To illustrate the devastating consequences of pesticide use on humans and the environment, Rachel Carson compares the hidden destruction of chemicals to the unmistakable effects of nuclear warfare. During WWII, the United States and other countries began experimenting with nuclear weapons, such as the bombs dropped in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, where the effects were instant, with around two hundred thousand deaths from the bombs and many more from burns and radiation. Carson’s book, written shortly after WWII, utilized the fear of nuclear warfare to motivate the readers to take action against pesticides, which she equated to “bombardment[s]” and “assaults upon the environment”. By comparing the use of pesticides, which are generally invisible,
