By Joshua Hart MSc
We send out a lot of press releases here at Stop Smart Meters! Some of them get picked up by the mainstream media. Most undoubtedly get relegated to the trash bins of reporters. But it is rare to get a request from them to actually remove their e-mail address from our list. They are the media, after all; part of their job is to receive press releases from a variety of sources and then–using a complex formula of political and economic interests, combined with the need to appear ‘objective’—decide which they will report on.
That is why we were so surprised to receive such a request last September from none other than Paul Rauber, the Editor of Sierra Magazine, the official magazine of the Sierra Club:
On Tue, Sep 7, 2010 at 8:16 PM, Paul Rauber Paul.Rauber@sierraclub.org wrote:
Please take me off your list. PR
We replied to Paul, a bit taken aback that the Sierra Club was not even interested in hearing about mounting evidence that ‘smart’ meters are harming human as well as animal and plant health:
From: Stop Smart Meters!
Date: 09/07/2010 08:21PM
Hi Paul,
More than happy to oblige, but isn’t this something that the Sierra Club should be concerned with? People are getting sick from these new meters and being forced from their homes. There’s also evidence that EMF’s harm wildlife and trees.
best wishes,
Josh
Paul replied:
Josh: What hurts wildlife, trees, and humans more: climate change or barely measurable EMFs? These are serious times, and nothing I have read about supposed health claims regarding these meters convinces me that this is a serious issue. Best, PR
We responded with numerous peer-reviewed studies documenting harm by wireless technology to humans, animals, insects, amphibians, and plants as well as many first person accounts of harm. No reply.
This response really should surprise no one. The “big three” corporate environmental organizations in the US- the Sierra Club, NRDC, and EDF- have all been cheerleaders for the ‘smart’ grid for years. It’s not surprising that the national Sierra Club would rather not hear about how the lovechild of their technological obsession and corporate ‘partnerships’- the ‘smart’ meter- is unleashing significant damage to the natural environment. If you listen to some ‘smart’ grid proponents and their ‘environmentalist’ supporters, it’s a little like they are worshipping an idol the way they refer to “Smart Grid” without an article. As in, ‘Smart Grid’ will save the planet. “Smart Grid” will solve homelessness. “Smart Grid” will save the polar bear. Bow down before “Smart Grid.”
Yes these are serious times, Mr. Rauber. The seriousness of our predicament makes it all the more important that we find real climate solutions rather than getting distracted by false climate solutions– especially ones that carry their own steep ecological pricetag. Perhaps it helps your organization to have an idol to give people hope, keep calm, and carry on- even if that idol is made of straw, empty promises, carbon pollution and lots of corporate cash.
These are the same groups that are still suffering fallout from the publication of “The Wrong Kind of Green” in The Nation last year, an article that revealed how mainstream ‘environmental’ organizations are increasingly behaving like ‘satellite PR offices for the corporations who support them.’
Let’s take a look at how that article reports that the Sierra Club uses its political muscle to “solve” climate change:
“In 2009 the EPA moved to regulate greenhouse gases under the Clean Air Act, which requires the agency to ensure that the levels of pollutants in the air are “compatible with human safety”–a change the Sierra Club supported. But the Center for Biological Diversity (CBD) petitioned the EPA to take this commitment seriously and do what the climate science says really is “compatible with human safety”: restore us to 350 parts per million (CO2 concentration in the atmosphere). (Kieran) Suckling (of CBD) explains, “I was amazed to discover the Sierra Club opposed us bitterly. They said it should not be done. In fact, they said that if we filed a lawsuit to make EPA do it, they would probably intervene on EPA’s side. They threw climate science out the window.”
In other words, there was something that made the Sierra Club and the other environmental organizations oppose what the science is telling us we need to do, and instead push for what is ‘politically feasible’ at the moment. Since reaching the 350ppm goal would necessitate cultural and lifestyle changes that would be considered unimaginable in the current political context, the Sierra Club made the decision to push for ‘realistic’ cuts that- according to the science- will likely doom us to runaway climate change and environmental catastrophe. But at least the organization wouldn’t be marginalized.
“By pretending the broken system can work–and will work, in just a moment, after just one more Democratic win, or another, or another–the big green groups are preventing the appropriate response from concerned citizens, which is fury at the system itself. They are offering placebos to calm us down when they should be conducting and amplifying our anger at this betrayal of our safety by our politicians. The US climate bills are long-term plans: they lock us into a woefully inadequate schedule of carbon cuts all the way to 2050. So when green groups cheer them on, they are giving their approval to a path to destruction–and calling it progress.
‘At Copenhagen, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing,” says Kevin Koenig of Amazon Watch, an organization that sides with indigenous peoples in the Amazon basin to preserve their land. “These groups are positioning themselves to be the middlemen in a carbon market. They are helping to set up, in effect, a global system of carbon laundering…that will give the impression of action, but no substance. You have to ask–are these conservation groups at all? They look much more like industry front groups to me.’”
We are seeing the same pattern in the way that the “big three” are behaving with respect to the ‘smart’ grid debacle. EDF has lately been acting as a propaganda machine dismissing widening reports of health damage without investigation, and making unsupported claims about the green credentials of their beloved idol. The organization (together with NRDC) is also taking thousands of dollars of public money from the California Public Utilities Commission- as well as the utilities themselves- for smart grid “consultation.”
SF Sierra Club Group Defects; Calls for Smart Meter Criminalization
Thankfully, it appears that local chapters of even corporate environmental organizations like the Sierra Club have the ability to think for themselves. In March 2011, the Executive Committee of the Sierra Club San Francisco group voted unanimously to send a letter to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors requesting an ordinance prohibiting any further “smart” meter installations.
Their letter states:
“The concerns of the San Francisco group are:
• The increase in electromagnetic frequency radiation (EMF), in the absence of FCC standards for long-term exposure or exposure from multiple sources, that these wireless meters will add to the environment;
•The possibility that wireless meters will not save energy and may, in fact, require more energy for production, operation, and disposal; (and)
•The unknown impact that an increase in EMF could have on migrating birds and other wildlife……”
This is a courageous act. The group should be recognized for their independent thinking, leadership, and rejection of false, groupthink-led climate ‘solutions.’ Sierra Club members and the general public should now exert pressure on the national organization to reconsider its blind support of the “smart” grid, given mounting evidence of harm to ecosystems. Refusing to change their stance will further erode an already damaged reputation as having been co-opted by the corporate interests they are meant to defend against.
Real vs. False Climate Solutions
We’ve been down this road before. It’s easy to fall for the false techno-solutions we are offered. Compact fluorescent bulbs- promoted widely by these same environmental groups, are now being condemned for their mercury contamination and high EMF pollution. Catalytic converters in California’s cars have reduced smog- but at the cost of reducing fuel efficiency and increasing carbon emissions. Biofuels, promoted by industry as a way to cut fossil fuel consumption, have ended up causing skyrocketing food prices and riots in many countries, as calories bypass hungry mouths on their way to our gas tanks. Electric cars- often cited as justification for the “smart” grid, will simply relocate the pollution from the tailpipe to the smokestack.
There is no doubt that our society is facing serious times and that we cannot continue polluting like we have been- it is absolutely critical that we dramatically cut our carbon emissions, avoid widespread nuclear contamination and start closing down coal and nuclear power plants. This will necessarily involve major changes to our consumption and travel habits, an end to wasteful lifestyles, and an equitable agreement with the global south, who have barely contributed to climate change- yet are faced with most of the hardships. The industrialized economies of the north must make deep cuts to emissions – and soon- if we are to avoid unacceptable risks to the stability of life-support systems of the planet.
