In "Evolution as Fact and Theory," Steven Jay Gould presents the theory of evolution as a scientific fact, in response to those who present "scientific" views of creationism. He refutes theories of scientific creationism as nonsense, and breaks down the arguments contrary to evolutionary fact. Gould insists that if one looks at the world without the blinders of creationism, it will be apparent that evolution is a fact. Although it is explainable by a theory, "facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts do not go away while scientists debate rival theories for explaining them" (380).
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. She would maintain that those who are blind to the very real principles of evolution may be casualties of the very theory they seek to deny. In his essay, Gould notes that "our confidence that evolution occurred centers upon three general arguments" (381). His first argument is that "we have abundant, direct, observational evidence of evolution in action, from both field and the laboratory" (381). Carson, too, presents ample evidence of evolution in actio...