On the shoulders of giants
Our work is built on the legacy forged by our fallen heroes, who fought with strength and dignity for a clean and just future for North Carolina.
Rick Dove
1939 - 2025 | Our Founder and Hero
Rick Dove was a founding member of the Waterkeeper Alliance and served as the Neuse Riverkeeper from 1993 to 2001 — one of the first Riverkeepers in the Southeast. He held the honorary titles of Waterkeeper Alliance Board Member Emeritus and Neuse Riverkeeper Emeritus.
Rick pioneered the use of aircraft to document pollution, logging over 3,000 flight hours over 30 years. His 1990s advocacy around massive fish kills and the toxic organism Pfiesteria brought global attention and spurred major reforms across the Neuse watershed. As a photojournalist, his work has appeared in documentaries and publications worldwide and in books including Animal Factory, And the Waters Turned to Blood, and The Smell of Money.
Before Waterkeeper, Rick served 25 years in the U.S. Marine Corps, retiring as a Colonel and Military Judge. His honors include the EPA Region IV Merit Award and recognition as one of Time Magazine's Heroes of the Planet.
Rick founded NCEAC with a simple conviction: that lasting change requires fearless, boots-on-the-ground work. He hoped the organization would carry forward his lifelong mission of building a cleaner, healthier future for North Carolina, and we continue this work in his honor.
Don Webb
1940 - 2018
Don touched many lives during his lifetime. He taught school (Social Studies, P.E., and Driver’s Education) and coached football, basketball, and baseball. He taught at Vanceboro, Murfreesboro, Cape Hatteras, the School for the Deaf in Wilson, and at Beddingfield High School in Wilson.
For many years after he retired, Don was an advocate working to improve the lives of those who lived near hog farms and suffered from the stench of hog waste and polluted water. Having been a contract hog farmer himself, he came to understand the negative impact these “factory farms” were having on his neighbors and the environment. He sold his farm and became one of the foremost advocates for reform of the animal industry in the nation, and in North Carolina in particular.
He founded a grassroots organization called the Alliance for a Responsible Swine Industry, which has since grown into many others, including the North Carolina Environmental Advocacy Corps. Citizens from across the state and beyond who did not want industrial hog farms built near their homes called upon Don to speak at town meetings and environmental group meetings. He testified at state and federal legislative hearings, appeared on 60 Minutes, and participated in numerous documentaries and advocacy events focused on environmental and animal rights issues.
He was beginning to see the fruits of his labor after years of freely giving his time and energy to the cause. We carry the fight he started forward in his memory.
Elsie Jane Herring
1948 - 2021
Elsie Herring was one of the most courageous people we have ever known and a close personal friend of many members of the NCEAC Board. We had the profound privilege of standing beside this remarkable woman in the fight to bring reform to the powerful animal agriculture industry. This fight was deeply personal for Elsie: her family home, the same place she lived until her passing, sat directly next to a hog waste sprayfield, and she was constantly impacted by the stench and liquid waste being sprayed onto a field within eight feet of her house.
As a Black woman, Elsie experienced racism firsthand, including intimidation and threats of physical violence, as she stood up and spoke out against an industry that prioritized profit over people. But Elsie never backed down from the fight because her life and the lives of future generations were being exploited with little recourse or protection from the industry, the laws of North Carolina, or the public officials who were supposed to act in the people’s best interest. In her quiet, determined way and with her unwavering faith in God, Elsie stood firm against the corporation that sought to defeat her.
The strength and wisdom of Elsie Herring are her legacy, and now our legacy and responsibility to carry forward. We take up the standard of her unshakeable passion for what is right. Always in our hearts, Elsie was the epitome of a genuinely good person, and she is deeply missed.
Dr. Steven Bennett Wing
1952 - 2016
Steve was a man of many talents, admired and inspiring to all who knew him in his many roles: friend, musician, mentor, academic, and community activist.
He was an associate professor of epidemiology at UNC’s School of Public Health, where he had been a faculty member since 1985. Steve was recognized locally, nationally, and internationally, first for his early work in occupational health and later for his work in environmental justice. In the many tributes made to Steve before his death, repeated references were made to his passionate advocacy for social justice and his tenacity in the face of injustice. He was revered by students, colleagues, and community members alike for leading by example and demonstrating unwavering respect, integrity, and courage. His dedication to science and the way he applied it to the issues of social and environmental injustice set him apart in the scientific world.
Steve Wing was a strong, just, and kind man whose humility and dedication touched all those who knew him. It is on his shoulders that the North Carolina Environmental Advocacy Corps grounds its commitment to rigorous science and the compassion to use it for the betterment of the world.
William Thomas (Tom) Butler
1941 - 2025
Tom Butler was a successful hog farmer in North Carolina with 8,000 animals on his farm at any given time. So how does a hog farmer become such a good friend to water advocacy folks? Tom was different in many respects, but two of his most endearing qualities were his honesty and integrity. That honesty is how such a deep level of trust was built between Tom and our founder, Rick Dove, and co-founder, Larry Baldwin. Tom welcomed us onto his farm, as he did with many others, including filmmakers such as our own Board member Jamie Berger, and all of them fell in love with Tom immediately. Why? Because he told the truth as he saw it. No sugar-coating, just what he truly felt in his heart.
Tom was honest about the negative impact that hog farming in North Carolina has had on the environment and on communities. Because of that, he entered into and developed methods to help mitigate those impacts. Tom would often say, “I love the industry I work in, but I hate the impact it is having on the environment and communities.”
Tom’s willingness to work alongside groups like ours and engage in meaningful dialogue with whomever he met was what set him so far apart. He was constantly striving to be a better farmer, neighbor, and steward of the environment. His ability to share information without judgment within the animal industry was unparalleled, and the industry he worked in was often unhappy with him for it. But his integrity never wavered. In short, Tom was one of our best friends, and we miss him terribly.