Rachel Carson Quotes – We’re heading for that Silent Spring unless we wake up!

Back in the sixties Rachel Carson sent out a strong warning to us all with her book Silent Spring, where she foresaw the death of nature through the indiscriminate use of pesticides. She described not waking to that dawn chorus of birds.
Well it is happening.
It is not so dramatic as described but is a relentless slow destruction of nature, loss of habitat, deforestation, pesticide death, animal slaughter and loss of our natural world.
Our population is out of control. We are presently destroying the planet and sending thousands of species crashing to extinction.
Time we woke up, reduced our numbers and protect what is left.
The world is a beautiful place. My nightmare is of a concrete desert and manicured lawns and flowerbeds.
Here are a few of Rachels eloquent words.:
Those who dwell among the beauties and mysteries of the earth are never alone or weary of life.
Too true. It is a spectacular place to spend a life.
The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.
I wish more people loved nature.
It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility.
It is a focus of rejuvenation and happiness.
Only within the moment of time represented by the present century has one species — man — acquired significant power to alter the nature of the world.
And we are busy destroying it for profit.
In every outthrust headland, in every curving beach, in every grain of sand there is the story of the earth.
We are part of it.
As crude a weapon as the cave man’s club, the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life.
We are poisoning the world and all life on the planet.
For the sense of smell, almost more than any other, has the power to recall memories and it is a pity that you use it so little.
All we will smell is smoke and rotting corpses.

My ten favourite heroes! – This one made me think a lot! It could go a number of ways!

Every man needs a hero to inspire him to do wonderful things and try to be a better person. Here are some of mine:

a. Woody Guthrie.

This was a man who was prepared to stand up for what he believed in – justice, equality and freedom. He was prepared to be there on the picket lines and take the blows. He wanted a strong union to fight for fairness of pay and conditions. He believed you fought fascism by educating people.

b. Charles Darwin

As a Biologist he looked around the world at the variety of life and realised that the religious explanation did not hold true. He used his intellect to work out what was really happening and painstakingly set out researching to test his theory. When he was sure he published despite the furore it caused for him. He set us on the road to freedom from religious oppression.

c. Martin Luther King

He believed all races were equal and died for his beliefs. He marched in the face of violence and death threats. He stood up to the racists and used his words as bullets. They took his life but he proved he was the better man.

d. Jane Goodall

Jane has spent her life working with Chimps and championing their rights. She has been tireless and faced hardships and threats. Thank heavens someone is prepared to speak out and stand up for them. They are being butchered!

e. Jack Kerouac

Jack was, like most of us, an extremely complicated and muddled man who fought his demons of alcohol and catholic indoctrination. On the Road is a book that changed the world. There had never been anything like it before. In writing it he questioned the whole premise of the establishment whose mantra was – work hard, buy and own. He suggested that experience, quest, kicks and sex might be more rewarding. I forgive his misogyny. Nobody’s perfect.

f. Emily Pankhurst

How could you not admire a woman who was prepared to go to prison and be force-fed, who stood up and spoke the truth, who fought for equality and democracy? She organised and fought for women’s rights! She took on the whole establishment and won!

g. Bob Dylan

Without Dylan I do not believe we would have the liberal society we now enjoy. In the early sixties he stood up and sang his songs about civil rights, freedom, anti-war and justice and raised the sensibilities of a whole generation.

h. Mahatma Ghandi

Ghandi was the soul of India. He showed that if you had a just cause you could stand up against authority and use Non-violent Direct Action to defeat them. Nothing has ever been the same. I think partition broke his heart.

I. Ann Frank

Via those diaries Ann showed the resolution and defiance that destroyed Nazi philosophy.

j. Roy Harper

When I first heard Roy sing and speak I felt it was like looking in a mirror. He was putting in words the feelings and thoughts that what buzzing round my head and letting me examine them more closely.

k. Ken Saro-Wiwa

Ken was a writer, poet and environmentalist who stood up against the Nigerian government and exposed their corruption. They were despoiling the environment, selling land to the oil companies without restriction. He campaigned and was threatened. He carried on. They hung him with piano wire.

l. Rachel Carson

She wrote Silent Spring and started the whole environmental movement.

m. David McTaggart

One of the founders of Greenpeace. He used Non-violent Direct Action to fight for the environment. He sailed his little boat around a nuclear bomb holding up a French atmospheric test the like of which was causing huge pollution. He put his life at risk. They rammed him, beat him up and he went back and did it again.

My heroes are men and women who fought for peace, justice, the environment, freedom and equality. They inspire me to do the same in my own little way.

I’d have another list tomorrow!