Published by auntyuta
Auntie, Sister. Grandmother, Great-Grandmother,
Mother and Wife of German Descent
I've lived in Australia since 1959 together with my husband Peter. We have four children, eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. I started blogging because I wanted to publish some of my childhood memories. I am blogging now also some of my other memories. I like to publish some photos too as well as a little bit of a diary from the present time. Occasionally I publish a story with a bit of fiction in it. Peter, my husband, is publishing some of his stories under berlioz1935.wordpress.com
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It is impossible to overstate the actual impact of this book. I still have a copy from the original printing and have reread it several times.
I wonder, Lew, whether the impact should have been even greater. What about the impact of climate change?
While Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring probably was the most important environmental book of the 20th century, its primary target was insecticides and pesticides. While that battle constantly shifts and is no less important today, it has largely been won. Today, environmentalists are waging new battles against global warming. As impactful as her book was at the time, we now need a new assertion as powerful as her book was when initially released.
Earth Day is an annual event celebrated on April 22 to demonstrate support for environmental protection. On the very first Earth Day in 1970, 20 million Americans, 10 percent of the U.S. population at the time, took to the streets, college campuses, and hundreds of cities to protest environmental ignorance and demand change. Where is that level of concern today?
97 percent of environmental scientists agree on the necessity for immediate decisive response to climate change but our political leaders are either in denial or disagreement as to a proper response. The general public agrees there is a threat but has tired of the constant Cassandra-like shouts and no longer responds to the challenge.
A new clarion as powerful as Rachel Carson is desperately needed. Unfortunately, there does not appear to be any out there.