Our Web of Inconvenient Truths

November, 2019 Newsletter from Katie Singer
www.ourweb.tech; www.electronicsilentspring.com

1. While publication of Our Web of Inconvenient Truths (the book) has been delayed, to learn about the Internet’s footprint—its energy use, greenhouse gases, toxic waste and worker hazards, check out my two-part essay, “Our Web of Inconvenient Truths,” published in the Stella Natura 2020 Biodynamic Planting Calendar.

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? Every online activity requires international networks of cell sites and data storage centers that start with extraction of natural resources (including conflict minerals) and consume huge amounts of water and greenhouse gas-emitting electricity. Manufacturing every smartphone, tablet and access network is powered by fossil fuels and workers subject to hazardous conditions. Manufacturing depends on refineries, GHG-emitting power plants, nuclear plants, chemical plants, steel mills, metal smelters, wood (for smelters) and factories of all kinds that impact myriad regions’ waterways, air quality and public health. Each energy-guzzling, toxic waste and greenhouse gas-emitting operation depends on all of the others. They interconnect by networks of power lines, natural gas pipe lines, cargo ships, trains, trucks, airplanes, shipping lanes, railways, highways, airports, telecom access networks and data storage centers to form one gigantic super factory.

The United Nations supports “universal access” to the Internet. However, manufacturing 3.5 billion more individual devices and installing infrastructure for 3.5 billion more people to go online will exponentially increase energy use, greenhouse gas emissions, extractivism, worker hazards, public health impacts, surveillance….etc. at a time when we need to reduce these. How/can we provide universal access and reduce consumption? Could current Internet users ration their access so that everyone who wants web access could have it?

The Campaign to Reduce Our Internet Footprint introduces users to the true costs of a streaming a video or shopping online or using an e-vehicle. For example, each smartphone embodies 1000+ substances; each substance has its own energy-intensive, toxic waste emitting supply chain. With the Campaign, I list about 100 of these substances, invite users to research one of them, then share that research with classmates and co-workers. (The Campaign is designed for high school and collegiate courses; but anyone can participate.) www.ourweb.tech/campaign

2. If you’re considering installing a “renewable” energy system, please do due diligence and get informed first. I’ve begun listing resources about solar PV and wind turbine systems’ hazards at www.ourweb.tech/renewable-energy.

3. Many people begin learning about telecommunications’ dangers when they learn about 5G, fifth generation of wireless infrastructure. While having more people informed is wonderful, getting informed about 5G without knowing about the dangers of 2G, 3G, 4G and our previous 150 years of telecom rules and regulations…can cause problems. For an introductory overview, check out Abe Vandenberg’s conversation with me at https://genuinelyuseful.com/podcast-ep24-katie-singer

For updates about the health and environmental effects of exposure to electromagnetic radiation (EMR) from man-made tech, visit www.saferemr.com.

For roundups about EMF Tech & Utility News, sign up for Patricia Burke’s newsletter at patricia999burke@gmail.com.

To learn about telecom corporations’ “rights,” check out Dr. Jane Anne Morris’ explanation. Fyi, Jane Anne died last May, and she gave this talk in 1996.

Here’s my blog about 5G, published at www.localfutures.org, www.counterpunch.org and www.westonaprice.org.

As I explain in my blog, telcos usually deliver 5G via fiber optics to public right-of-ways (PROWs); then, infrastructure from PROWs to end-users is wireless. While many people ask for fiber optics to each premises (because it is faster and more secure than wireless tech), they may be unaware of problems with such a system: Fiber may not hold up during power outages. Read: https://interlinked.cf/blog/2019/11-6-false-solutions-to-power-outages.php

Fiber optics delivered to each premises also present potential health impacts. Read Jeromy Johnson’s blog: https://www.emfanalysis.com/fiber-optics-increasing-electrical-sensitivity/

4. 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. Intended to reduce fraud and save money, EVV will give Medicaid-funded service providers a device that tracks their location and activities—i.e. assisting with meal preparation, bathing and money management. The device records conversations and films activities.

EVV will go into effect January 1, 2020 for most states. (Twelve states have elected to delay EVV for up to one year.) Medicaid funds personal care services for low-income and disabled people. While many people with disabilities believe that EVV will violate their privacy and 4th Amendment rights and limit their independence, states that do not comply with EVV by January, 1, 2020 could lose Medicaid funding.

Where does Sandata (the software company that operates EVV) store the EVV data that it collects? Who has access to the data? What options will families who require Medicaid-funded caregivers have to retain privacy and minimize EMR exposure? Will EVV really save money?

Here are relevant sites, a mother’s 2018 blog about EVV and Facebooks groups that are trying to stop it:
https://medicaid.publicrep.org/feature/electronic-visit-verification-evv/
https://www.congress.gov/bill/114th-congress/house-bill/34/text https://noahsmiracle.blogspot.com/2018/02/a-real-life-episode-of-black-mirror.html
https://www.facebook.com/groups/noevv/
https://www.facebook.com/stopevv/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/stopevv/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/179836445984383/

5. Recommended books and films

I’ve begun to see rationing (of energy units, say) as an educational tool for informing media users about the true costs of online activities. So, let me recommend Stan Cox’s Any Way You Slice It: The Past, Present and Future of Rationing, published by the New Press, 2013.

Tatiana Schlossberg (Caroline Kennedy’s daughter) published Inconspicuous Consumption: the environmental impact you don’t know you have with Grand Central earlier this year. The book examines the environmental impacts of the Internet, food, fashion and fuel.

“Complicit,” a documentary by Heather White, shows the disastrous health effects of assembly workers’ use of n-hexane, a solvent that sterilizes circuit boards in mobile phones…and corporations’ taking no responsibility for workers’ health (even when safer alternatives to n-hexane exist). www.complicitfilm.org

World Wildlife Fund associates introduce the deadly problems of electronic waste in “The Toxic E-Waste Trade Killing Pakistan’s Poorest:” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=axYKPbr9_MA&feature=youtube

With spellbinding beauty, “Anthropocene,” directed by Ed Burtynsky and Jennifer Baichwal, illuminates the devastation we humans impose on the Earth for “conveniences.” “Anthropocene” follows Burtynsky and Baichwal’s 2007 film, “Manufactured Landscapes,” about the quarries, recycling yards, factories, mines and dams required for our “basic” materials. www.edwardburtynsky.com

“Windfall,” a documentary directed by Laura Israel about the unintended consequences of wind turbines in an upstate NY community, was made in 2009; but the issues it presents are still relevant.

“Planet of the Humans,” a documentary by Jeff Gibbs and produced by Michael Moore, is about our species’ overshoot, including the false promises of wind and solar powered systems.

If you want a mind-blowing map about the human labor, data and planetary resources necessary for producing the Amazon Echo, visit Kate Crawford and Vladan Joler’s www.anatomyof.ai.

6. What’s up for 2020? Finding a publisher for Our Web of Inconvenient Truths: The Internet’s Energy Use, Toxic Waste & Climate Change; creating short pieces about the Internet’s footprint, including a photo essay; partnering with educators to reduce our Internet’s footprint; a speaking tour…and posting this newsletter. If you’d like to see this work continue, please contribute!

With hearty thanks to Everyone who’s getting informed about reducing our Internet’s footprint,
Katie Singer
www.ourweb.tech
www.electronicsilentspring.com
p.s. For a brochure about the Internet’s footprint: www.ourweb.tech/brochure