The problem is that governments and industry- using corporate environmental organizations as cover- are using the climate emergency to push forward an agenda that will likely fail to cut carbon emissions or benefit the environment, but will erode our privacy and civil rights, hurt our health, and strengthen corporate profits and power over governments. Just saying that something is green does not make it so- but people are so worried about the environmental crisis that they are willing to accept just about anything if there is even a vague promise that it will solve the problem. These so-called ‘false climate solutions’ are- in our opinion- a worse threat than maintaining the status quo- because they drain energy, money and political will from the real solutions that we’ll eventually be forced to adopt out of necessity by external events – specifically a re-localization of our economies and lives in response to a decline in global oil supplies and an unstable concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
“Smart Grid” — Is it Safe? Is it Green?
There are two questions raised by Mr. Rauber’s e-mail response. First, to what extent does non-ionizing microwave radiation (used for cell phones, wifi, and now ‘smart’ meters) negatively impact the health of living plants and animals? Second, will the “smart grid” as it’s currently being implemented move us in any significant way toward the low carbon future critical for sustaining life on Earth as we know it? And if it can, is it necessary that we utilize wireless technology and violate individual privacy to harness these alleged benefits? It appears that mainstream environmental groups are vastly underestimating the potential damage from wireless technology and overestimating the potential energy savings from techno-fixes like the ‘smart’ grid.
Let’s take a closer look at these questions.
Are ‘Smart’ Meters Really Safe?
One of forty public comments- all opposing “smart” meters at Santa Barbara County’s recent “smart” meter town hall forum. Is this what “environmental” organizations had in mind when they backed the smart grid, with its huge increase in microwave radiation exposure in our communities? We certainly hope not.
The truth- if the Sierra Club leadership would care to look past utility misrepresentations- is that ‘smart’ meters emit a whole lot more than ‘barely measurable EMF’s.’ According to an analysis by UC Nuclear Policy Lecturer Daniel Hirsch, the meters emit approximately 100-150 times the cumulative, full body microwave radiation exposure of a cell phone. And there is increasing evidence that cell phones are causing brain tumors. On May 31st the World Health Organization placed wireless non-ionizing radiation into carcinogen category 2B- shattering any notion of the safety of wireless tech (WHO press release pdf).
A study carried out by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) found that cell phones increased glucose metabolism in the brain, adding more evidence that microwaves can disrupt biological systems even at sub-thermal levels. There is also evidence that the series of microwave spikes emitted by “smart” meters are more harmful than continuous exposure.
There are growing rumblings that the sudden proliferation of radiation in our environment is opening up a Pandora’s box of unknown- and in some cases terrifying- health effects, such as television personalities like Judge Judy suddenly suffering severe speech impediments around areas of strong wireless signals.
It appears that thousands of people are being sickened by strong pulses of microwave radiation from ‘smart’ meters, as well as radiation from cell towers, wifi base stations, and other sources. There are hundreds of firsthand reports of increasing electro-sensitivity from ‘smart’ meters– potentially from both the microwave radiation and from the powerful high-frequency currents that the meters’ switching mode power supply add onto the wiring of our homes.
But what about animals and plants who can’t voice their agony or tell us they are being injured? From severe systemic stress response from tomato plants exposed to sub-thermal levels of microwaves, to evidence that tadpoles suffer high mortality when exposed to cell phone tower radiation, the evidence of harm is as extensive as it is disturbing. Many species (including humans) have a substance called magnetite in their brain to navigate using the Earth’s natural magnetic field. There is growing evidence that artificial EMFs can interfere with this ability and disorient species like birds, bats and bees. Combined with climate disruptions and chemical pollution, the cumulative impact is likely to devastate many species. A study by researcher Alfonso Balmori of Spain found that:
“microwave and radiofrequency pollution constitutes a potential cause for the decline of animal populations and deterioration of health of plants living near phone masts.”
You would think that this would be of some concern to those organizations who purport to defend nature. But apparently access to iPhone wildlife apps is more of a priority than preserving the real thing.
Why are mainstream environmental organizations turning a blind eye to the impacts of wireless? A lot of it is that- like much of the population- they are simply not informed about the science. You can blame the mainstream media for that. They are also probably afraid of being labelled as ‘tin foil hat eccentrics.’ In addition, many of their corporate partners make a lot of money from so-called ‘clean tech’ and they’re reluctant to put those profits- some of which flow to these organizations- in jeopardy. On a personal level, it’s often easier to stay in denial and believe the technology we have become addicted to will not hurt us despite the growing evidence to the contrary. Add wireless electrosmog to already severe air, water, noise and climate pollution, and it’s a lot for anyone to take in.
This might explain Mother Jones magazine’s inexplicably bad journalism when it came to covering the ‘smart’ meter revolt in January. Our sources tell us that writer Kiera Butler is a heavy user of her ‘smart’ phone. It must be hard for people like her to believe that a device that has become such a cornerstone of their lives is inflicting great harm on themselves and others. No wonder it was so appealing and comforting to digest and regurgitate PG&E’s talking points. The real Mother Jones- who fought for the rights and health of workers and communities- is no doubt turning over in her grave, as her namesake is being used in this context as a shill for corporate interests.
Are ‘Smart’ Meters Really Green?
A tree in Berkeley just before (on the left) and about a month after (on the right) a bank of 120 “smart” meters was installed behind it.
So what is the truth? Will ‘smart’ meters actually reduce our carbon emissions? Will the ‘smart’ grid really be a net benefit to the environment? Must we diminish our quality of life – suffering health impacts, ecological damage, privacy violations, and a significant financial hit — just so we can “save the planet?”
The phrase “Smart Grid” is in fact an oxymoron; a contradiction in terms. There is nothing “smart” about our national electrical grid. Generating power from coal burning, nuclear fission, and large dams exacts a huge toll on the environment and human health. Transmitting that electricity thousands of miles along high tension power lines- resulting in clearcuts, childhood leukemia and other diseases- with a significant loss of energy along the way- just adds to the list of problems. The sane response to the emergency of climate change and nuclear disasters- a so-called “wise grid”- would re-localize energy supplies, take the power out of the hands of energy monopolies and put it back under control of local communities, enabling low impact, renewable generation and more affordable power. The current ecological nightmare of the electrical grid is only made more hellish with the addition of millions of pulsing, cancer causing wireless devices on every building in America. Not “smart” and definitely not wise. If the public had been given a chance to decide whether to implement the “smart grid” there is no doubt they would have put the brakes on, as evidenced by the 45 local governments in California who have demanded that this boondoggle be stopped.
What’s the Footprint?
Unfortunately there is no way of knowing for certain how the “smart grid” will affect our overall carbon footprint. To date, there has not been an independent, exhaustive, cradle to grave analysis investigating the energy savings or loss from the ‘smart’ grid. This fact is truly shocking given that utilities around the country have used climate change as a pretext to tap billions of taxpayer and ratepayer funds to pay for the development of the ‘smart’ grid. If there is a full independent analysis that considers both the energy costs and benefits of the “smart grid” please post it here. Without that evidence, it’s simply not factual to claim that “smart” meters or the “smart” grid will save energy or reduce greenhouse gas emissions. That hasn’t stopped the utilities for making outlandish, unsupported claims, inferring that if you oppose “smart” meters then you are not “green.” The real climate criminals of course are the utility companies who continue to dump millions of tons of greenhouse gases into an already fragile atmosphere, and the corrupt governments that enable them to laugh all the way to the bank while screwing future generations.
There are already troubling signs that ‘smart’ meters are likely to increase overall carbon emissions. There is a significant energy cost to the new meters’ manufacturing and transportation, their installation and continuous operation, as well as for the transportation and ultimate disposal of perfectly functional analog meters, and the startling amount of energy needed to keep ever increasing acres of server farms humming to store our second by second private home energy use data.
