Abstract:
In her controversial book,
Silent Spring, Rachel Carson
questioned human attempts
to control the natural world by
means of synthetic pesticides.
The 1960s saw the advent of
the so-called green revolution,
which was characterised by the
doubling of yields of major grain
crops, thanks mainly to frenzied
development of improved
and novel technologies that
spawned more efficient cultivars,
fertilisers and pesticides.
The concomitant improvement in food
security, farmer profits and livelihoods, as
well as the upliftment of rural communities
that those technological advancements
brought, represented to Carson “a smooth
superhighway on which we progress with
great speed, but at its end lies disaster”.
