Rachel Carson: Environmentalist

Rachel Carson was a biologist and conservationist. Her works and efforts brought about an environmental movement. It is because of her research, work, writings, and studies about the dangers of pesticides that many lives of various animals and species were saved. What was not a broadly acclaimed and accredited was the countless lives of humans that were sacraficed in the process.

Rachel Carson advocated the banning of pesticides, namely DDT, of which she felt was responsible and causing death to many animals like birds and beetles to name a couple of the species harmed by pesticides. On the opposing by banning and ceasing to make available such pesticides she was indirectly advocating the emergence and spread of diseases like malaria, yellow fever, and plague that could be prevented with the same pesticides. It is argued that Carson was putting the lives of animals before those of the her own kind. She did years of research, wrote articles and worked with prestigious biologists that knew the ins and outs and pros and cons of making policies against pesticides, yet she continued with her efforts.

While it is something to be said about standing up and speaking for those that are not able to speak and often are second when it comes to humans, Rachel Carson in essence is responsible for millions of deaths across the world. The good of banning pesticides does not seem to outweigh making cures, preventing diseases, preventing spread, saving lives, and possibly erradicating diseases. Many of the vectors like flies and moquitoes that are responsible for spreading many of the dredful human killing diseases can be killed with the same pesticides that Carson was against.

It is always two sides to a story. You win some and you lose some. While gains do often come with risks and sacrafices, Rachel Carson made the ultimate sacrafice by leaving her fellow man to fend for himself against these diseases that plagued that Earth without other ways of fighting them off but with the pesticides she wanted to ban.

Mercury: The Element

Mercury is a naturally occurring element that can be found throughout the environment. It is a very potent pollutant and very toxic.The amount of mercury found in parts of the environment like lakes, stream and the atmosphere have been increased due to human activites such as burning coal and using mercury to manufacture certain products. By eating organisms that live in places where microbes have converted some of the natural and human mercury to a more toxic form called methylmercury, humans and animals get most of their exposure and risk. 

Still not fully understood is the bioconcentration of mercury. Elemental mercury is transported around the globe in gas form. In some areas its origination has been shown to come from industrial soucres like power plants. Two major forms of mercury besides elemental mercury are ionic mercury and organic mercury or methylmercury. Methylmercury is bioconcentrated due to the retention throughout the food chain among several organisms. It is the accumulation of mercury in fish that is of most concern because in some regions the amount of mercury found in fish is near or exceeds the limit for safe human consumption. The amount of mercury for safe human consumption is 0.5-1.0ppm.

More information about mercury, its toxicity, and effects can be seen via the link below.

Mercury brochure:

http://www.mercer.edu/enp/Hg_Baker.pdf



References:

United States Environmental Protection Agency. How Does Mercury Work in the Environment? Retrieved from http://publicaccess.supportportal.com/link/portal/23002/23012/Article/17229/How-does-mercury-occur-in-the-environment July 10, 2011.

Morel, F.M; Kraepiel, A.M.L., and Amyot, M. (1998). The Chemical Cycle and Bioaccumulation of Mercury. Annual Review of Ecological Systems, 29, 543-566.