What’s more, energy usage data on the internet (that PG&E claims will help households reduce energy usage) will only be for periods at least 20-30 minutes earlier–not very helpful in analyzing the impact of using specific household devices in “real-time.” To obtain closer-to-real-time data, the customer would have to buy (both financially and environmentally) expensive new appliances that will constantly transmit data (and additional radiation). These too would be running 24/7 consuming substantial additional energy. The unproven conservation claims of “smart” meter boosters conveniently disregard all these additional drains on the energy supply, which a more honest accounting would require. Overall, the technology sector is one of the fastest growing sources of carbon emissions, and ‘smart’ meters are a significant contributor to that.
Another rationale given for the new meters is that they can enable time-of-use pricing (i.e. charging more for electricity when it is most in demand). In theory this could reduce both peak-time electricity use and the use of dirty ‘peaker’ power plants (that are only fired up when regular production falls short). Here too, no evidence exists that smart-meter-produced data would be any more valuable for the retail customer than simply increasing direct education efforts and electricity rebate incentives. Mindy Spatt of Northern California’s Utility Reform Network (TURN) says:
“Smart meters are energy measuring devices- they are not energy saving devices. People save energy- not meters. PG&E might have had more luck if they sent out fridge magnets encouraging conservation at peak times, along with a clothesline and clothespins. Thusfar TURN is not aware of any energy savings justifying the obscenely high costs of these meters.”
An analysis by Oxford University shows that ‘smart’ meters alone do not result in net energy savings. And a study of smart meters in actual operation- from Toronto Hydro- showed no significant increase in energy conservation, but a considerable increase in energy bills for customers. Still, the promise of the smart grid was that it would send price signals that would support conservation and make people more aware of their energy usage, and many people bought into the hype. The terms “clean tech” and “smart grid” sound great- especially when backed by multi-billion dollar marketing campaigns. The reality of course isn’t so pretty.
You often hear that the “smart” grid will facilitate renewable energy integration. Yet that seems to be the furthest thing from the minds of utility executives. For example, Southern California Edison (SCE) has not even developed a “smart” meter that is compatible with household solar arrays, and has the ability to run backwards. It seems that at the end of the day, they don’t really want the competition.
Official PG&E Report: Zero Energy Savings
PG&E is required to submit an annual report on the energy and cost savings from the “smart” grid to the CA Public Utilities Commission. Given that between 8 and 9 million of 10 million “smart” meters have been installed in California, you would expect that some of the promised benefits of the “smart” grid would start materializing. However, in Tables I and II of PG&E’s 2010 Program Year Demand Response and Energy Conservation Annual Report, an energy savings figure rather embarrassing to PG&E and “smart” grid proponents is revealed: Zero. Zip. Nada. Zilch. We hear lots of promises of future savings, but after billions of dollars in expenditures and nearly 90% of the system in place there are no energy savings to demonstrate. So much for the “green” legacy of CPUC President Michael Peevey. And the “smart” grid’s large manufacturing and operational carbon footprint grows bigger every day….
Nevertheless, groups like Environmental Defense Fund continue to back the ill-fated project, ignoring the widespread reports of human health impacts, privacy violations, and increasing evidence of excess carbon emissions being generated. They (along with similar groups) also benefit from payouts of public funds from the CA Public Utilities Commission through cozy contractual relationships and smart grid demonstration projects like those in Austin and Charlotte.
Despite all this documented harm, PG&E and other California utilities failed to complete an Environmental Impact Report (EIR) to assess potential environmental impact from their wireless systems. In fact the utility initially submitted a plan for wired (broadband over powerline or “BPL”) data transmission and based their environmental review documents on that system. After receiving an environmental exemption, they then pulled a bait and switch, adopting a wireless communication system without any additional environmental review, a tactic that has led CPUC administrative law judge Steven Weissman to declare that the utilities are vulnerable to CEQA lawsuits. Because of the widespread nature of the system, even minor damage may be exponentially magnified by the millions of meters and wireless antennae that are being installed rapidly. And the anecdotal health effects already visible are tiny compared to the longer term effects that the scientific evidence brings into the realm of possibility.
More About EDF and False Technological Market Based Solutions 
EDF’s response to the ‘smart’ meter health crisis has been schizophrenic at best. They say they support PG&E’s ‘cop out’ opt out plan in which customers will be double charged but urge utility customers to keep their microwave transmitters switched on and say that ‘key benefits will be lost’ if many people opt out.
What’s going on here? It turns out that EDF’s conflicts of interest run deep. John Doerr of Woodside CA is one of the main venture capitalists backing Silver Spring Networks- the company responsible for the health damaging wireless technology in “smart” meters. He is on President Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board and is the 540th richest man in the world- worth approximately $2.2 billion- ironically the same amount as PG&E’s initial costs of smart meter deployment. When Obama visited the Bay Area in February, he (drove past our protests) and dined at Doerr’s house in Woodside. This guy has connections. His wife Ann Doerr- is on the board of directors of Environmental Defense Fund. Beginning to catch on? The trail leads to the most powerful people in the country. The advisory board of Silver Spring Networks includes none other than Al Gore. The growing debacle of the “smart grid” must be quite an inconvenient truth.
The remainder of EDF’s board of trustees reads like a who’s who in the U.S. corporate power structure. The organization promotes ‘market-based climate solutions’ such as California’s cap and trade program, which allows companies to purchase ‘carbon offsets’ rather than make cuts in their own emissions. Just like the ‘smart’ meter false climate solution, CA’s market-based cap and trade program is also coming under increasing attack, with a San Francisco Superior Court Judge recently ruling that the plan violates the state’s environmental quality act. Those in favor of the carbon trading/ offset approach argue that it doesn’t matter to the atmosphere where reductions in carbon emissions take place as long as they take place. However, in practice some offsets have been found to double- or even triple emissions, and are subject to all sorts of accounting tricks and shenanigans. The bottom line is that climate destabilization has been caused by unconstrained market forces. Do we really believe that the market can fix what the market created in the first place? As Albert Einstein once said, “Problems cannot be solved using the same level of thinking that created them in the first place.”
Corporate “Environmentalism” and the “Smart Grid” Must be Put Down
So what’s going on? We have seen that ‘smart’ meters are likely to increase climate damage rather than reduce it. And to make matters worse, they are creating new problems related to EMF illnesses, wildlife impacts, privacy violations, and fire safety risks. Yet organizations that are supposed to be fighting for a safe and sustainable future are strangely silent, sitting on their hands while electrosensitive people are being thrown out of their homes and elderly people are being threatened. Perhaps they don’t want to admit they were wrong, or even consider that possibility. Perhaps they don’t want to admit that they didn’t do their homework, instead relying on industry reassurances. But I believe it goes deeper. If they were to admit that we cannot blindly rely on technological false solutions to solve these massive, looming environmental threats, that would mean that we must begin considering real solutions, such as a shift away from personal car travel and aviation, smaller, denser walkable communities, locally controlled power generation, a more equitable distribution of wealth, and a stigmatization of overconsumption. All anathema to a philosophy that says if we don’t force economic growth to continue- by whatever means necessary- then we are all doomed. Of course, we can’t have infinite economic growth on a finite planet with finite resources. Everybody knows that, right?
The particularly scary thing about all this is the extent to which corporate interests seem willing to go in the name of achieving even unproven, tiny reductions in our carbon footprint. If governments, industry, and ‘environmental’ organizations are willing to accept people being thrown out of their homes and forced to live in their cars or in the woods as the price we have to pay for even unproven climate mitigations, what violation of our personal or civil rights is coming next? Re-location camps? Forced sterilization? Dangerous geoengineering experiments? The time to draw the line is now.
