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Katie Singer writes about nature and technology in Letters to Greta. She spoke about the Internet's footprint in 2018, at the United Nations' Forum on Science, Technology & Innovation, and, in 2019, on a panel with the climatologist Dr. James Hansen. Her most recent book is An Electronic Silent Spring. www.DearGreta.com and www.ElectronicSilentSpring.com.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, July 21, 2023 First comes love, then come unintended consequences
Daily, I learn about unintended consequences of projects that corporate self-regulation and government agencies (like the Environmental Protection Agency, increasingly rendered powerless by Congress and the Supreme Court) fail to protect...
(3 comments) SHARE Saturday, October 14, 2023 Exploring humanness during radioactive times: a review of "SOS: The San Onofre Syndrome: Nuclear Power's Legacy"
In the mid-1940s, a small group of scientists learned to split uranium atoms. They applied their newfound knowledge to making and deploying nuclear bombs. When World War II ended, yet other scientists wanted to split uranium atoms to generate electrical power for military operations and public utilities: they wanted to make nuclear reactors to produce plutonium, the basic material necessary for thermonuclear bombs.
SHARE Tuesday, October 10, 2023 The world of opportunity in a utility bill
A parent who wants to reduce electromagnetic radiation emissions at her children's school asked me for studies that prove that wireless Internet access uses more electricity than wired.
(7 comments) SHARE Sunday, December 31, 2023 What does the Earth want from us?
What does the land want from us? Does the Earth want federal agencies to create and monitor regulations that decrease our digital footprint? Does the Earth want users aware of the petroleum coke, wood, nickel, tin, gold, copper and water that every computer requires or does it want these things invisible?
SHARE Tuesday, August 23, 2022 Fresh questions about solar power
I read economist Herman Daly's principles: Don't take from the Earth faster than it can replenish; and don't waste faster than the Earth can absorb.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, September 27, 2023 News from the Technosphere/September 2023
While I finish two essays, I cannot recommend presentations from Max Wilbert and Julia Barnes highly enough. And please read the definitively welcome news from Brazil!
SHARE Wednesday, September 20, 2023 Defining overshoot and under-reported news from the technosphere
Overshoot means extracting raw materials from the Earth faster than it can replenish and wasting faster than the Earth can absorb. Manufactured goods (computers, smartphones, wind turbines, solar PVs, e-vehicles, batteries, air conditioners, refrigerators...) require overshoot.
SHARE Saturday, March 21, 2015 Remarkable New Radiofrequency Radiation Cancer Animal Study
The RF-cancer story took a remarkable turn a few days ago. A new animal study challenged many of the assumptions that lie at the heart of claims that RF radiation--whether from cell phones, cell towers or Wi-Fi--is safe.
SHARE Sunday, December 24, 2023 Jerry Mander's eight attitudes toward technology
In 2014, the late Jerry Mander (author of 1978's Four Arguments for the Elimination of Television and 1984's In the Absence of the Sacred) organized "Techno-Utopianism & the Fate of the Earth," a teach-in at Cooper Union in New York City. In his opening remarks, Jerry recommended eight attitudes about technology. They're still totally relevant.
SHARE Wednesday, January 10, 2024 How/can we protect the Earth when we need a car?
Marketers say that EVs do not emit carbon dioxide while they operate. But isn't that like measuring an elephant's weight by the tip of its tail?
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 11, 2014 Part 2 of An Electronic Silent Spring
Please, let's get informed about the biological effects of electronics.
we've got to start making limits. To begin, consider not using mobile devices around pregnant women or children. Series: Electronic Silent Spring-- Katie Singer (2 Articles, 4154 views)
SHARE Sunday, March 8, 2015 Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Summary by Dr Erica Mallery-Blythe
We are currently witnessing the largest change to the Earth's electromagnetic environment that has ever taken place in human history.
Download Electromagnetic Hypersensitivity: A Summary by Dr Erica Mallery-Blythe
SHARE Tuesday, February 6, 2024 What choices do we have""when a corporation wants to do business?
Nearly every day, I hear about another corporation's proposal to build a new mine, a new large-scale solar facility, a new wind facility, a new battery storage system, a new data storage system, a new generation of wireless access networks, new transmission lines, a new smart metering system or new electric vehicle charging stations-- in order to transition to a greener future.
