During the 1960s-1970s, the new wave of the U.S. environmental movement contributed to enacting the series of strong environmental laws. The changes in the environmental legislation realized by the Congress of the United States were directly affected by the development of the environmental movement, which was closely associated with such important events as the publication of Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring (1962). Carson’s book contributed to the formation of the main principles of the environmental movement with the help of evoking the active discussion of environmental issues. The book was focused on the hazards of using such pesticides as DDT, and it increased the public’s awareness of the potential health and environmental risks of using strong chemicals for farming not only in the United States but also around the world. In her book, Carson paid much attention to the real effects of using synthetic pesticides in agriculture and industry to facilitate the growth and affect the profits.
To provide the conclusions about the effects, the author used the specific data and findings of the researches, which were conducted earlier by the other investigators. Still, their results were not presented to the public because of their controversy. The author focused on the negative consequences of using synthetic pesticides such as DDT without any control or further examination of their effects on nature because such tendencies were observed concerning the U.S. agricultural sector. Carson changed the minds of many future followers of the environmental movement because she presented real-life examples of the drastic effects of pesticides on the food chain and the whole ecology. From this point, the book influenced changes in the approaches to discussing environmental issues, and the developed debates provoked the new wave of the ecological movement in the United States.
Thus, the Earth Day celebrations in 1970 were also associated with the discussion of the environmental concerns stated by Carson in her book because the establishment of the Earth Day during the period could draw more attention to the public and authorities to the ecological issues and concerns. Moreover, the era of changes in the environmental legislation was determined with references to the specific laws developed to regulate and control the activities, causing adverse environmental impacts. The first step was also realized in 1970, and it was connected with establishing the Environmental Protection Agency. The U.S. government focused on pesticide regulation and on banning the use of harmful chemicals in farming with the help of the Federal Environmental Pesticide Control Act. Furthermore, such associated laws as the Clean Air and Water Acts were also signed into action in order to stabilize the situation concerning environmental issues. During the 1970s, the important rules to regulate the use of different substances, which can be toxic for animals and destroy the food chain and to control the waste recycling processes, were enacted. From this point, the publication of Rachael Carson’s Silent Spring and the following environmental movement contributed to establishing the specific laws to protect the environment and ecosystem while focusing on the control of economic activities, which could be harmful to natural resources and their preservation.