Author Archives: ruffk

A Response to “‘Essential Workers’: Heroes or a Sacrifice to Capitalism”

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Coming across “‘Essential Workers’: Heroes or a Sacrifice to Capitalism” reinforced many of my frustrations regarding the valoric framing of laborers during the coronavirus pandemic. As more awareness campaigns, often celebrity-fueled, clap from screen to screen in viral transmission, people embedded within the linkages of our global food chain work to ensure the survival of themselves and those who depend on this vast network, not out of charity, but because that’s the way things are. These are real people with a real capacity for exhaustion, illness, and death- not some Marvel character that can recalibrate their cellular composition when compromised. The use of superhero imagery during this time of crisis to encourage productivity and decrease strike sentiment among food workers whose rights are consistently trampled is not surprising, as it has often been used to normalize and increase citizen engagement in the military industrial complex.


In reading the authored recounting of the Mexican Farm Labor Program Act, I am reminded that the systematic legacy of slavery in America has not yet dissapated, but rather, manifested into more obscured, diverse forms (Yes! Magazine). The cultural enclaves we find doting the outskirts of a pricey Seattle, and the pages of our history books likewise, are not out of choice, but a historical attempt by many immigration quotas to ‘cultivate’ a certain workforce with eugenic-like intent, preying on those whose lives have been destabilized in the industrial rat race to the bottom. We live at an ironic intersection, where the wealthiest of individuals are able to buy back the pastoral fantasy that the likes of Earl Butz’ so eagerly destroyed, while those burdened with the task of feeding an ever-growing urban population work to ensure the economic mobility of their children (GRAIN). Rightfully, this post questions the performative support offered by individual actors with real political and economic influence, much like many of us have questioned the performativity of our own green consumer choices within this class; it’s the easiest way to cope in an infrastructure which abhorrently lags behind the needs of the populace. If history taught us anything, it’s that, every once and awhile, a little civil disobedience is necessary, and that efficient industry and equitable economic distribution puts food on the table (not instagram montages).

An Experience in Psychosomatic Studying

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It’s nearing the end of the day and as the sun dips below the skyline, washing the glow of the late afternoon in cerulean haze, I settle down to the hum of my laptop and the whirring of cars outside; Karen’s balmy voice welcomes me back. This is a regular routine on days when I know I have contemplative practice which, in sum, is an attempt to integrate one’s somatic experience during information consumption to sharpen focus and increase retention, or in other words: navigate and conquer the whole of distractions your body is fighting against! 

I remember the Living Systems practice very well, as I found this method not only helped me remember things said during the video more than I usually would, but also heightened my emotional responses. I found myself absorbing the message in an empathetic sense. A despair settled loosely in my heart when the visualization of complex, reciprocal systems of life clashed with my seasoned and learned individualism; the mention of embedding myself in social systems especially stung, as this crisis has made it difficult to escape the immediacy of my own four-hundred square foot system. Yet, each feeling passed like a cloud in the sky, speaking to Karen’s claim that deep contemplation can help offset distress and distraction when dealing with heavy topics. I found myself dialing my mom after, maybe not entirely out of my own will.

Via Springhouse Community School

Post-exercise, I tend to engage with things- living and nonliving, distant and nearby- with more attention and care⏤ although, the speed and quality of information I tend to consume casually can quickly unravel this. I’d be open to continuing this practice regularly for myself. Something silly struck me about these exercises in early April. I was a bit too skittish, not willing to keep my eyes closed for more than 10 seconds at a time. Now I find it’s added a richness to both personal and academic aspects of my life. 

North Carolina’s Hog Industry Is A Telling Example of Crumbling Tort Law in America

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After colonial-era tobacco fields gradually fell out of fashion, North Carolina established a rich history of hog farming. What seemed an economic lifeboat has posed serious environmental and health hazards to the people most intertwined in the process. North Carolina produces 10 billion gallons of wet livestock waste annually, most of which resides in uncovered waste lagoons that are prone to flooding during hurricanes- an issue that will only become more prevalent as climate change worsens. To prevent natural overflow, most of the fecal water is used to fertilize crops, which introduces issues of nitrogen concentration groundwater and river runoff.

A rust-colored hog waste basin looks far from any ponds we know. Credit DEFMO via WUNC (Magnus & Stasio, “A Big Look at Big Hog in North Carolina”)

Most of these ponds exist in majority black and latinx communities who, historically, have been disenfranchised through sharecropping, and rarely benefit from the wealth that is generated by multigenerational contract hog farmers. Rather, an experience of lifelong asthma and shortened life spans is steadily present. Community members in Bladen County recently sued Smithfield farms for violating the right to “private use and enjoyment of land” through negligent waste-management practices, and won. Members lamented the lack of mobility, feeling trapped in their houses, as trips outside swiftly caused nausea and headaches- a disadvantage many of us are only recently experiencing. Millions were awarded to plaintiffs, but restrictions on nuisance suits relating to hog operations quickly followed. 

 

The state has a history of restricting suits and issuing moratoriums in relation to swine litigation, as public officials receive sizable campaign donations from contracting companies who control the market, enacting a tort law that, little-by-little, chips away individual capacity to address industry malfeasance- a national pattern in tort law that was exponentially embraced after the famous Liebeck v. McDonald’s hot coffee case. Another product of the litigation required individual farms to significantly reduce odor in ten days, through the installation of pond covers and methane energy converters at their own expense- a demand that farmers under Smithfield felt impossible. With many farmers soon in violation of court demands and breach of Smithfield contract, they saw their pigs carted off and livelihoods destroyed. 

Source: Yeoman, Barry. (2019, Dec 20). Here are the rural residents who sued the world’s largest hog producer over waste and odors— and won. Retrieved from The Fern.