THIS FIGHT IS PERSONAL My Home was Flooded by Factory Farm Waste My name is Krissy, and I’m the Factory Farm Organizing Director at Food & Water Watch. I’d like to share a personal story about how climate chaos exacerbates the shortcomings of our current farm system and how it has impacted my life and community in eastern North Carolina.
Krissy Kasserman
The devastation was no accident. It was the result of decades of poor policy deci- sions...The outcome was an unacceptable violation of my family’s and neigh- bor’s homes.
In 2018, Hurricane Florence raked through the Carolinas. It dropped 36 inches of rain, nearly half of which was attributed to a warming climate. Fifty-three people died, and nearly 75,000 homes and businesses were flooded — including mine. After the storm, we knew we’d be returning home to a night- mare — the only question was how bad it would be. My fears were proven right — it wasn’t just floodwater in my home. All across eastern North Carolina, manure lagoons full of hog waste from factory farms were flooded or breached entirely — including one upstream from my house. Millions of gallons of untreated
hog waste washed downstream into people’s homes, including mine, compounding the night- mare — and the danger — from the storm. The devastation was no accident. It was the result of decades of poor policy deci- sions that allowed factory farms to be built in floodplains and corporations to spew pollu- tion into our waterways. The outcome was an unacceptable violation of my family’s and neighbor’s homes. In my role as Factory Farm Organizing Director, I’m work- ing to ban factory farms and fight for meaningful action to stop climate change. We need to do these things as if our lives depend on it — because they do.
factory farms in New Mexico and the development of facto- ry farm gas in Delaware. And at the federal level, we’re fighting for the Farm System Reform Act to win a national ban on factory farms. Your generosity powers our work to stop factory farming and create a more just and sustainable food system — one that protects our water, communities, family farmers, and climate. Thank you!
Because of you, we’re fighting for legislation that would enact a moratorium on factory farms in Iowa and Oregon. We’re taking a stand against the overuse of water by
Untreated hog waste leached into flood waters across eastern North Carolina after Hurricane Florence. Photo by Cape Fear River Watch.
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