The Human Destruction from Hurricane Florence
The Human Destruction from Hurricane Florence
Assessment:
Jedediah Purdy, the author of this article, is currently a teacher at Duke University and is the author of the book “After Nature.” The New Yorker, which published the article, also publishes a variety of media from political journalism to poetry and news related cartoons. Their main audience is New Yorkers, but they produce content for a large amount of the country’s population. The New Yorker publishes mainly liberal views with accurate views on current events.
Summary:
At least 32 people are dead because of Hurricane Florence; North Carolina alone received thirty inches of rainfall and the roads leading to the coastal town of Wilmington are flooded, leaving all those that chose not to evacuate stranded. Michael Regan, the state’s Secretary of Environmental Quality, reported multiple flooded lagoons, or extremely confined spaces in which farm animals are forced to live--and defecate. The rainfall that lands in or around these meat factories will spread the animals’ waste into other fields, rivers, and even the Pacific Ocean.
Analysis:
The article begins with basic information about the hurricane’s destruction; how many inches of rainfall was received, the status of multiple rivers that flow near major cities, and the current death toll. The next paragraph is about how his hometown, Durham, responded to the upcoming threat. Residents of the town closed their shops, shut down schools and Universities, and left grocery store shelves empty in preparation, if they did not already evacuate that is. Purdy goes on about what he calls “disaster planning,” and how the second half of this disaster is the damage that will be done to infrustructures.
The most damaging structures are the ones that belong to the meat industry and hold millions of animals. Sanderson Farms alone lost 1.7 million birds who lost their lives drowning in their barns while their owners were nowhere to be seen. As stated in the summary, the water leaving facilities like this will spread animal waste and anything else these animals have to share. Sadly, predominantly poor and black communities will probably face the worst consequences of the toxic contamination.
Opinion:
While a few paragraphs in the article did seem a bit out of place, like the two about Purdy’s hometown, Durham, the article remains on focus of the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. I really appreciated the information regarding the meat industry’s legal protections; Purdy states, “the pork industry is rich and politically influential, and in the past two years the state legislature has changed state law to protect hog operations from suits by neighbors whose health and property are damaged by pollution” (2018). Reading about millions of animals’ lives being lost, not to the meat industry but because the industry’s cages around the animals, infuriated me. Lives being lost upsets me, but when there’s no reason for them to die, my heart is left raging and heartbroken.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-unequal-distribution-of-catastrophe-in-north-carolina
Assessment:
Jedediah Purdy, the author of this article, is currently a teacher at Duke University and is the author of the book “After Nature.” The New Yorker, which published the article, also publishes a variety of media from political journalism to poetry and news related cartoons. Their main audience is New Yorkers, but they produce content for a large amount of the country’s population. The New Yorker publishes mainly liberal views with accurate views on current events.
Summary:
At least 32 people are dead because of Hurricane Florence; North Carolina alone received thirty inches of rainfall and the roads leading to the coastal town of Wilmington are flooded, leaving all those that chose not to evacuate stranded. Michael Regan, the state’s Secretary of Environmental Quality, reported multiple flooded lagoons, or extremely confined spaces in which farm animals are forced to live--and defecate. The rainfall that lands in or around these meat factories will spread the animals’ waste into other fields, rivers, and even the Pacific Ocean.
Analysis:
The article begins with basic information about the hurricane’s destruction; how many inches of rainfall was received, the status of multiple rivers that flow near major cities, and the current death toll. The next paragraph is about how his hometown, Durham, responded to the upcoming threat. Residents of the town closed their shops, shut down schools and Universities, and left grocery store shelves empty in preparation, if they did not already evacuate that is. Purdy goes on about what he calls “disaster planning,” and how the second half of this disaster is the damage that will be done to infrustructures.
The most damaging structures are the ones that belong to the meat industry and hold millions of animals. Sanderson Farms alone lost 1.7 million birds who lost their lives drowning in their barns while their owners were nowhere to be seen. As stated in the summary, the water leaving facilities like this will spread animal waste and anything else these animals have to share. Sadly, predominantly poor and black communities will probably face the worst consequences of the toxic contamination.
Opinion:
While a few paragraphs in the article did seem a bit out of place, like the two about Purdy’s hometown, Durham, the article remains on focus of the aftermath of Hurricane Florence. I really appreciated the information regarding the meat industry’s legal protections; Purdy states, “the pork industry is rich and politically influential, and in the past two years the state legislature has changed state law to protect hog operations from suits by neighbors whose health and property are damaged by pollution” (2018). Reading about millions of animals’ lives being lost, not to the meat industry but because the industry’s cages around the animals, infuriated me. Lives being lost upsets me, but when there’s no reason for them to die, my heart is left raging and heartbroken.
https://www.newyorker.com/news/our-columnists/the-unequal-distribution-of-catastrophe-in-north-carolina
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