If you live in a rural area with no zoning, and if
one day a pesticide manufacturing plant announces plans to build in
your neighborhood, you might want to consult Not In My Back Yard:
The Handbook. Anthropologist and activist Jane Anne Morris details
how to launch and win a grass-roots battle against LULUs, defined
as Locally Unwanted Land Uses. Morris has suggestions for how to
generate community support, research complex issues, educate the
public and negotiate with the opposition. She also offers methods
for handling common NIMBY counter-attacks, such as being labeled a
crazed, drug-using Satan-worshipper. Morris says NIMBY activists
should be prepared for insults and abuse, since any opposition “is
profoundly irritating to those who are accustomed to planning
others’ lives.”
Silvercat Publications, 4070
Goldfinch St., Suite C, San Diego, CA 92103-1865 (619/299-6744).
1994. $14.95, paper, 304 pages.
* Pam
Ostermiller
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The NIMBY factor.
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