Reading #13 - Rachel Carson

I found the reading interesting. I can see the benefit to much of what she said however, I believe we have come a long way since "Silent Spring" was published in 1962. I think the human race has been learning from its mistakes as it pays the cost for such mistakes each day. However, we still haven't learned enough.  Take for example agent orange, while it served its purpose the ecological impact and the impact on human life has been far from acceptable. The strangest part is we still use 2,4-D which was an active ingredient in agent orange.  2,4-D is commonly found in weed killers such as roundup.  It is believed by some to be "cancer causing"  however definitive proof has not been provided.  2,4-D is just one example of our failure to learn from our mistakes but I can site numerous examples of where we have learned from them. If you take into account the improvements we have made in waste-water treatment and water treatment in general, you will see numerous regulations dictating what is acceptable as pollution limits. If we had not learned from our mistakes these regulations would not exist. We have also come a long way in repairing our environment with advancements such as bio-remediation.  While I believe we have come a long way from where we were, I still believe we have a long way to go before we are at a sustainable place for our race and planet.