Chapter 12: Taking Back Your Own Back Yard

The acronym NIMBY, also known as "Not In My Back Yard," is gradually being changed to NIABY meaning Not In Anybody's Backyard; which is much more appropriate in making the effort to have a clean and healthy environment.  In NIMBY activism, people are taking an active role in shaping their futures and in running their government instead of letting it run them. Rural families, whose heath or property has been damaged by toxic sludge, are heroes for spending their own time and money while enduring personal attacks from the government and corporate PR people.  When reading this chapter in Toxic Sludge, I thought of and related it to the movie Erin Brockovich.  Her efforts were portrayed in this movie as she advocated against the harmful effects of chemicals that existed in people's backyards.  Brockovich pursued many anti-pollution cases that affected the health and wellness of children and families.  She was instrumental in the case against PG&E, which alleged contamination of drinking water with hexavalent chromium, also known as chromium(VI), in the southern California town of Hinkley.  If everyone became a "NIMBY" activist, their understanding of government would be profoundly changed and deepened.