Does the American Heartland Seek a 'Silent Spring'?

In September of 1962 a book entitled Silent Spring was published. The author was Rachel Carson. Her talent was to combine the gift of prose and knowledge of science to awaken the public to the horrors of pesticides.

Silent Spring is hailed by many as the book that began the environmental movement. Rachel Carson died in 1964 from breast cancer, but her beautifully written work propelled millions to become attentive to the world around them, the air we breathe, and the substances that we consume, knowingly or unknowingly.

Those who believe that Silent Spring was the ´green´ manifesto were moved to outlaw DDT, a pesticide, that at the time was used to spray down farm fields and control insects and vermin. It was also found, through a detailed study on Carson´s part that it was becoming embedded in the foods we ate, and the air around us.

There is hope in the form of President Barack Obama. He has the wisdom and foresight to enable America to position itself to take the lead in a green revolution. In his short time in office he has been able to enact legislation that can help propel America towards clean energy, sustainable food and water, and carbon reduction.

But, still there are those in the heartland of America who cling to a time that will never again be.

Could any book move the world like Silent Spring did in the 1960´s? I doubt it. It would seem that no book or movement is that powerful today. Because as we sit in one of the greatest economic crisis of our time, many small things are being left undone in Midwestern cities and throughout our great country.

The Midwest, notably Indiana, is high on the list of environmental cesspools. According to a recent Forbes survey listing "Americas Greenest States" Indiana ranked 49th towards the bottom in criteria which included such areas as air and water quality, hazardous waste management, carbon footprint, policy initiatives, and energy consumption

In the second largest city in Indiana, Fort Wayne- green issues sit on the backburner, and the local government seeks to add casinos rather than find greener ways of living. Even though, the city itself has a citizenry that is valiant in its attempts to find sustainable techniques to live.

The chapter in Silent Spring that has always spoken to me most intensely is Fable of Tomorrow. In it, Carson describes a city where there had once been wonderful birds, flourishing farms, and healthy families. She then goes on to describe the coming of an "evil spell" that seemed to rob the city of all that was beautiful. No longer were the birds singing, no longer did the farms flourish, and no longer were the families filled with the joy of healthy living.

Fable of Tomorrow brought home to those who read it the power of what the negligence of our environment can bring.

Frankly, our Midwest has been torn apart economically by its struggle to hold onto ways of easy living that saw it through the golden years of our oil addiction. States like Michigan, Indiana and Ohio all flourished during the halycon days of 25 cent a gallon gas.

The Industrial Revolution is quite over, and the brain drain in cities like Fort Wayne, Indiana has become legendary, but still instead of looking for the very best that it already has in the ways of rivers, parks and progressive thinking, states like Indiana cling to its old ways.

And as they do, their most progressive citizens leave, never to return, companies that stay here act as if they are doing the city a favor and bring no pride to community involvement other than their tax payments and narrow minded people continue to believe that someday we will go back to times when we could leave our keys in the our cars, and leave the doors to our homes wide open.

Wake up, Indiana, or someday you will awaken to no birds singing in Spring.