"Evolution as Fact and Theory," Steven Jay Gould

The facts of evolution are apparent in Rachel Carson's "The Obligation to Endure," as the author examines the very real and dangerous impact of man's potential devastation of the planet. She notes that man has acquired enough power to alter the nature of the world, a world beset with man-made toxins, synthetically brewed in man's homespun laboratories (16). Man is capable of playing God, of altering the world in the relative blinking of an eye--a world that has evolved for millions of years could be sent on a divergent evolutionary course as a result of the harmful influence of one species--mankind.

Gould would argue that creationists should take off their blinders to see reality, whereas Carson would go one step further, to warn them of the dire consequences of ignoring the evolutionary principles of adaption and natural selection

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he notes, "an engineer, starting from scratch, could design better limbs in each case" (382). We are the total of innumerable, minute evolutionary changes, not all of which could be perfectly suited to us as humans. The fact that we are still carrying around the vestiges of our ancestral past--appendixes, wisdom teeth, and body hair--are indicative that, at least in this atomic glimpse of time, we are imperfect. It is our human imperfection that will enable us to destroy the fragile planet portrayed by Carson. It is our intelligence, not our physical characteristics, that she worries about, however. She wonders, "How could intelligent beings seek to control a few unwanted species by a method that contaminated the entire environment and brought the threat of disease and death even to their own kind?" (19). She is referring to the use of pesticides aimed at improving farm crop productivity through insect control. Carson, while recognizing the scientific truth of evolution, is almost religious in her devotion to the belief that the world is perfect, if left protected from man's intervention. In its ideal state, Carson argues, the world would retain an infinite variety of insects and crops. This variety is the saving grace of
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Approximate Word count = 1571
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)