Appearing in "The Smell of Money", former Neuse Riverkeepers, Rick Dove and Larry Baldwin joined Carolina Nature Coalition and audience members in a Question and Answer session following the screening of the documentary film.
Insight gained from their formal educations, experience on the water fishing, and years of knowledge earned as Neuse Riverkeepers, they witnessed fish "riddled with sores" and followed reports of out-of-the-ordinary fish kills. “It became pretty clear the main issue was CAFOs."
Rick and Larry not only answer audience questions raised by the film screening, potential solutions were suggested to offer a stunned audience hope - light at the end of the tunnel.
The following is from the the website of The Smell of Money
“The smell of money”—that’s what Big Pork calls the stench of pig waste in the air in eastern North Carolina, where much of the world’s bacon and barbecue is made.
But to Elsie Herring and others who live near the state’s giant pig factories, the revolting odor is a call to battle against generations of injustice.When a corporate hog farm moves in––uninvited––on land her grandfather had purchased after claiming his freedom from slavery, Elsie Herring decides to fight back.
But as her rural community becomes the epicenter of the pork industry’s explosion in America, Elsie’s struggle to save her family’s home and heritage turns into a battle against one of the world’s most powerful companies and its deadly pollution.
After decades of intimidation and defeat, Elsie and her community team up with a gutsy small-town lawyer to take the world’s largest pork company to court. An epic, nine-year legal battle ensues, and the residents risk everything to reclaim their rights to clean air, pure water, and a life free from the stench of shit.
A story about the power of love for one’s family and community to triumph over even the largest forces of injustice, The Smell of Money calls upon viewers to see the people behind what's on our plates––and to join the fight for a better future for us all.
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“The power brokers of factory farming know that their business model depends on consumers not being able to see (or hear about) what they do.” - Jonathan Safran Foer