Over the past year we’ve spoken directly to a number of employees and directors of these corporate environmental organizations, presenting to them evidence of how people are suffering because of the “smart” grid. Often, their eyes will glaze over, and they will mutter something about how climate change is such an emergency and how there are so many people on the planet anyway, and how perhaps a little harm is justified if we can cut emissions. EXCUSE me? So it’s not moral to urge people to only have one child, but it is acceptable to essentially cull the population with powerful microwave emitting devices? That cell phone must really be frying your moral compass. From where I’m sitting, this is truly a dangerous trend that we all must confront and nip in the bud before it evolves into something truly terrible.
Another World is Possible
The sad thing about this is that another world is possible- one where quality of life comes before profit and power, where we achieve previously unimaginable carbon cuts AND enjoy life more. Real climate solutions are grassroots, inherently local, bottom up, equitable, and beneficial to quality of life. False climate solutions concentrate money and power, violate privacy and civil rights, and often increase carbon emissions. This is the choice we’re going to have to make. Without local leadership, we’re left with a vacuum that corrupt government, industry and “green” groups are happy to fill.
Real climate solutions have ancillary benefits that go beyond carbon reduction- improvements in social capital, cleaner air and water, and healthier happier fitter people. But for a culture run by an elite whose goal is to promote individualism, consumerism, and accumulation of wealth at the expense of almost everything else, to admit we need to pursue such a shift is the acceptance of the failure of an entire worldview. That worldview- the one that sees the Earth and all the sentient beings upon it as a machine to be manipulated, extracted, and bought and sold- along with its technocratic “smart” grid- cannot fail soon enough.
Copyright 2011 Joshua Hart Stop Smart Meters! All Rights Reserved
–If you would like to donate to keep Stop Smart Meters! going, you can do so easily on our donate page. Thank you to everyone who’s been pitching in!—
BRAVO! BRAVO!
You are SO right. We will NEVER quit.
Congratulations, Joshua, and thanks, for an articulate position statement. This message needs to be read by many more. I’ll be linking in my next newsletter, as well as my Fb and T @StevenHalpern accounts. I must add, that you are one of the truly unique individuals who writes as well as he speaks passionately in person. You are an inspiration.
You know all these I have been learning by increasing interest and aware of the world in which we live, I live in Colombia, but I was concerned about what happens to many people in your country because I have too many relatives living there and would like to join a group support and open space in my country because that will soon here, because companies like Texaco, Drummond and many others are destroying our country, killing stopped laszonas of jungle and forest reserves, tell me how I can join a group alla from my country.
thanks
no hablo ingles y lo que hago es utilizar el traductor de google
Thank you Josh for all the time it took to compile this great article.
I have a question for you, what is gravatar.com ?
After cleaning my computer the last time that I used it of all temporary files and also virus and spyware risks, and after reading your post my computer started acting up, and the program would not respond. It was hard to get out of it but I did not have to hold the power key down to escape this time So I did another scan and found and deleted 9 temporary files and found and deleted 3 security risks.
This was from only visiting your website and no others.
What I was wondering is if somehow the corporate/government is messing with your site ?
You made very many good points, but I’m not sure if you realize that the power grid is not the smart meters.
I am strongly opposed to the new radio meters for many reasons, especially the radio frequency emissions.
The power grid could use some improvement, and all of this can be and will be done with or without the new billing meters, or radio.
The “dual mode power switch” is a name invented by Motorola for an electronic power supply and converter. They are a problem if proper capacitor chokes are not used, but they are for small systems, and the new meter’s DC power to operate the transmitters and microprocessors are very small. But add up 7 million meters using 1 to 2 watts per hour, mainly to transmit billing data, and you’ve got 7 to 14 million watts per hour to power the electric meters alone. This is a new load on the power grid, but will be paid for by individual customers. That does not include the power required to operate the data collectors, repeaters, mobile phone towers and server farms, which will be paid for by the government (taxpayers)and corporations.
So, there will not be any savings of energy at all to the consumer, because it is the consumer that has to pay for this new automated billing system to eliminate meter readers.
But in Marin, up in the hills and out in rural west Marin, the new meters don’t work, a total waste of our money. There will still be meter readers here forever. The new meter project has proved to be a complete failure here in Marin.
As for the Sierra club and all theses other envronmental corporations, I don’t trust them at all.
They are not qualified to speak on matters that they know nothing about at all.
They just parrot what the corporations and the media say.
The Sierra Club supports the Sonoma train tax (SMART) foisted on Marin for diesel trains run in the wetlands of Sonoma and the north bay, not serving anyone in Marin.
That gives us a good idea of what the Sierra Club is all about.
Hi Redi,
I am the sysadmin for this site. No corporation or government is messing with the site.
gravatar.com is a site that is used to provide pictures/icons that correspond to users across different wordpress sites.
You security scan seems to have turned up some false positives, or improperly identified the severity of the concerns that it found.
Thanks,
Stu
Hi Stu,
Thank you for your post.
It’s true that my Norton security does not tell me what the risks found and fixed are, obviously they are not serious trojans or worms, I wish they would tell me what these risks are.
And I apologize for my rant about it, it could have very well been caused by an email program that I just uninstalled a few hours ago. I was getting some spam mail that was causing my computer grief, ever since I deleted it (the Incredemail program) everything seems to be working fine.
Hey Redi-
1) Stu responded to your concern about gravatar and he is an expert so I would not worry about any viruses, etc.
2) We are well aware that “smart” meters are just one aspect of the “smart” grid. They happen to be a particularly toxic, damaging aspect. The whole enterprise has been characterized by lack of public consultation and involvement- it’s no wonder there is a major public backlash at the moment. There may be beneficial aspects of this project but so far they have not been presented or laid out independently for the public to make informed choices. Our point is that the only way to “improve” the power grid is to gradually dismantle it, in favor of localized power systems. The grid- like our fossil fuel addiction- and some (including myself) would argue- capitalism- has no future. We can transition to sustainable systems or face a collapse that will be very unpleasant indeed.
3) I don’t trust the major environmental organizations either (check out and sign petition against EDF’s smart grid stance here: http://www.change.org/petitions/director-stop-promoting-carcinogenic-smart-grid and EDF’s response to this article and the petition here: http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=65797) They trot out Leila Kheifets and CCST, who are both compromised and work for industry- good work EDF finding the only experts who will agree with you.
4) I don’t understand your beef with the SMART train- though the name certainly grates! People need an alternative to single occupant vehicle travel- we once had a far more civilized and frequent public transit system in this country but GM destroyed it- see Taken for a Ride for the gory details: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ehoVnykvMKY
The SMART train if ever built will not serve anyone in Marin, it is for Sonoma commuters, my beef is with the creation of a brand new train tax district that siphons tax money from Marin to serve the Sonoma commute train.
The complexities of SMART are too much, and this thread is not about the SMART train, one would have to live in Marin to know what’s really going on with it.
There will never be any trains in most of all of Mairn, the streets are too steep and narrow, there has never been any public transportation of any kind in most of Marin.
It’s either walking, bicycling or personal transportation here, but public transit works well in the City.
I don’t often read things that I feel like perfectly express my own point of view, but that post does. Thanks for writing it.
One point that I would add is that electronics manufacturing is among the dirtiest industries on earth. It uses and pollutes unimaginable volumes of water, involves many toxic chemicals that inevitability find their way into the environment (and people), and necessitates the (dirty) extraction of various rare metals. The question must be asked: carbon and RF aside, what, if a comprehensive LCA were to be done, is the true environmental and public health (from chemical pollution) cost of manufacturing billions of these devices? Especially given that, compared to conventional electrical meters, they will have very short lifespans before needing to be replaced? Perhaps this angle would allow you to make some headway with environmental organizations; very few of them would go so far as to defend the “greenness” of electronics manufacturing. I do think asking “where’s the data that this whole program is going to help anything?” is a good approach.
