No blog on Environmental Scientists would be complete without a little acknowledgement of the woman who was at the very beginning of environmental science, in fact the whole environmental movement itself really was brought to light form her work; Rachel Carson. I know that I for one am grateful for what she uncovered and shared with the public through her book Silent Spring. That began our understanding of the devastating effects of DDT and the harm we as humans can inadvertently do to the environment and each other through the use of chemicals that were meant to make our lives better. I think that creed that you hear from the medical profession “First do no harm” might well be employed in the chemical industries. I think the world would be a different place if were enlightened enough to take that approach. There’s certainly a mind boggling number of chemicals that get approved with minimal testing, we won’t truly know their effect possibly for generations and even then it’ll be the effect of unknown chemical cocktails. As much as I appreciate the work of my fellow environmental scientists working in clean up operations there is a limit to what they can accomplish. I suppose all progress is slower than what we’d really like. I am glad for the increasing awareness that is resulting in more jobs in these fields, that is a good sign atleast.