(3 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 27, 2023 Where is Your Watershed? Living within ecological means
Could any community limit its new infrastructure and tools (substations, telecom access networks, data centers, computers and vehicles) to those made only from materials found within a 500-mile radius? Would any community commit to sustaining itself by keeping what they have in good repair?
(5 comments) SHARE Friday, October 23, 2020 A geek researches 5G
A geek researches 5G
Letter to Greta Thunberg: how 5G contributes to climate change Series: Dear Greta (8 Articles, 10536 views)
SHARE Wednesday, November 13, 2019 Electronic Visit Verification
In 2016, the U.S. Congress enacted and President Obama signed into law the 21rst Century CURES Act, which mandates Electronic Visit Verification (EVV) of Medicaid-funded personal care or home health services.
SHARE Tuesday, March 19, 2024 While facing existential threats, what do precautionary actions look like?
Here's a pristine example of acting without caution: A few years ago, while my neighbor and I talked near my strawberry patch, a swarm of ants suddenly appeared. "I have a can of poison on my porch!" my friend cried.
"Okay," I said, oblivious to potential consequences, focused on the quick solution.
In a blink, the ant swarm died.
The next time I looked, the strawberry patch was gone, too.
(6 comments) SHARE Monday, July 24, 2023 Why I don't consider climate change our root problem and I'd welcome economies that recognize limits to growth
I see climate change at work here; and I do not consider it our root problem. At the root, we've got overshoot: unlimited manufacturing and consumption of goods on a planet with finite raw materials. Like wildlife habitat loss, increased population and income disparities, climate change is a consequence of overshoot.
SHARE Friday, April 21, 2023 Remembering Jerry Mander
And so, thanks to Jerry, who died last week at 86, we still have the Grand Canyon.
(11 comments) SHARE Saturday, January 23, 2021 How deep is 5G fake news?
A letter to Greta Thunberg 5G's costs, benefits and myths
by Miguel Coma
SHARE Saturday, December 13, 2014 Cellphones, Cell Towers and Wildlife - Part 1
Scientists describe the effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from wireless devices on trees, ants, bee colonies, frogs and birds.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, February 27, 2015 Slingshots at Goliath
Here's a partial list of actions taken by international government agencies and professional organizations in response to concerns about the health and environmental effects of exposure to radiofrequency radiation.
SHARE Thursday, July 13, 2023 Could we make questioning technology... common?
Technological developments have given our food extended shelf life, washed our clothes, sped transportation and communications, cleared diseases and infections...
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, November 15, 2019 Our Web of Inconvenient Truths
What are the true costs of each Google and GPS search; every social media post and video stream; every email, text message and Skype call; every online purchase; every transfer of funds or medical or educational records; every "smart," "energy-saving" Internet-of-Things-connected refrigerator messaging its owner to buy more milk?
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, August 6, 2023 Admitting our errors, shifting toward peace with the Earth
After I published "Who's in charge of EV chargers", which explains why e-vehicles and rooftop solar systems increase the power grid's hazards and complexity, and why we can't rightly call them green, clean or sustainable, readers sent me yet more reports about problems with e-vehicles and "renewable" energy.
SHARE Saturday, June 24, 2023 An opportunity to put lithium mining and unlimited growth on trial
Just before I published "When Land I Love Holds Lithium" (June 10, 2023), about Max Wilbert's work to protect Thacker Pass, Nevada, from lithium mining, Lithium Nevada Corporation sued Max and six others for Civil Conspiracy, Nuisance, Trespass, Tortious Interference with Contractual Relations, Tortious Interference with Prospective Economic Advantage and Unjust Enrichment...
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 15, 2018 URGENT Action Alert -Contact Congress ASAP about Its FCC Review
This Thursday, August 16, the Senate's Commerce, Science & Transportation Committee will query FCC Commissioners about their oversight of issues related to wireless communications.
(1 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 14, 2015 Electricity UNDER Power Lines
John Minton's 2006 video, "Fluorescent Lights Under High Voltage Power Lines," shows bulbs lighting up by electrical energy they access outside, without wiring, under power lines.
(5 comments) SHARE Monday, April 27, 2020 Behind the Screens: The True Costs of Internet Access
Several years ago, I started wondering about the Internet's energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, toxic waste and worker hazards. Nearly every day since then, I've learned something else about the true costs behind our screens, about what it really takes to send an email or stream a video.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 1, 2016 Priorities: Mobility or Survival?
