Last weekend I went to The Cary Theater in Cary, N.C., to watch The Smell of Money. The writer and producer, Jamie Berger, did a Q&A following the screening. It was really powerful.

The film highlights the issues of environmental racism associated with the hog industry in eastern North Carolina. It’s a complex story, covering many decades of wrong doing. The more I learn, the angrier I get about all of it.

Growing up in eastern North Carolina, I knew about the hog farms. I saw them. I smelled them. The hog farms were on the news after hurricanes. They were flooded, which drowned the pigs and let an absurd amount of waste flow into the waters where we spent our summers. I knew about pfiesteria and witnessed the fish kills but didn’t know they were also connected to farming. For many of my early years, I wanted to make a documentary about all of it but I was young and had no resources to cover such a monumental subject.

That’s one of the many reasons I’m grateful this film exists. I know how complicated the story is – and how challenging it is to get it on film. I’m so glad that the film is being shown to people outside of North Carolina. It’s a big problem, and it’s not easily solved. But I do have hope that if we keep sharing it with people, they will see that things need to change.

The Smell of Money takes a big, complex subject and makes it easier to understand the details. They let the people speak for themselves. Now I finally have a face for the names I’ve been seeing for so long. I’m so incredibly grateful.

Please follow along and make plans to watch the movie. It is not available for streaming yet, however, they are available for community screenings if you want to help organize one.