North Carolina Environmental Justice History
Panel 1: Submerged Histories
Main Contributors: Charlie Buckley, Lorena James, Cole Moore, Harry Zhou, Rebecca Pempek
In creating the Lake Norman panel, our group focused on the submerged landscape, and the buried history of the area. Additionally, we highlighted the toxic waste from Duke Energy, which has been polluting the lake. This panel is interactive in that it incorporates the water fountain, so that anyone drinking from it can see the pollution that they are consuming. The fish has three eyes because it has mutated as a result of the waste. On the surface of the water, a local Lake Norman resident is water skiing, entirely ignorant of the history that is submerged beneath them. The small church in the bottom right of the panel is an example of one the actual structures that is underwater in Lake Norman. Since the lake is manmade, many of the existing structures in the area were simply covered in water without being removed.
We hope that our panel engages viewers by encouraging them to consider current environmental issues that may have a direct impact on them, especially as Lake Norman is a well-known local site.
Panel 2: The Poison of the Hills
Main Contributors: Andrea Gartner, Simon Lowen, Claire Nieusma, Julia Sirvinskas, Caroline Spirt, Rebecca Pempek
Our images span two panels that portray part of the environmental justice history of Davidson and Warren County, respectively. The panel on the left depicts the old cotton mill and "Asbestos Hill" that exist in Davidson. Cotton mills brought great economic development to the area, and as result, shaped the landscape. The asbestos issue is recent and ongoing, showing the omnipresence of environmental justice concerns. The panel on the right depicts the landfill that was constructed in Warren County in attempt to bury a toxic contaminant, PCB, as well as protestors of color demanding to be heard by the government.
The two panels are linked by a railroad track that has been known to separate the affluent part of the towns from the historically ignored and underprivileged parts of town. The invasive species, kudzu, also appears in both panels to represent the oppressive nature of these environmental toxins.
We want our mural to raise awareness of the environmental justice history that is taking place in Davidson’s own backyard, as well as pay homage to the birthplace of environmental justice history in North Carolina.
Panel 3: Hogwashed
Main Contributors: Rebekah Bass, Ben Haden, Elizabeth Miller, Cole Thornton, Jon White, Rebecca Pempek
Our mural panel depicts an old white couple feasting on a pig head while black and brown activists hold protest signs and look on. Through the window of the old couple’s dining room, a landscape containing a hog farm, a suburban neighborhood, and a city are visible. Trucks resembling the pig-head interlope between elements of the landscape.
The multiple geographies pictured in the mural draw attention to the multi-sited nature of hog production and consumption, and environmental degradation writ large. The old couple are reminiscent of Norman Rockwell’s “Freedom from Want,” and the composition of the image draws from the portion of Diego Rivera’s “Pan American Unity Mural” that features a severed serpent head. The inspiration for depicting the protestors derives from actual people involved in protests, including Elsie Herring.
This mural aims to render the racial and socioeconomic inequities associated with hog farming salient to viewers. We also hope to illustrate the paths of grazing, slaughter, packaging, purchasing, and eating that comprise industrial food production on a systematic and individual level.
Panel 4: Indigenous Resistance
Main Contributors: Nick DiMassimo, Emilie Hoke, Olivia Ng, Morgan Oestereich, Bella Witherspoon
Our mural portrays the state of North Carolina from the mountains to sea. We depicted nature and the past on the left with the Blue Ridge Mountains and marshlands. The sky in the panel flows from bright colors to murky, muted colors to show change from the past to the present. The buildings and cityscape on the top right of the panel depict the current state of the environmental landscape. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline runs through the eastern part of the state through Native lands and tribes in North Carolina. Below the pipeline, there are people protesting the construction. The right side of the panel flows into the future--unknown, yet optimistic.
The Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a 600 mile-long natural gas pipeline slated to be constructed through West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina by a partnership of energy companies including Dominion Energy and Duke Energy (“About l ACP”). While only 1% of North Carolinians are native, the pipeline is to be built in an area where the native population reaches 13% (Ouzts 2018). We depict people protesting the pipeline to show their agency in fighting against environmental injustices against native people in NC.
This panel is important because it gives visibility and agency to indigenous populations and environmental justice issues in North Carolina, two topics rarely addressed by mainstream society. With indigenous peoples being the first inhabitants of this physical landscape, the invisibility of the environmental justice issues affecting these populations is especially egregious. Sparking the viewer’s interest in this topic could lead to greater awareness and activism towards indigenous environmental justice in North Carolina and the country as a whole.
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Sources Cited:
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“About l ACP.” Home - Atlantic Coast Pipeline, atlanticcoastpipeline.com/about/default.aspx.
Ouzts, Elizabeth. “North Carolina Tribes Fear Impact of Atlantic Coast Pipeline Construction.” Energy News Network, 22 Mar. 2018, energynews.us/2018/03/21/southeast/north-carolina-tribes-fear-impact-of-atlantic-coast-pipeline-construction/.
Poetry
by Lorena James
a lake polluted
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submerged histories
stand in the lake
sinking in and through red clay
while we look across the river.
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interact with the engulfed, drink with the polluted.
traverse upon waves of the submerged
up and over tracks of red
down and under shimmering blue
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and into the unspoken
piedmont embodied
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indigenous communities
overlooked throughout history
our intention: reveal the injustice
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a natural world
overburdened by industry
comes to settle in our minds
as a land taken.
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bodies of mountain roll into waterways
waterways trickle to some semblance of recognition;
and to these communities
we dedicate
hope for the future
kudzu
the Vine that ate the South
eats the South and feels full.
framed by the devoured
we think of the past and become entangled.
as darkness swatches the trees and shrubs,
track our trek through vines of the South
and grow a foot a night.
strangled by our shade, lulled by our purple blooms
in this smothering southern heat.
hairy tendrils reach and twirl
grabbing southern porches
hairy pods set root crowns
down in the red earth
grasping root crowns
set in southern clay
and into layered green.
climbing, coiling, trailing pea family
from an arrowroot place.
noxious weed family
killing trees family
climbing on shrubs and growing so rapidly
that shade kills
as we devour
the southern scape.
piled pulled pork
food systems of the antebellum South
powered by pork
succumb to floods of swine waste
upon citizens of hogs
In this fielded jungle
feed your eyes
and feel engorged
the origin of environmental justice
from the earth
we toil and treat
our soil with blood and sweat.
and back to the earth
is tossed away
these unwanted cuts of sludge.
a sludge that poisons both ground and sky,
and enters bodies still.
and drags us down into the earth,
in which we find ourselves.
with orated minds,
we verbalize strife
and trek through tracks of origin.
Film Short
by Charlie Buckley and Cole Moore
Press play or click the link below to watch the film short created by Charlie Buckley and Cole Moore, which captures the process of creating this mural.​
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZQtv9HFAb4&feature=youtu.be
Music
by Ben Haden
Ben Haden has created a musical piece to accompany our viewing of the mural, adding to its aesthetic value. You can hear his creation by clicking on the link above to the film short, as Ben's song plays throughout the film!