Election season and starting a new school year have us clarifying priorities. In public and private discourse, we need to include that using technology has long-term consequences.
(9 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 14, 2021 Looking for due diligence with electric vehicles before anyone buys another one
Last month, I read a newspaper story that called the future of automobiles electric; and it quoted an electric vehicle (EV) owner who worries "only about replacing his tires, wiper blades and air filter."
Oh, dear.
(5 comments) SHARE Thursday, April 14, 2022 Mining the sacred: questions for a sustainable relationship with the Earth
In order to produce and preserve food, deliver electricity, manufacture and operate computers, access networks, data centers, "renewable" solar and wind systems, motorized vehicles (including tractors and electric vehicles) and so much more, our society depends on extracted ores and fossil fuels.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, August 3, 2016 FCC Commissioners voted unanimously in favor of the Spectrum Frontiers Proceeding on July 14, 2016
Twenty years ago, during Bill Clinton's presidency and Reid Hunt's chairmanship of the FCC, the U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act of 1996 (the TCA). Section 704 prohibits environmental and health concerns from interfering with the placement of telecom equipment.
Regardless the public's awareness of this federal law, we all live downwind of it. Here are some recent e-developments. --Katie Singer
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, October 1, 2021 Energy policies in the hyperconnected era
5G's environmental paradox
In order to sustain itself and thrive, the mobile industry needs new markets1. Promoting 5G, the fifth generation of wireless technology, is one current focus for development.
(2 comments) SHARE Saturday, February 19, 2022 Notes on Electric Utility Brownouts
Could we consider this brownout warning an opportunity to reduce electricity demands?
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 1, 2022 Electrical Equipment = Fire Hazard
After learning about a new franchise agreement between my city and a telecom corporation (for 5G cell sites on public rights-of-way), I sent the following letter.
SHARE Wednesday, November 21, 2018 Our Web of Inconvenient Truths
Every day, I learn about new changes that decrease consumers' choices around technology, increase energy consumption (by deploying new layers of infrastructure and marketing new devices), and increase EMR exposure.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 1, 2016 Telecom corporations are now deploying "small cells" on utility poles
Around North America, telecom corporations are now deploying "small cells"--small cellular antennas--on utility poles. Sometimes called distributed-antenna systems (DAS), these antennas provide citywide Wi-Fi. I've heard of one proposal to install 700 antennas around one town with one permit. I've heard of antennas going up with no permit.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, November 6, 2014 An Electronic Silent Spring; part 1
Besides home, I'm looking for people who want to know technology's dangers and who'll practice self-regulation to protect nature and health. I figure I've come to the right place.
I'd like to spell out some troubling rules and studies about electronics, & some regulations we can implement ourselves. But first, let's go back a few billion years, before man-made laws or mobile phones, when this planet was a mass of gasses, wa Series: Electronic Silent Spring-- Katie Singer (2 Articles, 4154 views)
SHARE Tuesday, December 22, 2020 5G: A Genie at our Fingertips?
Miguel Coma is an engineer in telecommunications and an Information Technology architect. After a decade in telecommunications (with two mobile operators and an equipment manufacturer), he now works as an enterprise architect in the bank-insurance sector. He believes in technology's potential to create sustainable progress.
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, May 8, 2015 Princeton University Pulls WiFi Safety Assurances
A website has released emails and screenshots detailing how Princeton
removed a position statement that their wireless networks "do not
present a hazard," after letter writing campaign by concerned parents.
(2 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 15, 2022 When utilities warn of blackouts: options for ratepayers who expect electricity 24/7
After decades of relatively stable electricity, several U.S. utilities now say that this summer, they won't have enough power to get through a heat wave.1 Indeed, my utility recently warned ratepayers to expect rolling blackouts this summer.
(8 comments) SHARE Wednesday, February 16, 2022 The price of green energy
a documentary by Jean-Louis Pe'rez and Guillaume Pitron, now available in English
(7 comments) SHARE Tuesday, April 11, 2023 Do I report what I've learned about solar PVs--or live with it, privately?
