As you probably know if you follow this website, PG&E has begun to install wireless “smart” meters in Santa Cruz County- the home of Stop Smart Meters! , violating our democratic right to decide what technology we allow in our own communities. This is not a war being waged with guns and bombs, but rather glossy mailers, full page newspaper ads, tv ads saturating the airwaves, and of course- microwave radiation.
Why would PG&E need to advertise a product we’ve supposedly already bought? A product they claim they have full legal rights to install. Why are they spending millions of our ratepayer dollars to convince us to accept a device that now 45 California local governments have told them is not wanted?
It’s because they realize that our campaign is having an impact.
The truth has a funny way of getting out there. A corporation like PG&E can spend millions on a promotional campaign, manipulating mainstream media coverage of an issue but they can’t prevent people from holding up banners on he side of the road, or making copies of the flyers they just received to warn their friends and families about the wolf in sheep’s clothing at their door. They can’t control the internet, with the thousands of reported ‘smart’ meter caused illnesses and malfunctions. Grassroots organizing terrifies the corporations. And so it should. Particularly right now when PG&E has bungled their ‘smart’ meter installations badly and put the whole ill-conceived “smart” grid at risk.
At the end of the day should we be surprised that people are wise enough to see through the gimmicky ‘smart’ advertising from the utility? That people care more about their health, their privacy and their safety than the vague promises of being able to “see your power” and unsubstantiated greenhouse gas reduction promises?
How do we know this? We don’t have high priced market research firms like PG&E- but we do speak to our neighbors, and we’ve noticed that when we hold a banner over the highway that the number of honks and thumbs ups we receive has been increasing while the number of middle fingers has (thankfully) been declining.
Nevertheless, PG&E and Wellington Energy are installing as we speak while people are away at work, sneaking around backyards and forcing the devices onto people’s homes.
So if it is illegal, where is law enforcement?
Democracy and defending the constitution apparently mean very little to Santa Cruz County Sheriff Wowak, who has refused to enforce County ordinance 5084 that makes it a crime to install a “smart” meter in the county. When we called his office to report a crime in progress, his officers responded and arrested us for peacefully blocking the illegal installations. Imagine calling the sheriff to report a burglar in your house. The sheriff responds, but instead of arresting the burglar, he arrests YOU for getting in the burglar’s way, thus facilitating the theft in progress. If you have any thoughts about this situation, you might want to share them with Sheriff Wowak at 831 454 2242.
The other day we received an interesting new publication in our mailbox- the “Smart Reader” July edition. We thought we’d share this with you in case you live outside of Santa Cruz County and didn’t receive one of these fantastic publications. Independent journalism at its best.
Coming soon: Who ARE these people who allowed PG&E to use their name and image to greenwash a dangerous product to the good people of Santa Cruz County? And how much did PG&E pay them? Stop Smart Meters! investigates- coming next week.
The following panel discussion (divided into 4 parts) was videotaped on May 6th 2011 in Seaside CA. Thanks to Monterey County Green Party for hosting the event and to Hebard Olsen for videotaping and editing.
The Sierra Club Bay Area chapter staff has requested that we clarify their position on “smart” meters. They are not “opposed” to the new meters, but they are urging San Francisco Board of Supervisors to pass an ordinance that would make their installation illegal. You can download their letter here if you want to read the exact language and decide for yourself (pdf): SierraClubLetter
PG&E CUSTOMERS CALL THE ‘SMART’ METER ‘DELAY’ LINE 877 743 7378
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cQVWgQ5GAyI
Yesterday, SF supervisors voted 3-0 to proceed with their “right to know” cell phone cancer warning legislation- even if it means defending a lawsuit against the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association. Watch how CTIA representatives attempt to wriggle out of questions about the recent World Health Organization designation of non-ionizing radiation (from cell phones, towers, wifi, and of course- smart meters) as a class 2B carcinogen. Painful to watch.
Why is it that every time an executive from the telecom/utilities industry reassures us of the safety of wireless technology, we feel less safe?
Why is it that every day that goes by, the telecom/utilities industry sounds more like the tobacco industry?
If you’ve been reading the comments on this site, then you are aware of the flood of accounts from people who are suffering from “smart” meter radiation. And of course these are just a small fraction of the health complaints submitted to Public Utilities Commissions and of course to the utilities themselves. Sometimes a comment comes along that we can’t just allow to slip by without highlighting it for our readers:
Sent July 9th 2011:
“I have seven smart meters right outside my bathroom window. I have been living in my studio apartment for 1 week and headaches have already begun and it’s the kind of headaches I and others would get when we were in Iraq. You see, on LAV 25’s, humvees etc… Electronic counter measures put on vehicles to prevent radio controlled IED’s from blowing us up,,,,at the expense of our health though. These ECM’s emitted the same microwaves that smart meters do and I feel it! I now have to move,,,:(“
It is hard to fathom the brutality of a government and military who would inflict the nightmare of electro-hyper-sensitivity on its troops, and then deny the existence of this damage, forcing veterans to deal not only with PTSD but to be forced to run from the nightmare of ‘smart’ meters on their homes when they return from the battlefield.
Apparently this “collateral damage” is an acceptable cost of implementing the “smart” grid.
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