‍Rachel Carson, We’re Still Listening

by Kaleigh Kogler‍, Director ‍

Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring celebrates its 64th year in publication this month. Lauded as the much-needed spark for the modern environmentalist movement, will we ever be done learning from it more than six decades later?‍ ‍

With Silent Spring, Carson revealed the environmental and health atrocities caused by spraying DDT in our fields, orchards, gardens, and neighborhoods in the war against insects. A major component of her argument continues to be relevant: We are powerful actors in the natural world, and our choices resonate in deliberate and indeliberate ways throughout it.‍ ‍

We are still advocating for the right of our lakes, birds, insects, and neighbors to exist without exposure to harmful pesticides. Since Silent Spring’s publication, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) was created, the Clean Water Act was passed with bipartisan support, and DDT was eventually banned in 1972. There is still a long way to go, and recent federal actions, such as The U.S. Supreme Court clearing Bayer of any liability for not including cancer risk warnings on Roundup products, make it seem like an uphill battle.‍ ‍

Have we learned our lesson from the indiscriminate spraying and use of DDT? Apparently not. According to the U.S Geological Survey, “About 1 billion pounds of conventional pesticides are used each year in the United States to control weeds, insects, and other pests” (USGS, 2017). Agricultural reliance on pesticides sustains our demand, and current pesticides have ‘improved’ to become more potent, toxic, and environmentally persistent than older products (Nehring & Njuki, 2024). The use of pesticides in certain sectors is unavoidable, but it is possible to prevent the application of the ones known or suspected of causing inordinate harm, such as atrazine. As stated by Health Policy Watch, “Atrazine is used extensively in the U.S. on crops like corn, sorghum, and sugarcane. However, over 60 countries have banned the chemical due to its endocrine-disrupting properties and tendency to contaminate groundwater” (Samantaroy, 2026). Do we need a truly silent spring to finally place the value of health over profit? Would the decision makers lobbying for the continued use of atrazine and other dangerous pesticides even notice the silence?‍ ‍

Door County is especially vulnerable to groundwater contamination due to our thin soils and porous karst geology. Stepping into any gift shop, it is also easy to tell Door County is proud of our delicious red tart cherries. Similar to the unveiling of DDT as a silent killer, the chemical management of orchards has fortunately shifted away from the perpetual spraying of lead arsenate on cherries, apples, and pears. Used from the late 1800s to the 1960s, this licensed and EPA-approved mixture persists in our soils and water and exposure is linked to a variety of serious health problems. It is impossible to commercially grow cherries without defense against damaging native and invasive insects such as the spotted wing drosophila. In an interview with the Door County Pulse, Jim Seaquist states they are managing their orchards with insecticides such as Actara, Imidan, and/or Delegate (Grutzmaker, 2016). Actara is a broad-use insecticide containing Thiamethoxam, a neonicotinoid. This class of insecticides poses a high risk to bees and pollinators and makes its way up the food chain, threatening birds, fish, and other wildlife.‍ ‍

Neonicotinoids are also persistent in our soils and waters. According to Clean Wisconsin’s pesticide brief, “A quarter of public water systems and more than 40% of private wells in Wisconsin contain nonneonicotinoid pesticides. Contamination rates of private wells exceed 60% in agricultural areas” (Legris & Mathewson, 2025). The European Union banned Thiamethoxam and similar chemicals in 2018 for all outdoor agricultural uses due to these known environmental effects. Vermont and New York have passed laws banning neonicotinoid seed treatments, effective in 2029, and more states are evaluating ways to limit their use. Door County and the entire state of Wisconsin rely on pesticides for our crops. Global scientific findings and actions show a clear need to shift away from certain pesticides, including but not limited to niconicotinoids and atrazine, before we get to a point where we can’t ignore the health and environmental impacts any longer.‍ ‍

Identifying, regulating, and potentially banning all harmful pesticides is similar to trying to find a needle in a pile of needles―there are just too many! As stated by Clean Wisconsin, “There are thousands of pesticides registered for use in the state, including 500 agricultural pesticides. Only 42 have a groundwater enforcement standard and 22 have a drinking water standard” (Legris & Mathewson, 2025). Based on Clean Wisconsin’s analysis of pesticide detection rates in wells across the state, most detected pesticides are safely within the water quality standards that do exist. However, multiple pesticides were commonly found in a singular well, raising concerns about the health impacts of pesticide mixtures, as well as the effects of inactive ingredients contained in each product. As we’ve learned from DDT and lead arsenate,‍ EPA-approved chemicals do not guarantee their safety, especially while scientists are still uncovering the long-term impacts of pesticides in our bodies and our ecosystems.‍ ‍

“There was once a town in the heart of America where all life seemed to live in harmony with its surroundings” (Carson, 1962). Rachel Carson’s opening line has stuck in the minds and hearts of millions of people since its release, and its impact on everyday life is staggering. Her advocacy for greater accountability and transparency by pesticide manufacturers and government agencies and the need to listen to science is just as essential today. We are living in a world alongside billions of pesticides applied to our crops, forests, and lawns. The health of our communities and nature is often second to the health of our industries. Door County is known for its charming orchards and fields of corn and grain, but is also celebrated for its dazzling waters and scenic beaches. It is encouraging when we join together as a community to make our voices heard. We must continue for the sake of our own health and the well-being of our ecosystems, as in all cases they turn out to be one and the same.‍ ‍

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Sources:‍ ‍

 https://www.usgs.gov/centers/ohio-kentucky-indiana-water-science-center/science/pesticides#overview‍ ‍

 https://www.ers.usda.gov/data-products/charts-of-note/110325‍ ‍

 https://www.cleanwisconsin.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Pesticides_drinkingwater-_FINAL. pdf‍ ‍

 https://healthpolicy-watch.news/us-epa-dismisses-who-cancer-agency-determination-that-widely‍ ‍

 -used-herbicide-is-probably-carcinogenic/‍ ‍

https://doorcountypulse.com/jim-seaquist-changing-landscape-orchard-management/‍ ‍

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring

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