Katie Singer writes about the energy, extractions, toxic waste and greenhouse gases involved in manufacturing computers, telecom infrastructure, electric vehicles and other electronic technologies. She believes that if she's not aware that she's part of the problem, then she can't be part of the solution. She dreams that every smartphone user learns about the supply chain of one substance (of 1000+) in a smartphone.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, February 23, 2024 Spiritual questions while living in the technosphere
When corporations eliminate landlines; build new mines and utility-scale solar, wind and battery-storage facilities on pristine ecosystems; market mobile devices for children; and record our voices to simulate them for AI--where can individuals and households find support?
SHARE Tuesday, June 25, 2019 Remembering Bob Berry in His Own Words
The arborist Bob Berry, PhD, died peacefully March 25th, surrounded by family. Born July 31, 1938, Bob loved everything in the natural world.
(2 comments) SHARE Thursday, September 9, 2021 If Brazil burns what's left of the Amazon, why hold COP26?
At this writing, the STF is reviewing a case filed by the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. It would require Xokleng, Guarani and Kaingang Peoples to prove ownership of their ancestral territory...
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, November 30, 2021 Is the WHO impaired by electro-smog? A commentary on regulating 5G radiation
5G's rollout raises many questions: How will it transform peoples' daily lives and businesses? What kind of extractions and how much energy will it demand over the next decade? How will its emissions of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) affect public and wildlife health?
SHARE Tuesday, April 21, 2015 "Aiming to First Do No Harm: The Education of Electronics Users"
"Aiming to First Do No Harm: The Education of Electronics Users" looks at four generations of education and regulation around electronics, including regulation around electronic interference with medical implants. Walking through metal detectors, driving a Prius, being near "smart" meters can reprogram or shut off medical implants like deep-brain stimulators.
(1 comments) SHARE Friday, January 23, 2015 Real EMF Solutions
To protect yourself from man-made electromagnetic radiation (EMR), you need to reduce your exposure to it. Immediately, you can:
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, February 14, 2017 Inviting Discussion About Safer Tech Use in Schools
This paper aims to encourage discussion about safer, more responsible use of technology in educational settings. It presents critical issues and options for consideration.
(3 comments) SHARE Friday, April 17, 2015 The Education of an Electronics User
Transcript of talk first given by Katie Singer at Colorado Chautauqua, Boulder, CO, April 7, 2015.
SHARE Monday, November 23, 2020 Green 5G or red alert?
Engineer Miguel Coma has responded to Huawei's claims that 5G will reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
(7 comments) SHARE Friday, November 13, 2020 Defining "carbon neutrality" before enacting new policies
To reduce global emissions and extractions, we'll need a wider view. We'll need to question our assumptions and goals about technology and sustainability. Series: Dear Greta (8 Articles, 10536 views)
SHARE Thursday, January 13, 2022 As we consider our future - And want ecocide to stop
We want to decrease dependence on international supply chains.
We want to decrease our energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and toxic waste.
We want a friendlier relationship with the Earth.
We want to live more simply.
We'll need manufacturing to stop.
(1 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 30, 2014 A British MD Describes How Wireless Tech Affects Children
Please listen to Dr. Erica Mallory-Blythe's excellent talk, "Electromagnetic Radiation, Health and Children," given in the Fall of 2014. Dr. Mallory-Blythe is a British MD. She describes multiple studies that show how exposure to EMR affects children--along with ways we do not yet have a full picture.
SHARE Friday, December 30, 2016 Digital Fitness
Personal fitness coach, Ryan Munsey of NaturalStacks.com, interviews Katie Singer about why and how to reduce your household's exposure to screen-time and man-made electromagnetic radiation.
SHARE Wednesday, June 9, 2021 Help needed: 41 servants and counting
Powering the average U.S. household needs 41 pedalers on bike-powered generators pedaling for eight hours each day.
(1 comments) SHARE Wednesday, June 29, 2016 Essential Questions Before You Power Up
Essential Questions Before You Power Up
1. How did the FCC determine that your device is safe?..
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, March 5, 2019 5G, Fiber Optics & the Law
An excerpt from Our Web of Inconvenient Truths: The Internet, Energy Use, Toxic Waste & Climate Change (forthcoming in May from SteinerBooks) by Katie Singer, www.electronicsilentspring.com
(2 comments) SHARE Tuesday, December 30, 2014 Advice to Pregnant Women from the Chair of Yale Medical School's Ob/Gyn Department
To everyone who cares about the health of pregnant women and their babies, please take seven minutes to watch this video about pregnancy, cell phones and Wi-Fi, which features Dr. Hugh Taylor, who heads Yale Medical School's Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology.
