ABSTRACT
The 1962 publication of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring is universally recognized as a watershed event in the history of modern environmentalism. Rachel Carson's broader political analysis in Silent Spring is framed by her proto-feminist environmental analysis. Carson devotes considerable space in Silent Spring to debunking claims that the use of pesticides increases agricultural production. Throughout Silent Spring, Carson focuses much of her critical analysis on the processes of 'manufacturing consent'. Carson's concern about 'productionism' may have been influenced by her friendship with Robert Rudd, a scientist in California who was studying pesticides. Before Carson published Silent Spring, R. L. Rudd published two articles in The Nation in 1959, 'The Irresponsible Poisoners' and 'Pesticides: The Real Peril'. Carson was questioning the nature of 'progress' and asking 'big questions' about the role of science in constructing a false narrative of what constituted progress. She was right then – and now.