Well-written and inspiring. Keep up the good work.
Now that’s a blog post.
Your efforts to connect the dots and take action in the face of complacency and corruption are outstanding.
Speaking of “connecting the dots”, some may perhaps wonder why the many fail to understand their own power to effect radical change and why it is instead that so many collectively continue to obey the few who are doing them demonstrable harm. For those who may as yet be in transition from a state of fear or inaction or even paralysis to a state of activism, one inspired by the blatant use of force by the state, here is a short “there are many of us but few of them” anecdote:
TheTinyDot
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6b70TUbdfs&feature=player_embedded#at=91
A situation too weird for 99.999% of people to adequately explain.
Brilliant and shining with truth & courage, Josh!
ENVIRONMENTAL PATTERNS OF LIES AND DECEPTION
These so-called environmental organizations have CEO’s with highly developed management, political and PR skills and they can move from one organization to another. Today they work for an organization with an “Environmental” theme. But they are also well qualified to work for BP, Exxon or Monsanto.
When these “Environmental” CEO’s support the inhumane, health damaging and environmentally damaging programs, they have writing teams and attorneys that carefully Cherry-pick experts and published reports connected to the industries doing the damage to support their positions.
Since Industry funds a great portion of the research being done in our universities today, it is not difficult to find “Experts” to confidently deliver the results necessary to support their position.
It takes a little more energy and finesse to search out highly qualified scientists that are doing their own research and actual laboratory tests on this non-ionizing radiation coming from smart meters, cell phones, etc., but it can be done. These scientists can actually share the truth with us because they are NOT funded by the Wireless industry that is now challenging the Oil Industry for $$$ Financial dominance.
If we don’t search these legitimate independent scientists, then we end up with the same Lies and Deception reported by the “Official Organizations” for over a century that “Cigarettes are Safe” and “There is NO PROOF that they are harmful.”
I remember these exact official statements repeated by two of my relatives whose lives both ended at early ages with lung cancer. One of them spent over five years suffering in and out of hospitals drooling and desperately gasping for air most all of that time.
Even medical doctors told people that smoking in moderation was good for you, that it built your lung capacity. That is what the doctors were told by their “Official Organizations” at the time and they passed it on with confidence and good intentions.
Until you find a scientist who tests the non-ionizing radiation coming from smart meters and cell phones, it might be best to temper your confidence in what the “Official Experts” say. For example, the CCST, an organization representing themselves as a Science organization, considered propagandized Wireless industry reports and excluded legitimate independent science reports. And then there is Dr. Leeka Kheifets, a UCLA professor used by industry to deliver with authority Smoking-is-good-for-you type statements, but related to the Wireless radiation that she and the industry together promote.
The Wireless industry currently spends nearly $400 million dollars per year in Washington DC. The majority of that $400 million is (1) to prevent the government from funding or reporting independent and legitimate studies on the radiation emitted by Wireless smart meters and cell phones and (2) to keep people unaware of the serious problems by prohibiting labeling and warnings on these products.
Independent highly qualified laboratory scientists of the highest integrity reported at the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco November 2010 their observations and consistent repeatable test results of non-ionizing radiation at levels less than those emitted by Wireless smart meters:
(1) Human Cell Damage
(2) DNA Chain Breaks
(3) Breaches in the Blood-Brain Barrier.
These “Environmental” organizations likely know of these important laboratory tests above. But it is NOT easy to lead the battles of truth, legitimacy and truly protecting families against these corporate monsters whose structures have no heart and do not allow even the morality of the employees within to influence their 24/7 drives for $$$, power and dominance, and the resulting march towards destruction of our earth’s environments that are essential for our continued well being.
It is often good to show composure and professionalism. But at this time it is even more important to demonstrate COURAGE. Otherwise these “Environmental” organizations will permanently become as the basketball team the Harlem Globe Trotters Basketball team beats every single game in the exhibitions that they put on around the country.
“Environmental” organizations (other than Organic Consumers Association, OCA) today are getting closer and closer to the roll, script and exhibition of “Losing, but putting up a good fight.” This roll and exhibition is often financed by industry to lead people to believe that a true environmental opposition exists to protect them from industry and to reach balanced solutions. Unfortunately that is not often the case today.
I encourage these “Environmental” organizations to break out of your patterns and comfort zones and act with the purity and urgency that these matters deserve so that children and complete families are protected NOW and as we move forward.
Cut your legal and writing staffs and use those funds to get your people out in front of the facilities of PG$E and these other cutthroat monopolies that are choking off the natural and healthful life sources for our children.
You know all these I have been learning by increasing interest and aware of the world in which we live, I live in Colombia, but I was concerned about what happens to many people in your country because I have too many relatives living there and would like to join a group support and open space in my country because that will soon here, because companies like Texaco, Drummond and many others are destroying our country, killing stopped laszonas of jungle and forest reserves, tell me how I can join a group alla from my country.
thanks
And do remember the infamous video “No Pressure 10:10: 10”
It was created as and intended to be a sick humour morality tale about the dead serious “necessity” for certain green organizations to eliminate/eradicate/destroy anyone who dared to question in any way or attempted to employ critical thinking or tried to disagree with the official party line position on organizational definitions of what are and are not “green” issues. In short, the lesson to be taken away from such not-at-all-funny “humour” videos is that individuality is punishable by death.
SMART METERS TO BE USED TO CONTROL AND RATION FOOD SUPPLY BY WHITE HOUSE EXECUTIVE ORDER
USDA ATTACKS RURAL AMERICA WITH SMART METERS
http://healthfreedoms.org/2011/07/25/usda-attacks-rural-american-with-smart-meters/
Traditional electronic meters measure usage and require a meter reader but smart meters measure in real time, alert consumer of usage, and can be remotely disconnected to control usage.
Why did the Administration create the White House Council To Strengthen Rural Communities with an Executive Order this June? Hint: it will do anything but “strengthen” rural American.
In fact, the plans are in place to take control and dismantle the rural grid as we know it. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack just announced plans to modernize the nation’s electric grid and for the USDA to put $250 million in smart meter implementation in rural American within the year.
The following article explains the use of the modern electronic grid (smart meters) to control the rural food grid.
~Health Freedoms
On June 9, 2011, the Obama Administration Established the “White House Rural Council to Strengthen Rural Communities” via Executive Order. “Strengthening Rural Communities” is the spin. The real issue is control. Rural communities are where food is grown, and control of food is a main priority for the New World Order.
So, who is in charge of this Council? Why the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack, of course!
Sec. 3. Membership. (a) The Secretary of Agriculture shall serve as the Chair of the Council… (PDF of E.O.)
Just what is this new Rural Council?
The White House Rural Council will coordinate programs across government to encourage public-private partnerships to promote further economic prosperity and quality of life in rural communities nationwide. Chaired by Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, the Council will be responsible for providing recommendations for investment in rural areas and will coordinate Federal engagement with a variety of rural stakeholders, including agricultural organizations, small businesses, and state, local, and tribal governments.
Well, that is sufficiently vague to encompass just about anything. The following video describes its true agenda, which is to usher rural farming communities straight into the total control of Agenda 21.And just what is one of the first things that Secretary Vilsack, as Chair of the Council going to do? Attack rural America with Smart Meters.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack joined Administration officials today to announce initiatives aimed at modernizing the nation’s electric grid, including USDA’s goal to invest $250 million in smart grid equipment deployment in rural America over the next 12 months.
