GenX began when I learned that my home was poisoned.
For over 40 years, polluters dumped forever chemicals (PFAS) into the Cape Fear River but only in 2017 did we learn that truth. That was a pivotal time for me as a pre-medical student passionate about health. Chronic illness had affected me and my mom for most of my life, so this immediately struck me as important. I did not expect this project to last 9 years.
1 in 5 NC residents get their water from the Cape Fear River
This news was a horror story coming to life.
But our community responded passionately.
Hundreds of locals banded together to get a grasp on this outrageous disaster and organize a response. Non-profits like the Cape Fear River Watch and community advocates fought to make this issue as visible as possible across the state and beyond.
Eager to help, our scrappy team captured and documented everything we could to tell a story that could make a difference.
I was driven by a personal mission to find answers for my mom’s incurable disease and later my own illness. From the beginning I have believed a real solution must be possible.
But researching this immense contamination back home led to even deeper questions: How could this happen? What was it doing to people?
How do we stop it?
What started as a quest to expose North Carolina’s pollution problem quickly grew in scale. The truth is that our issue was merely part of a larger chemical conspiracy dating as far back as World War 2. An attorney in Ohio named Robert Bilott revealed this after decades of legal battles with the DuPont Chemical Company. DuPont owned and operated the Fayetteville Works Facility in North Carolina, which was the major source of PFAS. However, after years of mounting legal pressure they spun off their PFAS production into ‘Chemours’.
Rob’s fight exposed internal documents outlining that the company was well aware of the toxicity of these chemicals and the danger they posed to people. Furthermore, they knew that PFAS were contaminating water and humans across the country yet the company kept this a secret.
The groundbreaking work of Rob Bilott taught me the immensity of this problem. I believe that the true solutions for my community require breaking the larger systemic sources.
GenX is a spiritual successor of Dark Waters detailing the full scope of Rob’s work to uncover this global pollution scandal beginning with a legal battle in the Ohio River Valley.
Where Dark Waters leaves off, we connect viewers with the story in modern times providing concrete guidance on how people can support themselves and their neighbors.
GenX is about breaking the cycle of PFAS, forever.
