Editing Rachel Carson (section)

===Grassroots environmentalism and the EPA===
Carson's work had a powerful impact on the environmental movement. ''Silent Spring'', in particular, was a rallying point for the fledgling social movement in the 1960s. According to environmental engineer and Carson scholar H. Patricia Hynes, "''Silent Spring'' altered the balance of power in the world. No one since would be able to sell pollution as the necessary underside of progress so easily or uncritically."<ref>{{harvnb|Hynes|1989|p=3}}</ref> Carson's work, and the activism it inspired, are at least partly responsible for the [[deep ecology]] movement and the overall strength of the grassroots environmental movement since the 1960s. It was also influential on the rise of [[ecofeminism]] and on many feminist scientists.<ref>{{harvnb|Hynes|1989|pp=8–9}}</ref>

While there remains no evidence that Carson was openly a women's rights activist, her work and its subsequent criticisms have left an iconic legacy for the ecofeminist movement.<ref name=":0" /> Attacks on Carson's credibility included criticism of her credentials in which she was labeled an "amateur." It was said that her writing was too "emotional."<ref name=":0" /> Ecofeminist scholars argue that not only was the dissenting rhetoric gendered to paint Carson as hysterical but was done because her arguments challenged the capitalist production of large agri-business corporations.<ref name=":0" /> Others, such as Yaakov Garb, suggest that in addition to not being a women's rights activist, Carson also had no anti-capitalist agenda and that such attacks were unwarranted.<ref name=":0" /> Additionally, the way photos of Carson were used to portray her are often questioned because of few representations of her engaging in work typical of a scientist, but instead of her leisure activities.<ref name=":0" />

Carson's most direct legacy in the environmental movement was the campaign to ban DDT in the United States (and related efforts to ban or limit its use throughout the world). Though environmental concerns about DDT had been considered by government agencies as early as Carson's testimony before the President's Science Advisory Committee, the 1967 formation of the [[Environmental Defense Fund]] was the first significant milestone in the campaign against DDT. The organization brought lawsuits against the government to "establish a citizen's right to a clean environment," and the arguments employed against DDT largely mirrored Carson's. By 1972, the Environmental Defense Fund and other activist groups had succeeded in securing a phase-out of DDT use in the United States (except in emergency cases).<ref>{{harvnb|Hynes|1989|pp=46–47}}</ref>

The creation of the [[United States Environmental Protection Agency|Environmental Protection Agency]] (EPA) by the [[Presidency of Richard Nixon|Nixon Administration]] in 1970 addressed another concern that Carson had brought to light. Until then, the same agency (the USDA) was responsible both for regulating pesticides and promoting the concerns of the agriculture industry; Carson saw this as a [[conflict of interest]] since the agency was not responsible for effects on wildlife or other environmental concerns beyond farm policy. Fifteen years after its creation, one journalist described the EPA as "the extended shadow of ''Silent Spring''." Much of the agency's early work, such as enforcing the 1972 [[Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act]], was directly related to Carson's work.<ref>{{harvnb|Hynes|1989|pp=47–48, 148–163}}</ref>

In the 1980s, the policies of the [[Presidency of Ronald Reagan|Reagan Administration]] emphasized economic growth, rolling back many of the environmental policies adopted in response to Carson and her work.<ref>{{harvnb|Lytle|2007|pp=217–220}}; Jeffrey K. Stine, "Natural Resources and Environmental Policy" in ''The Reagan Presidency: Pragmatic Conservatism and Its Legacies'', edited by W. Elliott Brownlee and Hugh Davis Graham. Lawrence, KS: University of Kansas Press, 2003. {{ISBN|0-7006-1268-8}}</ref>