I will be focusing on factory farming of pigs. Some key aspects of my topic that will be important to consider are the environmental effects, public opinion, who is involved in factory farming, and who is aware of the issue. Being from North Carolina, I will be focusing on pig farms, and how the consumer isn’t aware of the farm’s environmental impact and treatment of livestock. I will need to research government regulation, the populations involved and how they are getting aware of regulations or the regulations are to lose.

In North Carolina, hog farms make around $10 billion a year for the state, and with 2.3 million hogs in one single county, the industry is booming. But what is the true cost of hog farms? 

Factory farms are terrible for the environment. With hog farms in North Carolina containing 9 million hogs on 2,400 farms, the pigs are tightly packed with little space, which means an abundance of waste on a small amount of land. This results in waste lagoons which can fill up to 15,000 olympic pools in a single year, of pure pig waste. This causes effects in the health of the surrounding residents, most of which are black and latino, and harms the environment. Some reported health concerns of being near waste in such a large scale include higher “infant mortality, anemia, kidney disease, septicemia, and tuberculosis.” Along with these health concerns, there is concern for the environment. When hurricane season and heavy rain hits North Carolina, especially eastern North Carolina where most hog farms are located, the waste lagoons flood and contaminate the local water systems. 

I interviewed my mother, Ellen as my original source of information to pin point what someone currently living in North Carolina might think about this issue. Born and raised in North Carolina, I thought she would be a good fit. I asked her what her biggest concern was with hog farms, and she noted that it was animal welfare. She was already aware of the environmental impacts of hog factory farms, but was unaware of environmental racism and how it plays a role in eastern North Carolina, where the population is notably poorer than central North Carolina. I asked her “Living in North Carolina for your whole life, do you think this issue is well known?” her response was “no, the people in Raleigh [where she was born and has always lived] are probably not aware, but if you lived in the county to the east or on the coast you would be more familiar with it, since this is where the hog farms are located.” With this information, I was able to narrow my target audience and produce a piece more tailored to the people who needed to learn more about this issue. 

We need to be aware that this is not an issue that is far away from the central and most populated cities in North Carolina. As climate changes increase the occurrence and strength of storms, climate change will push those repositories of contamination into communities that seem disassociated with hog farming, like Raleigh. 

This art piece is intended to communicate the devastating impacts of factory farming, and to communicate how inhumane these factory farms are. They are called factory farms for a reason, because they produce living breathing animals like a product in a factory. They never see the sky, yet alone go outdoors or breathe fresh air. While North Carolina barbeque is a staple in our state’s culinary culture, there are better ways to source the meat, and continue our tradition of southern food. 

I wanted the piece to be dark and haunting, to get the message across that factory farming is unnatural, bad for the environment, and ultimately is doing a large part in climate change. I targeted those who don’t think about where their food or meat comes from, specifically central North Carolina, in areas such as Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, where hog farms are not located, as these booming cities might not be aware of the environmental issues our state is a part of in the farming sector. This piece could be shared with such target audiences by submitting to local news such as Daily Tarheel, News and Observer as well as Raleigh lifestyle magazines. I want my art piece to be in your face and shocking because I feel like that is what people who aren’t food-conscious would feel when they discover the truth behind their meat consumption, without being grotesque. 

I hope that this piece will inspire my audience, more liberal people of central North Carolina, who might be oblivious to the hog farm problems, to think more consciously about the food they buy and where it comes from, as well as who they are supporting when voting with their money. Hopefully, this will inspire others to start buying products that are more eco-conscious, healthy, and natural as opposed to the meat that is stuffed with antibiotics and depletes our environment of its resources. I also want to put a face to the product people buy off the shelf, which is a real living animal. In this country, we are faced with a consumer culture that is horrible for the environment, and produces much more waste than needed. By thinking consciously especially about the food we buy, how much and what farming practices we are supporting by buying that product, we can vote with our dollars for a world that is more environmentally friendly.

Some ideas I used from class was first, the “Just-World Theory,” as discussed by Hoffman in chapter 2. This theory is what I believe most people believe when confronted to make change, as they want to believe the world is stable and do not want to change their lifestyle. In this project, I am not aiming to convert meat eaters into vegans, rather to make the people who do eat pork, specifically barbeque as it is so ingrained in North Carolina culture, to choose better alternatives than the cheaper pork that is produced by factory farms. The second most important idea I used while making this project was a consensus based path. Most people would agree that these factory farms are harming the environment and the people surrounding them and themselves when given the information. I don’t see this as a controversial issue, rather an issue that has not been widespread to the point of cultural shift, in rejecting factory farming. 

My timeline for this project was to research on Monday and Tuesday, work on the art piece on Wednesday, and revise and touch up before submitting on Thursday. 

I personally struggled with the art piece. While I love art, it has been a while since I worked with charcoal, so there was a learning curve to get my skills honed into what they used to be. I also struggled to make a piece that was aesthetically pleasing, while communicating the issues at hand. I decided to focus the piece on the animals, assuming that wherever this piece would be seen would either have a caption, or this write up to go along with it. I didn’t want the art piece to be grotesque, as I thought that would turn the viewer away out of sadness and anger. I know this piece doesn’t communicate all the ideas I discussed in the write up, but I still think the range of color value gives a hitting impression, one of despair and the emotional reaction to help.