A Silent Spring By Rachel Carson (page 39)

We decided our first book should be something challenging, just so no one in town would be able to say we were a bunch of lightweights. Im sure Jackie had all kinds of ideas but she insisted Miss Lansbury make the first selection. Miss Lansbury chose a book by Rachel Carson called Silent Spring. None of us ever looked at the poor Everglades the same again. Wed been raised to think of nature as our enemy. But as we learned from Silent Spring, you couldnt drain the swamps, or use DDT to kill mosquitoes, without a Reckoning. The eggs laid by some birds were becoming so fragile because of DDT that theyd break under the weight of their mothers tiny bodies. One day soon, if we didnt stop, we might wake up to the sound of nothing no birds singing. A silent spring. We were stunned by the book. Jackie wrote a letter to the newspaper, begging parents to keep their children indoors with the windows closed when the DDT mosquito-spraying trucks passed through their neighborhood. One day I saw kids chasing the trucks on their bikes, darting in and out of the DDT fog. This made me so crazy I ran after them, yelling, until they stopped. Its poison, I said, out of breath.

It is not, one boy said defiantly. Its just fog. Its a chemical, I said. You shouldnt be breathing that stuff. Think about it. After that, I didnt see them chase the DDT trucks anymore. Although we all felt passionate about the book, Miss Lansbury reacted the strongest. She talked to some of the local fishermen and learned theyd already noticed that fish in the canals and ponds had not been biting like they used to fewer mosquitoes meant fewer fish. She wrote letters and sent them to the governor and the State Legislature. Although she didnt hear back, she kept trying. She even included some God-fearing scripture about the dangers of mankinds arrogance, thinking that might get through to the old boys in Tallahassee.