Controlled Technology?

Rachel Carson’s, “The Sunless Sea,” explores what lies beneath in the depths of world’s oceans, which make up about 75% of the entire planet. One of Carson’s main points is that scientists/explorers are constantly learning new things about how animals survive, live, and adapt in the world’s oceans. Carson uses various stories about whales and other flagship species by offering details about how they survive in the ocean, in order to provide evidence as to just how amazing these bodies of water truly are. While “The Sunless Sea,” is not a call to action like her book, “Silent Spring,” it does offer a few warnings and interesting points that are notable in 2007.

Lately, there has been a lot of talk about Global Warming and the threat it poses to the planet. A study detailing the potential problems of Global Warming, explains that the warming of the planet is causing too much ice in the Arctic to melt. Polar Bears, who live off of the ice, are now potentially in danger of becoming extinct-- because their habit is rapidly being destroyed. Since there are some public figures, including the former chair of the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, who believe that Global Warming is a myth, there will continue to be reports like the one above, until something is done to curtail the negative effects of human generated Global Warming. Drawing back to Carson’s work, she makes an interesting point about the discovery that whales can live in 3240 feet of water-- the discovery, however, was made on a cable repair vessel, when crew members found a whale tangled in a broken submarine cable that was located on the ocean floor.

Looking at both the Global Warming debate and how whales were discovered at 3240 feet of water, it appears that in both of these cases, humans have had some sort of involvement. Humans’ dependency on fossil fuels and little regard for mass transit or alternative energy sources has helped propel the Global Warming crisis further. While Carson uses the discovery of whales at deep depths as an exciting example, the reason behind the discovery is a depressing nod towards negative human interaction with nature. Clearly, the multiple new technologies implemented by humans have not been controlled and have caused havoc on the natural environment.