The book 'Silent Spring' published in 1962 which set the tone for an environmental movement in the world, was written by

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Correct — C, Rachel Carson. 'Silent Spring' (1962) was written by the American marine biologist and conservationist Rachel Carson. It documented the ecological damage — especially the collapse of bird populations — caused by the indiscriminate use of synthetic pesticides such as DDT, and is widely credited with launching the modern environmental movement, contributing to the US ban on agricultural DDT and to the creation of the US Environmental Protection Agency.

Why the other options are wrong — (a) Carolyn Merchant is an eco-feminist historian of science best known for 'The Death of Nature' (1980), not for 'Silent Spring'.  (b) Karl Marx was a 19th-century political philosopher and economist ('Das Kapital', 'The Communist Manifesto'); he had no connection with 'Silent Spring' or the pesticide debate of the 1960s.  (d) No environmental classic titled 'Silent Spring' is associated with this name; it is a distractor with no link to the 1962 book.

Concept: 'Silent Spring' argued that persistent synthetic pesticides — DDT above all — accumulate in food chains and poison non-target species, its title evoking a spring with no birdsong. Rachel Carson's evidence-based warning turned pesticide regulation into a public issue and is treated as the starting point of the modern environmental movement, feeding into the first Earth Day (1970) and the creation of the US EPA.

State PCS 2020 Q17 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer

State PCS 2020 Q17 — Environment & Ecology PYQ with Answer