The below is a group piece written by the Journalism Program’s Spring 2023 Deep Dive: Environmental Justice students and professor Melba Newsome as a reflection on their reporting trip taken in March 2023.

Our Environmental Journalism class, Deep Dive: Environmental Justice, traveled to Lumberton, North Carolina, in late March to learn first-hand what it’s like in one of North Carolina’s most economically depressed and environmentally besieged counties.

Hog farming. The multi-billion dollar industry comes at a gigantic cost to eastern North Carolina, where hogs outnumber humans 35 to 1 and poultry 500 to 1. Robeson County is now called the broiler belt. Toxic chemicals are seeping into the air and water, and impoverished and predominately Black, Latinx and Indigenous communities are bearing the brunt of it. 

We had an opportunity to see areas jointly referred to as “Out East” to gain a better understanding of the area and prepare to write a long-form article for The Assembly. To gain a local perspective, we met with Jeff Currie, a Lumber Riverkeeper and member of the Lumbee Tribe.

Currie told us what it means to be a riverkeeper and work to enhance environmental justice. He spoke on how corporations, factories, pollution and hog and chicken facilities all impact the health of the people who live there. There is an increase in disease, contaminated water and poor air quality. 

He also shared the struggles of being a riverkeeper in a community influenced by corporate motives. For instance, a chicken factory that sits just uphill from the Lumber River and improperly disposes of its waste. Due to Hurricane Matthew, the pollutants from the factory fell into the river, resulting in an E. coli contamination.  

Currie led us on a guided tour around Lumberton where we saw previously contaminated waterways, a factory that once burned chicken waste into the air and homes impacted by Hurricane Matthew. The levees broke down during Hurricane Matthew and Lumberton faced extreme flood and water damage, some of which permanently closed schools and businesses in the area.

West Lumberton Elementary was a majority Indigenous school, and it, too, was closed due to the flooding; however, it remains empty more than 5 years after the initial damage. A lack of funding and assistance from local officials led to the continuation of its closure. 

Our final stop was to Chemors Facility, a spinoff from DuPont. In 2017, reporters discovered that the facility had been illegally dumping PFAS into the Cape Fear River for 40 years. The Cape Fear supplies drinking water for over 350,000 North Carolinians, but PFAS contamination is a global environmental issue.

Our semester-long project is to write a long-form article as a team about North Carolina as the birthplace of the environmental justice movement. Professor Newsome suggested ziplining as a team-building exercise. 

ZipQuest, Fayetteville’s premier ziplining course, is located in Carver’s Falls, a virtually untouched 55 acre area of forest in the Sandhills of North Carolina. The founders and owners of the land designed the course to be environmentally conscious and avoid any harm to the trees or negative impact to plants and wildlife. No trees were removed to make the ziplining route, and the wooden blocks and restraints are made so that they won’t cause undue strain or damage.

We went for the Treetop Excursion, which includes five tree-to-tree ziplines, one  suspension bridge, and two spiral staircases. Not only was it a thrill, but it also helped us build team unity and trust. 

Reflecting on the trip, Prof. Melba Newsome said, “The trip was a great opportunity for the students to see injustices first hand in one of the state’s poorest and most environmentally besieged counties. Meeting with the riverkeeper also gave them a window into environmental activism and allowed them to see the difference on-the-ground engagement makes. It was also a great collaborative and team building experience for all the students.”

The reporting field trip was sponsored by the WFU Program for Character and Leadership as well as the WFU Program in African American Studies.