What a Smart Grid does
In the United States, the Smart Grid concept is defined [2] as the modernization of the nation’s electricity transmission and distribution system to maintain a reliable and secure electricity infrastructure that can meet future demand growth and to achieve each of the following, which together characterize a Smart Grid:
(1) Increased use of digital information and controls technology to improve reliability, security, and efficiency of the electric grid.
(2) Dynamic optimization of grid operations and resources, with full cyber-security.
(3) Deployment and integration of distributed resources and generation, including renewable resources.
(4) Development and incorporation of demand response, demand-side resources, and energy-efficiency resources.
(5) Deployment of `smart’ technologies (real-time, automated, interactive technologies that optimize the physical operation of appliances and consumer devices) for metering, communications concerning grid operations and status, and distribution automation.
(6) Integration of `smart’ appliances and consumer devices.
(7) Deployment and integration of advanced electricity storage and peak-shaving technologies, including plug-in electric and hybrid electric vehicles, and thermal-storage air conditioning.
(8) Provision to consumers of timely information and control options.
(9) Development of standards for communication and interoperability of appliances and equipment connected to the electric grid, including the infrastructure serving the grid.
(10) Identification and lowering of unreasonable or unnecessary barriers to adoption of smart grid technologies, practices, and services.
What this means to you
A smart grid will put into place “digitally controlled devices that can alter the nature of the electrical load (giving the electric company the ability to turn off appliances in your home if they see fit.”
If you are using too much electricity, the kill switch is there to make sure that you are in compliance with mandated electrical usage. If you are trying to grow food, and your electrical consumption is high because of it, you can be cut off. No electricity means no water. No water means no crops. This is a total control grid.
Unlike traditional electric meters that merely record power use – and then must be read in-person once a month by a meter reader – Smart Meters measure consumption in real time. By being networked to computers in electric utilities, the new meters can signal people or their appliances to take certain actions, such as reducing power usage when electricity prices spike…
The system also has the ability to remotely disconnect or reconnect service…
The noose is tightening, and food is on the menu for complete corporate control. Control the food, and you control the people. Control the water, and you control the food. Control the electricity needed to pump the water, and you effectively place that noose squarely around our nation’s neck.
© 2011 Barbara H. Peterson
Sources:
http://farmwars.info/?p=6530
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smart_grid
http://newsroom-magazine.com/2011/executive-branch/usda/usda-to-invest-250-mln-in-smart-grid-development/
ALERT! RURAL AMERICANS – FARMERS – ANYONE WHO EATS: BEWARE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7U5_pD9hyv0
PLEASE READ DESCRIPTION:
—ALERT—
RURAL AMERICANS — FARMERS — ANYONE WHO EATS: BEWARE
“We are from the Government and We are here to Help!”
EXECUTIVE ORDER TO ESTABLISH THE WHITE HOUSE RURAL COUNCILhttp://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/uploads/2011ruralcouncil_eo_rel…
(Right, this isn’t one of my typical videos — but same as always… if you think it isn’t worth your time you are welcome to move on and go do whatever it is that you do.)
Under “Presidential Actions” it can be found here:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/09/executive-order-establi…
It is 13575 according to the Federal Register (published June 13th):
Title 3–
The President
[[Page 34841]] Executive Order 13575 of June 9, 2011
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2011-06-14/html/2011-14919.htm
Supporting links and information, a transcript and actions that can be taken can be found HERE:
http://wewantthetruth.weebly.com/rural-council.html
This is something you can even send to those in your family who are not yet awake. If they are “capable” of connecting the dots they can understand what is happening by absorbing the information given on the contained links.
It is disturbing to read all this in his country and how they are handling not only the economy and the policies of other countries like ours Colombia, just want to belong to a group fight serious environmental and awareness, because those who participated term discovering that there are more than large enterprises facade and in the short term these policies will be issued in my country, the mass dismissal of workers, the indiscriminate exploitation of protected areas and most of them are American companies or extrangeras.
thanks
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A Canadian electrical professional gave testimony to Canadian Parliament’s House of Commons in October.
The Standing Committee in turn drew up recommendations and in December presented them to Health Canada, regarding the causal connection, the weight of evidence and the clear and present dangerous risk of wireless frequencies.
Health Canada has stonewalled this info for nearly 8 months now.
Harnessing the electron for utilization is an amazing science. It can be extremely dangerous if you err in design or installation.
In the Smart Meter, Wi-Fi or any wireless discussion, the word “possible” in the phrase “possible link” has been taken out of the question of the causal relationship between EM frequencies and cancer or other adverse health effects. The link is proven.
If you asked any electrician why coaxial cable is used, they would tell you that it is used to protect the signal carried along that cable from any external electromagnetic interruption or interference.
Human beings and all other biological entities are an unprotected, intricate, dynamic electrical system runnning at their own specific frequencies and within electrical parameters. The human body has absolutely no protective coaxial coating.
Safety Code 6 is the code which concerns itself with radio frequency EMF interaction with humans. However, the code negated to include any consideration of the frequencies of human biologic systems and you cannot solve a frequency equation while leaving out that factor.
The power to which he referred is a result of the frequency interactions between the Wi-Fi Router and the computer, between the cell phone tower and the phone, between Smart Meters as transmitters and receivers. However we aren’t considering the OTHER wireless device in the room called a biological child, or other navigational creatures such as pollinators, or the biological entity called our ecosystems. None of these operate at those frequencies.
Safety Code 6 and international standards admit that they didn’t know causation. Instead they arbitrarily assigned a heat load limit to human tissue on the assumption that human tissue could withstand a certain amount of heat.
Causation was recently reported to Health Canada last September by electrical professionals after it was discovered that he frequency interactions had been left out of the equation. This was followed up by expert witness testimony at the request of Canadian Parliament’s Standing Committee on Health last October.
The recommendations of the committee in December were for Health Canada to thoroughly investigate the reported omission in Safety Code 6 and the code for such an inquiry specifies that they will use the weight of evidence approach. It has now been ten months since testimony was given and 8 months after the recommendations of the committee have been made and yet Health Canada continues to report to provinces, schools, energy providers, etc that the frequencies are safe while Health Canada is not telling these agencies and organizations that the frequency conflict caused by frequency incompatibility is a mechanism which was found linking adverse health effects. Health Canada is not telling provinces, schools, energy providers, etc about the recommendations of the committee.
Safety Code 6 states that the predominant health effect to be avoided is the unintentional stimulation of tissue or the heat effect. Experimental studies show it can lead to nerve and muscle depolarization and further problems. According to Safety Code 6’s own laws, pages 1 through 9, Smart Meters & Wi-Fi are illegal today.”
As usual, the people are out in front of the politicians and the controlled media on this issue. The core messages has already been received by many and resistance is growing exponentially, no small thanks to Joshua and others.
The main problem I perceive is that those who object are still being marginalized and discredited in far too many locations.
If it was somehow possible to break through the grid lock suppressing the truth about the so called “smart grid” and present key questions to the public which desperately need mainstream exposure. Here are a few suggestions:
” Do you know what a smart meter is, or how it works?”
“Did you know that smart meters pose a significant health risk – and not just to the human species, but to countless biological entities?”
“Did you know that Canada & its Federal branch known as Health Canada are both violating their own laws?”
“Were you aware that Parliament and Health Canada have already been apprised that Health Canada is violating it’s own laws on public safety by endorsing the nation wide implementation of smart meters by provincial utility corporations?”
“Are you aware that wireless technology has just been reclassified by the World Health Organization as a class 2b possible carcinogen and are you aware of other devices and substances with which it shares this category?”
“Why do you think the Canadian government which is tax supported is disregarding the facts and approving installation of these meters? What do you think is in it for them? For you?”
