Book Schedule for May Discussion
May's Featured Book:
Courage for the Earth. Edited by Peter Matthiessen. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2007.
Contributors include: John Elder, Al Gore, John Hay, Freeman House, Linda Lear, Robert Michael Pyle, Janisse Ray, Sandra Steingraber, Terry Tempest Williams, andE. O. Wilson
Moderators: John Elder and Deanne Urmy
Week One, May 1-8: Rachel Carson's Historical Context
Our readings will be Peter Matthiessen's introduction to the collection, Linda Lear's "Love, Fear, and Witnessing," and "Remembrance of Life," John Hay's "A Long View of Rachel Carson," and Al Gore's "Rachel Carson and Silent Spring." The focus for this week will be on the political and scientific situation within which Carson wrote, on the nature and logic of resistance to Silent Spring, in particular, and on the contemporary impact of her writing.
Week Two, May 9-16: Carson as Writer--Inspiration and Influence
We'll delve into three essays that relate to Rachel Carson's literary influences and accomplishments, as well as to her inspirational power for writers today: Jim Lynch, "Rachel Carson in The Highest Tide," Sandra Steingraber, "Silent Spring: A Father-Daughter Dance," and John Elder, "Withered Sedge and Yellow Wood: Poetry in Silent Spring."
Week Three, May 17-23: Carson as Naturalist and Activist
Several essays in Courage for the Earth address Rachel Carson's science in illuminating ways. E. O. Wilson, "On Silent Spring," Janisse Ray, "Changing Sex," and Robert Michael Pyle, "Always a Naturalist." We'll focus on Carson's own distinctive insights and on confirming discoveries by subsequent scientists, as well as on the ethical implications of the naturalist's calling.
Week Four, May 24-31: Building on Carson's Achievements
Our readings for this last week all ask what we may learn from Carson as we confront climate change, endocrine disruption, and the other daunting challenges to life on earth. Terry Tempest Williams, "The Moral Courage of Rachel Carson" and Freeman House," Silent Future: Rachel Carson and the Creeping Apocalypse" will be our focal essays, though in this context we may also return to readings from Matthiessen, Ray, and others. Tying together the month's discussions will thus be one goal, as well as looking forward to the next chapters in the story of conservation.
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Book Schedule for April Discussion
Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. 40th Anniversary Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002.
Moderators: Thomas R. Dunlap and Mark Madison
Weekly Schedule:
Week I - April 1-8:
Chapters 1-3
These chapters set the stage for everything. "The Fable" (Chapter One) describes our possible future, "The Obligation to Endure" (Chapter Two) strikes some important notes: mainly the importance of the long view of the interaction between "living things and their environment," and our recent gaining of unprecedented power over nature, now exercised without much control; while "Elixirs of Death" (Chapter Three) describes the new chemicals and the state of our knowledge about them, including such things as bioconcentration and persistence.
Week II - April 8-15
Chapters 4-11
Here Carson details the known impacts of current practices and use on the world outside of our bodies. These deal with environments like soil and water, overuse in spraying programs, and the extent of damages. They reinforce the concerns above about our unprecedented power and Carson's condemnation of carelessness in throwing these things around.
Week III - April 15-21
Chapters 12-14
This section might take its title from that of Chapter 12,"The Human Price." These are the most speculative but also some of the most powerful, for they had the least established scientific information to back them up and the most emotional content, for here she spoke of how chemicals introduced into the environmental came into our bodies and those of our children.
Week IV - April 21-29
Chapters 15-17
These chapters deal with the futility of the chemical barrage (forinsects adapt quickly, far more quickly than humans or animals can), the growing indications that the chemicals have begun to produce just that effect, and the alternatives, which rested on biological understanding, no physiological knowledge of insects, and accepted our need to live with as well as from nature rather than trying to conquer it.
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Moderators: Thomas R. Dunlap and Mark Madison
Weekly Schedule:
Week I - April 1-8:
Chapters 1-3
These chapters set the stage for everything. "The Fable" (Chapter One) describes our possible future, "The Obligation to Endure" (Chapter Two) strikes some important notes: mainly the importance of the long view of the interaction between "living things and their environment," and our recent gaining of unprecedented power over nature, now exercised without much control; while "Elixirs of Death" (Chapter Three) describes the new chemicals and the state of our knowledge about them, including such things as bioconcentration and persistence.
Week II - April 8-15
Chapters 4-11
Here Carson details the known impacts of current practices and use on the world outside of our bodies. These deal with environments like soil and water, overuse in spraying programs, and the extent of damages. They reinforce the concerns above about our unprecedented power and Carson's condemnation of carelessness in throwing these things around.
Week III - April 15-21
Chapters 12-14
This section might take its title from that of Chapter 12,"The Human Price." These are the most speculative but also some of the most powerful, for they had the least established scientific information to back them up and the most emotional content, for here she spoke of how chemicals introduced into the environmental came into our bodies and those of our children.
Week IV - April 21-29
Chapters 15-17
These chapters deal with the futility of the chemical barrage (forinsects adapt quickly, far more quickly than humans or animals can), the growing indications that the chemicals have begun to produce just that effect, and the alternatives, which rested on biological understanding, no physiological knowledge of insects, and accepted our need to live with as well as from nature rather than trying to conquer it.
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Readings for March Discussion
Lear, Linda. Introduction in Silent Spring. 40th Anniversary Edition. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2002. Reprinted by permission of the author.
Lear, Linda. Introduction in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writings of Rachel Carson. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Carson, Rachel. "The Pollution of Our Environment, " in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writings of Rachel Carson. Boston: BEacon Press, 1998, pp. 227-245. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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Lear, Linda. Introduction in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writings of Rachel Carson. Boston: Beacon Press, 1998. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
Carson, Rachel. "The Pollution of Our Environment, " in Lost Woods: The Discovered Writings of Rachel Carson. Boston: BEacon Press, 1998, pp. 227-245. Reprinted by permission of the publisher.
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