For thousands of years the environment has remained close to its natural state, exerting its influence on living forms. But in the last century, things have changed dramatically as humans have altered the paradigm of the environment. Now they are the masters, and they leave their mark on the earth through pollution, contamination and poison. Action is needed to monitor such destruction, but both sides of the environmental issue should be taken into account to determine what form of action should be taken. The person who, almost single-handedly, brought this environmental destruction to the forefront of public awareness was Rachel Carson. In a chapter of his book Silent Spring titled “The Obligation to Endure” he talked about the various poisons that afflicted Americans without their knowledge or consent (Carson 54). Many forms of contamination have infiltrated waterways, air and land. Pollution has become rampant and difficult to reverse. Radiation, in the form of Strontium 90, was released. It permeated the atmosphere after government-sanctioned nuclear explosions. Acid rain and fallout occurred. It entered the soil and food supplies and eventually into the bodies of human beings, remaining there until death (Carson 50). Furthermore, pesticides were being developed at an alarming rate and were used indiscriminately, killing both good and bad insects. . As the bad insects recovered, more deadly products were developed, causing an endless cycle in chemical warfare (50-51). He asked the question: "Can anyone believe that it is possible to eliminate such a barrage of poisons without making it unfit for all life?" Despite the destruction he caused, he documented that Ma... half of paper... left the lights on, didn't recycle and used plastic grocery bags instead of paper. The new heresies include failure to compost or failure to switch to organic” (3). None of these statements are intended to diminish the environmental cause. It's real. It is worthy of our attention. And we must act. The first course of action is to be aware that there is a problem with the environment and it needs to be monitored both through government regulations and individual responsibility. While there is a problem, we must not exaggerate, but we need to act ourselves. We can do this by doing our part to reduce our carbon footprint, whether through recycling, organic farming or refusing to pollute. It is a noble thing to respond to the needs of the planet. But all things must be done in moderation and one must proceed accordingly.