(1 comments) SHARE Sunday, January 25, 2015 EMF Exposure in Cars
A Question from a Concerned Citizen
An Answer from Dr. Gary Olhoeft
(2 comments) SHARE Friday, June 12, 2015 Fertility Awareness and Electronics
A Conversation with Sarah Bly's FA Teacher-Trainers and Katie Singer
June 1, 2015 * Notes compiled by Katie Singer
SHARE Wednesday, January 28, 2015 Filtering Magnetic Fields: A Discussion with Electrical Engineer Al Hislop
Here, electrical engineer Al Hislop describes how filters work and how they can increase magnetic fields. Al designed and built parts for the WMAP spacedraft, the first spacecraft to make precise measurements of cosmic-background radiation. He also designed and built parts for the Rosetta spacecraft, currently orbiting comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The documentary "Broadcast Blues" shows Al.
SHARE Monday, October 5, 2015 Teaching Fertility Awareness and Wireless Tech Hazards Around the World: An Interview with Katie Singer
Since the mid-90s, Katie Singer has taught and written about Fertility Awareness, an evidence-based form of natural family planning. Katie advocates for menstrual cycle health. She has worked in Amish, African, Guatemalan and other communities. She has also become a leading spokesperson about reducing our use of electronics to reduce energy use and exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR).
SHARE Monday, January 29, 2024 How corporations can "take" endangered species"legally: a tutorial from environmental lawyer Will Falk
In December 2023, when a federal judge ordered the Enel Corporation to remove 84 wind turbines from Osage Nation land, I asked environmental lawyer Will Falk about the case's relevance to Lithium Nevada Corporation's (LNC's) mine at Thacker Pass, Nevada. In 2020, Falk and Max Wilbert began trying to stop LNC from constructing a lithium mine at Thacker Pass.
SHARE Thursday, February 5, 2015 Cars, EMFs and EMR
a teleconference hosted by Inter-Occupy's Sandi Fields
facilitated by Katie Singer, author of An Electronic Silent Spring
with geophysicist and electrical engineer Dr. Gary Olhoeft
and biophysicist Dr. Bill Bruno
January 29, 2015
SHARE Wednesday, March 27, 2024 Watershed questions
Can you draw a map of your bioregion? When does your rainy season begin? In your region, where does rainfall go? Where does your kitchen and bathroom wastewater go?
SHARE Wednesday, January 28, 2015 The Real Amount of Energy Used to Power the Internet
Please read Jane Anne Morris' excellent piece about the real amount of energy used to power the Internet. Has anyone written about the amount of energy required to manufacture (and transport to consumers) the devices that access the Internet? In the Atlantic, Yepoka Yeebo recently described the impact that discarded devices (66 pounds per year per Westerner) have on one Ghanaian community.
SHARE Sunday, December 24, 2023 In a dark time, Roethke said, the eye begins to see
Last month, after I described my understanding of the events that led to the war that started on October 7th in "Mapping Conflict," I saw several films about Palestine in 1920 and 1948. I began to learn history that I had no idea I did not know.
SHARE Wednesday, October 7, 2015 Comment for the Access Board about EMR Exposure
Regulation of electronic technologies has not kept up with deployments. As a result, several segments of the population are exposed to dangerous levels of electromagnetic radiation (EMR) and screen-time.
SHARE Wednesday, November 29, 2023 Call Me a NIMBY
When climate change activist Bill McKibben spoke last month in Santa Fe about climate change and the green building boom, he said that instead of a not-in-my-backyard (NIMBY) mentality, people should welcome solar panels and wind turbines. "Don't be the person who hires a lawyer," McKibben said, "and gets in the way of the future."
SHARE Tuesday, January 23, 2024 If you could influence our society, what would you do?
When I moaned to a friend (who once believed in solar photo voltaics (PVs) and now questions them) about letters to my newspaper claiming that solar PVs emit no carbon and give "energy independence" while my county, state and federal government grant billions for more panels and more batteries, my friend asked, "If you could influence our society, what would you do?"