“Are you aware that the price of reselling private data such as that collected by a smart meter is a multi billion dollar industry?”
“Do you fully understand that, whether wired or wireless, a smart meter’s primary function is to monitor activity, to conduct the equivalent of a search without a warrant on your household, every minute of every day?”
Wonderful post Mia, and spot on too.
One thing that is vastly different here in the US is the medical care system.
In Canada, you have single payer, right ?
Obviously, throughout the world there are a multitude of things that cause medical problems and require medical care, but here in the US, we have a system where we pre-pay giant greedy medical insurance corporations to dole out medical care if and when they see fit. The private medical insurance corporations are in in business to take in money, and to delay any deny as many claims as possible to enhance their huge profitability.
Many people here in the US really want single payer medical care, and to cut the insurance corporations out of the loop. We tried, but no way, the insurance lobbyists are far too strong.
So now, the corporatists have ordered our president to make everyone pay into the private profiteering medical insurance pool starting in 2014. I don’t think it has a chance, but time will tell.
In the mean time, I quit paying the profiteers insurance scam 4 years ago, so far saving (not spending) over $24,000.
Here in the U.S., it is the goal of the corporately controlled government to promote as many harmful things as possible, and blame it all on cigarettes.
All this wireless garbage will no doubt cause medical problems, and so do pharmaceutical drugs, polluted drinking water, spraying pesticides, air pollution from trains, planes, autos, coal fired power plants, airports and what little industry that is left here. Blame it all on tobacco. Actually it’s the additives in tobacco, and additives in food that are to blame.
So the addition of the new radio meters will be good for the economy, helping the corporations mandate that everyone pay into the corporate medicl insurance welfare program.
People are going to start needing medical care from all this garbage foisted upon us real soon, so that is why it must be mandatory that we start contributing now, to ensure that the medical insurance corporations will continue to reap huge profits, even if they actually have to start paying out some serious dough soon.
I don’t have a new radio meter, don’t use Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, smartphones, or any other garbage like that, I have no use for it at all.
The best things that I can do to minimize exposure and stay healthy are, avoid crowds, public transit, urban areas and work that is toxic and stressful.
Eat organic foods, get good exercise, get plenty of sleep, no “smart meters, SMART trains or smart phones “, and have a positive, productive and creative outlook on life. It’s not cheap, but it’s well worth it.
It’s not just smart meters or cfl bulbs which are bad from the ecological point of view but so is just about anything which is manufactured differently today in the name of ecology or the CO2 “problem” (not!). Fridges for example are now made using highly volatile and inflammable cyclopentane gas in the insulating foam. The refrigerant gas is also highly explosive. There are problems with the pumps in these fridges because of this “new” refrigerant gas resulting in premature failures. It’s estimated that these fridges only last about 5 years. There are news reports of these fridges causing explosions in the kitchen destroying the whole room, ceiling, doors, windows etc. Just to save a few pence or shillings which could have been spent in making better and leak-proof plumbing in the oold style fridges so that they would not leak cfc’s. heck my old fridge ran for 30+ years and it still didn’t leak anyway. The older refrigerants were much less problematical and safer, less toxic. What about cars today? They are made with an enormous amount of under the bonnet craziness today (have been since about 1994). They have sensors and computers which control everything in the car from engine, brakes, steering and exhaust etc. Now most cars do not even need power steering today as they are so small and light so why have it? Think of the cost of all the garage visits to sort out the abundant electrical problems which have come about with this useless technology. To save about a gallon of gas per year which you might use while waiting at lights they make a computer turn off you engine and yet when that system goes wrong it costs 10 times more to diagnose the problem and likely 50 times more to fix the problem (usually temporarily). And then there are all the power losses while driving due to electrical faults in the switches, sensors, computer all resulting in massive diagnosis and repair bills which far outweigh any perceived advantaged which might have been gained. It actually would have been better to stick with the older technology of pre 1994 cars but keeping the cat converter exhaust as those cars were reliable and running costs were exceedingly low. So why have we got the madness we have? Because eco-nuts run everything today and they have not thought things through properly.
Seriously you guys, you can’t fight this – there is literally nothing you can do to actually stop any of this. Notice that your actions on this topic lead to literally nothing in the actual world? You have to accept the reality of this, and accept the fact that these smartmeters and the radiation exposure involved are just going to be facts of life for you. Why do you resist? You simply can never win, or even make the smallest dent in the new smartmeter actions. Why do you try?
Hey, Hugh—5:45 am on a Sunday? Go back to bed, you’re living in a dream.
We are not going anywhere, we are not giving up, and many of us have decades of endurance behind us, and decades of endurance to come. We’re braver than you, because we are not afraid of truth, or of action. We’ve been arrested, we’ve talked to a thousand strangers, we’ve passionately and creatively guarded what we know to be true and valuable…
and we will go on and on and on.
Oh, and if you want to keep it a secret that you’re with PGE, then don’t give it away by spelling it like they do, “smartmeter.”
As it has been said before, “we are many, they are few”!!!!!
Wonderful article! I almost died from symptoms caused by chronic exposure to radio-frequency radiation, before we discovered that was the cause. The politics involved in both electrical pollution (broadcast from building wiring, water pipes, etc.) and electrosmog (airborne communications signals) stink to heaven, so after I recovered I put up the website http://www.LifeEnergies.com. I and the host of http://www.electricalpollution.com may be the only two customers of our electric utility company who have successfully avoided placement of a RF-broadcasting meter on our homes.
I am sending the URL to this article on to my own e-list readers, and asking them to share it with others, as well.
Shivani Arjuna
The United States is way behind Europe.
In Europe, they have already enhanced and upgraded their power grids to what we call “smart”. They did it a few years ago before “deploying” the new AMI and AMR billing meters .
Their transformers are electronic now, what we call “smart transformers”. These new transformers can pass powerline carrier signals to monitor the grid, and also, they can pass powerline signals for the new billing meters, which they are doing in Italy, no wireless meters there.
The U.S. has barely begun to upgrade the power grids, with the approximately 1 million transformers used by U.S. electric utilities, only about 2 percent are currently smart transformers that can be monitored to make the grid “smart”. The meters will not do it.
PG&E has not started yet on upgrading the power grid, but they did announce and release a 300 page report of their intentions of a power grid upgrade that will cost from $800 million to $1.2 billion to take place over the next 10 years.
As the grid becomes smarter and the ability to access and monitor information from networks of distribution transformers and overhead lines develops, utilities (not consumers) will be able to realize savings, improve efficiency and reliability, AND AVOID large unnecessary capital costs. For example, with accurate real time, low cost monitoring, utilities could reduce reserve margins up to 20 percent, which on a nationwide basis, could avoid almost $100 billion of capital expenditure over the next 20 years.
There are some new wireless systems being developed to monitor the new transformers, one is Ultra Link Processing (ULP).
The claim by the manufactures is that, these technologies will enable utilities to cost effectively “deploy” secure and reliable wireless monitoring throughout their distribution network for “asset” monitoring and fault indication aimed at outage detection (not prevention), detect power quality issues, detect power theft and acts as a hub for demand- side load management.
These new wireless systems can be retrofitted onto existing energized distribution transformers, enabling a lower cost system upgrade without replacing the the 40 year old iron core transformers , a cheap way to upgrade the grid with wireless technology.
It could be good and bad, because the old transformers are not electronic, just like the old analog meters, they are built to last, unlike new electronic devices that are planned obsolescence (upgrade hell).
It is interesting that only now, after the new meter project is almost completed, do they announce that they are going to actually start upgrading the power grid.
The government and the utilities did an excellent job of hoodwinking the people into thinking that the new meters were to improve the power grid before this, but now the cat is out of the bag.
