CHAPTER ONE WHERE HAVE ALL THE BIRDS GONE I n the 1960s nature lovers noticed an upsetting trend The songbirds in many areas of North America had fallen silent After careful research scientists learned the birds that had been singing cheerful morning songs were dying Scientists were shocked when they learned nearby farms were causing the issue But what was happening to kill all of these birds And why Farmers sprayed pesticides such as DDT on their crops using airplanes for many years before realizing their harmful effects 5
History of DDT In 1939 Swiss scientist Paul Müller discovered DDT was an effective way to kill pests such as mosquitos beetles and worms Doctors farmers and scientists celebrated Müller’s findings He won a Nobel Prize for his discovery in 1948 By the 1960s it became clear DDT was negatively affecting entire ecosystems It was creating a health problem in birds that made them lay thin shelled eggs These eggs broke easily Few baby birds survived Humans were also at risk Scientists noted DDT could cause serious diseases in humans who were exposed to large amounts of the pesticide In the 1970s DDT was banned from use in some countries around the world including the United States 6 The farmers had not meant to kill the birds They had sprayed their crops with a synthetic pesticide called DDT Synthetic pesticides are man-made chemicals used to kill insects or other pests that harm crops DDT is especially powerful The birds were eating insects that had eaten the DDT-sprayed crops Then the birds were dying After learning about the effects of DDT and other pesticides many people reconsidered eating foods sprayed with
As scientists began to link human health to the health of t h e e n v i r o n m e n t e a t i n g o r g a n i c b e c a m e m o r e p o p u l a r the harmful chemicals They chose to only eat foods grown without using man-made chemicals These foods are called organic People believed eating organic would be healthier because they would be eating fewer foods with chemical residue They also thought it would help the environment by reducing the amount of chemicals being sprayed 7
