Topic for Oct. 26. ( Thur )

[Alex !]

PIMFY vs NIMBY

NIMBY, an acronym for the phrase "not in my back yard",is a characterization of opposition by residents to proposed developments in their local area, as well as support for strict land use regulations.

It carries the connotation that such residents are only opposing the development because it is close to them and that they would tolerate or support it if it were built farther away. The residents are often called nimbys, and their viewpoint is called nimbyism.

On the other hand, many people in farming communities have enthusiastically welcomed placement of the renewable energy machines on their property. 

In fact, their acceptance has spurred creation of a neologism mocking the NIMBY phenomenon—namely the PIMBY (“Please in my backyard”) or PIMFY ( “ please in my front yard ) approach. 

To be sure, farmers earn lucrative fees for allowing the huge turbines to be built on their land, but even those who obtain no economic gain support them as well. 

Perhaps the PIMBY phenomenon in the rural Midwest, along with acceptance and widespread use of complex technologies in general, constitutes only the most recent expression‎ of an historical process of farmers forming an ultramodern identity, one that still goes largely unappreciated by relatively backward city residents.

Despite public opinion that generally supports the use of wind turbines as a sustainable form of generating electricity, important segments of the population, especially those who live near them, oppose the technology, often for aesthetic and environmental reasons. 

Sometimes characterized as a NIMBY phenomenon—Not In My Backyard—this attitude wins political support, such that some locales sport no utility-scale wind generators.  

But maybe other, unarticulated reasons for such opposition exist, such as a long-experienced conflict between rural and urban interests. 

Even less verbalized, some people may oppose wind turbines because of the technology’s visibility, which puts it in contrast to the generally invisible (and therefore less objectionable) form of electricity production from giant, but centralized and out-of-the-way fossil fuel and nuclear power plants.  

We argue that the concealed features of technologies and how people incorporate them into their lives helps us understand both NIMBY and PIMBY concerns. 

By revealing the previously invisible, we hope to offer practical insights to policymakers and energy analysts as well as to social scientists.