“NIMBY!” Problematizing the Label that Anti-Wind Activists Love to Hate

• In Event: 2251 - Section on Environmental Sociology Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 13. Environmental Social Movements

Abstract

This paper contextualizes wind turbine opposition in Northern New England, a politically progressive and ecologically conscious region. Put simply, it explains why the public may not have access to the full story about Northern New England’s wind opposition. It details how wind opponents were labeled NIMBYs in the region’s media coverage and catalogs the perspectives and messages that were lost in the process, drawing from an expanding literature on the benefits of NIMBYism. It explores how wind projects agitate animosity around not just backyard development, but the increasing burden of regional energy production born by rural communities and their limited capacity to intervene.

Author

• Shaun Arick Golding, Kenyon College