Joshua, You speak for us in Florida and across the nation. This is where the truth really lives!!!! Everyone in California who stands with you, stands for us all! God Bless You.
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Did anyone notice that Fred Krupp, President of the Environmental Defense Fund at Bilderberg this year?
http://lewrockwell.com/rep3/bilderberg-2012-participants.html
I am not surprised that Fred Krupp was there. The Environmental Defense Fund’s logo is too like Obama’s. Just another corrupt political machine giving green cover to the oligarchy.
Yet another on-air personality speaks gibberish. Texas Rangers’ announcer joins Judge Judy, Serene Branson, and a host of others who, mysteriously, lose their ability to speak. Migraine? Really?
Or could it be all the wireless technology that surrounds them?
Read more here: http://clutch.mtv.com/2012/06/20/texas-rangers-announcer-gibberish/
Besides Bilderberg,” any group that’s wining and dining the Secretary of Defense – who just happens to be the former director of the CIA – is no grassroots operation. ”
http://nofrakkingconsensus.com/2012/05/03/the-environmental-defense-fund-the-cia/
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Paul Rauber; he knows not what he does not understand: “What hurts wildlife, trees, and humans more: climate change or barely measurable EMFs?”
These barely measurable EMF’s define life and matter as we know it. Disturbing their subtle, self-organizing codes is harmful at the most infinitesimal level…and therefore also at the system level.
His way of thinking is the old paradigm that got us into the mess we are in today.
Thanks Deborah Rubin. Yes, we are killing the planet with EMF emissions. Most people are so out of touch with their own sensory systems, they’re too numb to notice the psychic pain of a dying planet.
Excerpted from: Sorry, the wireless cloud isn’t green – it’s an energy monster
A closer look
“Our team at the Centre for Energy-Efficient Telecommunications (CEET) set itself the task of finding out how much energy the wireless cloud will consume in 2015 compared to 2012.
We analysed product specification sheets, publicly available reports and white papers, peer-reviewed journal articles, and used all of the available information to create a wireless cloud energy consumption model.
Our energy calculations from this model show that, by 2015, wireless cloud will consume up to 43 terawatt hours (TWh) worldwide, compared with only 9.2 TWh in 2012. That’s a 460% increase in just three years.
In terms of approximate carbon footprint estimates, this is an increase in carbon footprint from 6 megatonnes of CO2 in 2012 to up to 30 megatonnes of CO2 in 2015 – the equivalent of adding 4.9 million cars to the roads.
We found 90% of this consumption is attributable to wireless access network technologies (WiFi and 4G LTE). Data centres account for only 9%, with the remaining 1% accounted for by the network.
The full results and are contained in our recently released white paper The Power of Wireless Cloud.”
Complete text:
http://www.electronicsnews.com.au/features/sorry-the-wireless-cloud-isn-t-green-it-s-an-energ
Rape is rape, and most people (including most commenters here) are just standing by as their Mother gets brutally EM raped by their next door neighbors. Sad…
An appeal to Paul Rauber–he knows not what he does not understand: “What hurts wildlife, trees, and humans more: climate change or barely measurable EMFs?”
The same was once said about other nonlinear and synergistic biological agents such as bisphenol-A, DES, atrazine, DDT, etc. What could these hurt in such small amounts?
Paul, you must know you can not judge a physical agent’s impact by measuring it unless you fully understand how it interacts with living and non-living things. Consider the catastrophic effects of 350+ ppm of CO2 in the atmosphere… Manmade emf’s are so completely saturating our natural environment now that all life-forms are vulnerable to their disruptive effects.
Paul, no more crisis management. Please, consult with independent experts in this field. I think you are not an expert…
And a very timely report considering what we (didn’) see happen in Doha…
SIERRA CLUB, GREEN PEACE AND MANY LISTS OF “NGO’S” (NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS) UNKNOWINLGY OR KNOWINGLY WORK FOR THE AGENDA 21 SCAM COMMITTEES – all right in local city and towns and town meetings. THE FAKE PSEUDO “HUMANITARIAN” GUISE UNDER THE PSEUDO “GREEN – WILDLIFE AND WILDLAND CONVERSATION – DEVELOPMENTAL PROJECTS – SMART GRIDS – LOCAL TOWN PLANNING AND REDEVELOPMENT – ICLEI – CARBON TAXES – SELF SUSTAINABILITY – PEAK OIL, ETC” – GUISES. (versus real, authentic self-reliance and ethical ecological movements) – for the purposes of unethical de-population and re-locating land owners from the country and their own lands to a tightly “controlled” and “monitored” city. PLEASE LOOK UP “BEHIND THE GREEN MASK” BY ROSA KOIRE OR SEARCH FOR AGENDA 21. They also have downloadable flyers like Stop Smart Meter and they have helped educate and Awaken people too. Flyer campaigns are very successful – and can be used for all causes. Freedom.
Alomost Everything Electric or Industrialized Involves Majority Of ALL Climate Change. Stop Blaiming It On Humans, Blaim It On The Idea That They Create In Their Head To Keep Bettering An Idea That Looks Nicer Than The One Before It But Does A Tad Bit More Harm As It Proggresses.
H.A.A.R.P and all the perturbations of the world’s electric fields thanks to the thousands of satellites and towers spewing EMR’s is causing “climate change”, they can also use HAARP to steer hurricanes, create warm and cold fronts, as well as other weather weapons. The patents are out there already, for those hypnotized by the mass media.
Don’t believe me, do your own research.
Last year when I moved here (I am renting) the landlord thought he was very generous by telling me that I am going to have a new more efficient water meter. I was dreading it and worked out that HE did NOT have a clue. So I could not stop this from happening…. and I want this out of my place ASAP and don’t know how to do it? And that is not all. I live alone with my dog and they just increased my water bill to £96.80 a months??????????????? What the F***?????
Excellent article, Joshua! It’s important to be reminded of how once-radical organizations can gradually slide into the role of compromising/deal-making with corporate power and then ultimately shilling for it as has happened with Sierra Club and Smart Meters. I am currently researching and writing a book about people living with electrosensitivity, which in many cases developed after installation of smart meters on their home, apartment, condo, etc. The stories I am receiving are legion and horrifying, describing great suffering, people confined to wheelchairs as a result, or sleeping in their cars, or in some cases committing suicide because there seems to be no other escape from the pain they are experiencing.
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Under footprint – you only mention the initial conversion to smart meters. The environmental footprint of smart meters is far larger because smart meters must be replaced more often.
Using smart meters means having to replace all the meters on a regular basis (maybe every 10 to 15, possibly as long as 20 years). http://krebsonsecurity.com/2012/04/fbi-smart-meter-hacks-likely-to-spread/ By comparison, conventional meters can last several decades. (e.g. One utility has an average meter of 30 years, with many meters 40+ years old and some 80 years old.)
Smart meters must be replaced much more frequently in order to maintain security and protect privacy. Computing power has grown exponential for the last few decades, and it is reasonable to assume that that such growth will continue for a few more decades. 20 years from now the computing power available per dollar can be expected to increase by a factor of 10,000 or more (as it has in the last 20 years).
So the comparison for footprint should not just include the cost of recycling the current meters, but also the added cost of recycling the smart meters that are now being installed, and their successors, until a lifespan comparable to that achieved by conventional meters is reached. (e.g. if an average conventional meter lasts 40 to 50 years, but a smart meter needs replacing every 10 to 20, then the comparison is manufacturing and recycling 3 to 5 smart meters, along with the related support infrastructure, versus one conventional meter.) This is just a back of the envelope estimate – where has such an analysis been done in detail? (And if it hasn’t been done by those questioning the value of smart meters, why not?)