1 NB: This is a combined version of the articles ǮPigs, discourse and ecological destructionǯ, ǮMoving away from ecological political correctnessǯ, ǮTowards poetic activismǯ and ǮPoetic activism and pigsǯ which were published as working papers in Language & Ecology. Reference as: Stibbe, A (2004) On pigs, political correctness and poetic activism. Language and Ecology Research Forum, available: www.ecoling.net On Pigs, Political Correctness and Poetic Activism by Arran Stibbe The Vanuatu islanders in Melanesia have a particularly close relationship with pigs. Pigs are carefully nurtured, regarded as family members, and pig-caring can, on occasion, even take precedence over child-bearing (Miles 1997). And this close relationship lasts until the pig is caressed and sung to before being ritually clubbed to death. Although the ending may not be a happy one for the pigs, the relationship is symbiotic to a certain extent, and has some ecologically beneficial consequences. The same cannot be said for the relationship between the inhabitants of the USA and the numerous pigs who share the country with them. Millions of these pigs are confined indoors on intensive farms, fed antibiotics, choke on ammonia from pools of waste, have their environment controlled by machines, and are driven across the country in trucks to a few central processing plants where they are messily slaughtered (Eisnitz 1997). The ecological damage done by such intensive farming is enormous (see Hawken et al 2000). The question is, why are things done this way? In a country with widespread obesity and heart disease, the answer clearly does not lie in the social benefits of cheap pork. One of reasons for the troubled relationship between pigs and humans may be the long distance nature of the relationship. Pork industry executives in air-conditioned offices are isolated from the ecological damage and suffering that intensive farming entails. The financial equations the executives manipulate, the plans for farms they create, and the guides for farm management they write, constitute a particular discourse which mediates the pig-human relationship. Through its influence on human action this discourse has repercussions in the physical world, both on the lives of the pigs concerned, and on the eco-systems in which humans, pigs and all life co-exist. The entire structure of the pork industry is based on the model of industrial mass production. However, there is a fundamental difference between a factory and a farm in that farms care for living beings while factories deal with inanimate objects. The discourse of the pork industry overcomes this important contradiction through metaphors which transform living pigs into inanimate objects. The Pork Industry Handbook (PIH) is the main source of information for pig farmers, and within its pages, pigs are frequently depicted as objects through a variety of linguistic devices. These