death.

Carson is showing us the cycles of nature as impacted by human interference, which ushers in a "silent" spring, or a spring without birds and animals. It's bleak. The conflict is that man is not only involved and participating in the situation, but is a direct cause of it. Her book, however, is seeking changes to prevent it. (A modern example in fiction echoing Carson's bleak future is The Road by Cormac McCarthy.)

2. In Walden, written over a hundred years prior to Carson's book, Thoreau's conflict is with the busyness of city life and humanity's reliance on industry. The conflict again is "man against nature," because humans are turning against nature in favor of industry and technology and, in doing so, are leaving behind simplicity and their ability to be self-reliant. Consider how reliant we are today on electricity, for instance—this is what Thoreau was asking us to consider. He went to the woods, built a tiny house, and lived out there without the use of city conveniences. It's the modern equivalent of people who go "off-grid."

3. ASand County Almanac is similar to the other two books in that it is poetic like Walden, showing nature's beauty and what it has to offer humanity, while at the same time it is informative like Silent Spring. Just like the other two, it is presenting, through nonfiction prose, the conflict of "man versus nature." Here again, humanity has not lived in balance with nature and is in danger of losing it—losing its beauty, the wildlife, the ecosystems which in turn provide for us in terms of fresh air, water, food, and beauty.

Part of what makes Leopold's work different is his call for a "land ethic." You can look at this as a call to action for people to make changes. In his words, "When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect." You can read the Land Ethic here and see for yourself what it entails.

All three books are asking readers to make changes. In Carson's, it's changing how we grow food and use chemicals. Her work eventually ushered in the organic food revolution in the 1990s. Thoreau is asking people to bring balance to reliance on industry and to return to nature, which can provide everything we need. And finally, Leopold is asking us to consider our lives in relationship to the community of nature, to care about the land and, in doing so, bring greater community to all.

I would say that one could create situations where there are many examples of the different types of conflict in each work.  I think that being able to go back to each and identify where specific examples of conflicts exist is not going to be extremely arduous.  For example, in Carson's work, where are the conflicts in existence?  Certainly, between the farmers that use pesticides and the natural condition of the ecosystem that is being ruined would be one such example.  Perhaps, another would be between the government and Carson, herself, who believes that government action is needed to rectify such a challenge.  In Thoreau, what does he believe about the individual and their society?  Does he not see a conflict here and how it should be resolved is the very essence of the lauding of the individual he praises in his writing?  In Leopold, a conflict can be present between how individuals view themselves and how their view their natural surroundings in terms of their treatment.  I am also inclined to see that Leopold himself endured a conflict in being told to follow particular practices and then rejecting them for a greater understanding of conservation techniques and analyses.  In the end, each particular work has their own examples of the different types of conflict and it will be up to the student to select which examples stick out in their own mind as very prominent.