Fable Activity

Below you'll see a link to Google Book's version of Silent Spring, a book written in 1962 by Rachel Carson.  This book is remarkable for several reasons, including the fact that Carson almost single-handedly brought public awareness to environmental issues in our country, and started the movement towards getting the pesticide DDT banned.

For our purposes, it also serves as a good model for how to write a formal, academic study in a way that's rewarding to read, making it inviting even to those who don't know much about the subject matter.

I'd like you to read pages 1-3 of the book, the chapter called "Fable for Tomorrow."  (If you have trouble viewing this inside Canvas below, you can access it directly from Google here: http://books.google.com/books?id=HeR1l0V0r54C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false Links to an external site.)

Note that this is literally a fable--a very short story used to illustrate a moral or lesson. 

Now, I'd like you to try your hand at creating your own fable for your research project.  In roughly 250-500 words, start a story with a "Once upon a time" feel.  Describe the "happy" version of your world, like Carson does in her first two paragraphs.  Then illustrate what happens when the worst possible scenario occurs, if the "bad guys" that disagree with your research thesis win.  How does the world darken or get worse? 

This is a "for fun" activity, but I think it does help illustrate what's really at stake for the issue you've chosen.  You may decide to include this fable as part of your essay draft, but you don't have to.