Need for Government Intervention - Analysis of Silent Spring, the March of Folly and Climate Speech by Al Gore

The excerpts from Rachel Carson's book "Silent Spring" and Al Gore's speech on climate crisis not only focus on the fundamental causes and the devastating effects of two very politically controversial environmental problems but also on the need for controlling and regulating the causes of the problems. Given the magnitude and complexity of the problems, both authors implicitly argue that there is strong need for governments' intervention to address these problems. However, in the excerpt from Babara Tuchman's book "The March of Folly", she ironically argues that despite having all that is needed for wise decisions, governments in the pursuit of their policies often make disastrous and costly mistakes, and hence government intervention is not always desirable for resolving difficult problems.

Carson and Al Gore in their arguments suggest that many people are not aware of the causes and effects of the environmental problems they are referring to, and hence there is a need for government intervention for creating awareness. The wrong assertion that many people have on the impact of human beings on earth's ecological system as argued by Al Gore suggests that people are not aware of the issue and need to be educated. Conversely, Carson's argument that we as citizen "have at last asserted our "right to know" we would know that we are being "asked to take senseless and frightening risks" supports Al Gore's argument for creating awareness for making informed decisions.

Both Carson and Al Gore attempt to illustrate the ultimate dangers pose to the mankind if governments do not address these problems. By analogically describing her views of the problem as two divergent roads, Carson argues that the path we have been using, though easy and progressive, is going to lead us to disasters and the less used path takes us to a preserved earth. As Carson puts it, the disastrous end is the result of the uncontrolled and unregulated use of poisonous chemicals leading to the killing of certain animals, birds and ultimately affecting humans. Like Carson, Al Gore also explains a dangerous road lying ahead of us. He argues that, if the emission of carbon dioxide and other green house gases into the atmosphere keeps on increasing without any government intervention, "the temperature of the earth's atmosphere - and - oceans" is going to get "dangerously warmer" leading to the ultimate loss of the "Goldilocks planet" we have.

While Carson explicitly argues the need for exploring alternatives to toxic chemicals, Al Gore implicitly calls for finding alternative energy sources. He argues that the current emission trends may "drastically alter the concentration of" atmosphere's "basic molecular components" causing it to become thicker. Finding alternatives is not easy, and it requires government support in terms of