Rachel Carson sequel: "Stagnant Summer?"?

Question

Would she have cautioned us that climate change is the new poison? Is this a book she might have written if she were still with us today?

"We are accustomed to look for the gross and immediate effect and to ignore all else," she wrote. "Unless this appears promptly and in such obvious form that it cannot be ignored, we deny the existence of hazard."

Do we need a figure like Carson to galvanize the public and government the way her book, "Silent Spring," did in the 1960's?

Answer 1

All carson did was bring about the deaths of millions of people in Africa

Answer 2

Her first book was a poorly written, poorly researched tome that caused millions to die.

Why does anyone hold this mass murderer in any regard?  She should be in jail for crimes against humanity.

I'm sure she'll do the same with any future book.

Answer 3

I'm with Dr. Jello. Carson was discredited quietly years ago for performing bad (read: making up numbers) research. Her efforts led to the death of millions, and the resultant public health breakdown has contributed to the sociopolitical instability that is making Africa the world's welfare state, and the shame of humanity.

Answer 4

We have Al Gore.  But it doesn't matter who it is.  It's not the messenger, it's the message.

"We have met the enemy, and he is us."

They vilified Rachel Carson as they vilify Al Gore.

It's the backlash we are dealing with.

There was a great surge of environmental awareness at that time.  That legacy expanded and continues today, but at the same time the "anti-environmentalist" movement began.

It's analogous to the anti-abortion movement.  When abortion became legal an entire movement was spawned that continues to this day.  

When environmentalists implicated our entire way of life as the source of the problem an entire movement was spawned that continues to this day.

I'm stuck in the old way of thinking.  I want to punish the willfully ignorant for refusing to acknowledge the obvious.

But I just read some interesting science that confirms what Carnegie suggested all along - sanctions don't work, only praise.

The negative is to harangue people for their thoughtlessness.

In the absence of an immediate threat, what is the positive opposite that we can reward?

Answer 5

This would require that she make, and stick to, a specific prediction about the effects of global warming.

Since they have no clue what warming - man-made or not - produces, they need the ability to react to whatever happens with "see, it's global warming."

And that's precisely what they do.   Drought?   Your SUV caused that.    Heavy rain?    Your SUV caused that.   Hurricanes?    Your SUV caused that.   A mild hurricane season?    Your SUV caused that.   A mild winter like in 2000-2001?   Your SUV caused that.   Record cold and snow like in 2007-2008?   Your SUV caused that.

See if they write a book that says this PARTICULAR bad weather will result from global warming, then they have to stick to it - they pin themselves down.

Since they have no idea what's going to happen, they can't afford to do that.

Don't you remember all of 2006 when dozens of skeptics' posts were titled "Hey Al Gore, where are all those hurricanes?"    It sounds pedestrian but they never had an answer to that, and it really was the high water mark for people believing in your little theory.

There's also Dr. J's perhaps more important point, that Carson was wrong in her first book.  

The below is an Op-Ed piece but it's from the NY Times - hardly a journal of libertarian or conservative thought.

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/01/08/opinio...

I really have to wonder about some of these posters.   Some of these issues have been well-settled for some time.    The resurgence of malaria is a direct result of the DDT ban - we know that.   There's no question there, it was a policy misstep.    

But the audacity of these people knows no limits - some of them are blaming the resurgence of malaria on global warming!

That's akin to Entwistle's defense attorney arguing that the wife committed a murder-suicide.

Answer 6

different situation. carson could possibly be more correctly compared to hansen or even meadows et al in being the 'storm crow'; the difference being they got ignored.

now, we know lots more about this all, and we are many times more connected by in particular the net, so i dont think it will be one single figurehead this time, but many.

Answer 7

mr. jello, what the heck are you even doing in this category? Go research a little and come back later.

Idiot. She died like 40 years ago!

Yes, I do believe she would be very active in finding a solution to Global Warming.  I wonder how she would react to Nader and Gore, and if she would still like Nader the disaster he's becoming. :( I hate to see this happening to him.

Answer 8

One word...'bathos.'