The history of life on earth has been a history of interaction between living things and their surroundings. To a large extent, the physical form and the habits of the earth's vegetation and its animal life have been molded by the environment. Considering the whole span of earthly time, the opposite effect, in which life actually modifies its surroundings,has been relatively slight. Only in the present century has one species--man acquired significant power to alter the nature of his world.
During the past quarter century this power has not only become increasingly GREat but it has changed in character.The most alarming of all man's assaults upon the environment is the contaminatien of air, earth, rivers, and sea with dangerous and even lethal materials. This pollution is for the most part irrecoverable. In this now universal contamination of the environment, chemicals are the sinister partners of radiation in changing the very nature of the world, the very nature of its
life.
It took hundreds of millions of years to produce the life that now inhabits the earth. Given time not in years but in millennia life adjusts, and a balance has been reached. But in the modern world there is no time.
It is not my contention that chemical insecticides must never be used. I do contend that we have put poisonous and biologically potent chemicals indiscriminately into the hands of persons largely
or wholly ignorant of their potentials for harm. We have subjected enormous numbers of people to contact with these poisons, without their consent and often without their knowledge. I contend,furthermore, that we have allowed these chemicals to be used with little or no advance investigation of their effect on soil, water, wildlife, and man himself. Future generations are unlikely to forgive our lack of concern for the integrity of the natural world that supports all life.
生存和毁灭
地球上生命的历史一直就是一部生物与其环境相互作用的历史。在很大程度上，地球上动植物的形态以及习性都是由外部环境所塑造的。考虑到地球上生命存在的整个时间，相反作用——即生命对其周围环境的实际改变作用一却相对很小。只有在当前这个世纪才有一个物种——人类，获得了强大的力量，改变了其所生存的世界的自然状态。
在过去的l／4世纪中，这种力量不仅日趋强大，而且其性质也发生了变化。在人类破坏环境的种种行为中，最令人担忧的是人类向大气、土壤、河流以及海洋中排放危险甚至致命物质，而当今这种污染在很大程度上是无法挽救的。在当今这种对环境的普遍污染中，化学制品与辐射狼狈为奸，改变着地球的自然状态，也就是改变着地球上生命自然状态。
地球历经了许多亿年才创造了栖息其上的生命。经过了一定时间——不是以若干年计算而是以上千年计算的时间——生命开始适应环境，并形成了一种与环境的平衡。但是在当今世界，时间这一因素已经没有了。
我不是说人类决不能使用化学杀虫剂。我要说的是，我们不分青红皂白地将这些有毒的、具有强大生物功能的化学制品，交给了那些对这些制品的潜在危害基本上或者完全无知的人去使用。我们使众多的人接触这些有毒物质，却没有征得他们的同意，并常常将他们蒙在鼓中、我还要说的一点是，我们允许使用这些化学制品，却事先很少或者根本没有调查它们对土壤、水、野生生物以及人类自身造成的影响。我们缺乏对万物赖以生存的自然界生态统一的关心，对此，我们的后代是不可能原谅的。
