| Rachel Carson's bestseller Silent Spring (1962), published shortly before her death from breast cancer, detailed the effects of the first postwar generation of synthetic chemical pesticides on human health and the environment. In the debate that followed, members of the public, followers of the conservation movement, doctors, scientists, politicians, and representatives of American industry all immediately plunged into passionate and acrimonious conflict over the hazards of pesticides. Catalyzed by this controversy, an ecological turn took place in American thinking. In particular, Silent Spring had emphasized the dangers of pesticides to the human body. Focusing on the vulnerable, physical flesh, the book broke down the cultural barriers that separated humans from nature. Following the logical consequences of this physical, embodied, human-nature connection, many readers developed critiques of contemporary science, technology, and industrialized society. This body-based attitude toward nature also blurred other cultural boundaries, in particular, traditional gender roles. In taking the ecological turn, men worried about home, food, health, and children, concerns traditionally stereotyped as feminine. Women argued that the harsh bodily realities of environmental health required major changes in the cultural, economic, and political institutions dominated by men. In contrast, the backlash against the book was predicated on a worldview that mandated strict divisions between humans and nature, men and women, public and private. By insisting on respect for the physical, ecological connections that linked human and nature, Silent Spring inspired the ecological turn—a major shift in mainstream western thinking about environment and society, and a transition still in progress today. |
