND SEA WITH DANGEROUS EVEN LETHAL MATERIALS.Ó
ÒTHIS POLLUTION IS FOR THE MOST PART IRRECOVERABLE; THE CHAIN OF EVIL IT INITIATES NOT ONLY IN THE WORLD THAT MUST SUPPORT LIFE BUT IN LIVING TISSUES IS FOR THE MOST PART IRREVERSIBLE.Ó
ÒIN THIS NOW UNIVERSAL CONTAMINATION OF THE ENVIRONMENT, CHEMICALS ARE THE SINISTER AND LITTLE RECOGNIZED PARTNERS OF RADIATION IN CHANGING THE VERY NATURE OF THE WORLD–THE VERY NATURE OF ITS LIFE. STRONTIUM 90, RELEASED THROUGH NUCLEAR EXPLOSIONS INTO THE AIR, COMES TO EARTH IN RAIN OR DRIFTS DOWN AS FALLOUT, LODGES IN THE SOIL, ENTERS INTO THE GRASS OR CORN OR WHEAT GROWN THERE, AND IN TIME IT TAKES UP ITS ABODE IN THE BONES OF A HUMAN BEING, THERE TO REMAIN UNTIL HIS DEATH.Ó
ÒRADIATION IS NO LONGER MERELY THE BACKGROUND RADIATION OF
ROCKS, THE BOMBARDMENT OF COSMIC RAYS, THE ULTRAVIOLET OF THE SUN THAT EXISTED
BEFORE THERE WAS ANY LIFE ON EARTH; RADIATION IS NOW THE UNNATURAL CREATION OF
MANÕS TAMPERING WITH THE ATOM.Ó
Ecology of estuaries | radiation | The Edge of the Sea | Ecological citizenship
