There are twelve things environmental groups in this country need to recognize about the risks from smart meter technology. What should you do if your favorite environmental group supports smart meter (wireless) technology?
Well, you can give them this list, for starters.
- Smart meters do not save energy, people do.
- People are widely rejecting smart meters.
- The energy costs of smart meters outweigh the gains of energy saved.
- Smart meters result in higher electric rates, a penalty for conserving energy.
- Solar - the best, proven energy solution – cannot be installed if you have a wireless smart meter. You cannot install solar to produce part of your own electricity and save money on your bills.
- Smart meters harm human health.
- Smart meters can jam medical devices, including implants.
- Smart meters can jam GPS and navigation systems.
- Smart meters harm wildlife, plant life and bird migrations.
- Smart meters threaten the living environments of the most vulnerable – those with disabilities, those with wireless medical and metal implants, fetuses and growing children, people with chronic immune and inflammatory diseases, and the elderly.
- Smart meters will produce enormous new pollution in the ground (ground currents) and in the air (wireless pollution). Excessive wireless exposure already compromises the health of ecosystems, as well as human health, immune function, cognition, memory, learning ability, sleep, health and reproduction.
- Smart meters and smart grids are vulnerable to hacking. The Department of Homeland Security says a wireless electrical grid is at great risk from cyberterrorist attacks, a national threat.
We expect environmental organizations to do some serious investigating before promoting new and unproven technological "fixes."
Remember the rush to compact fluorescent bulbs in the Al Gore campaign for energy conservation? Environmental groups that thoughtlessly jumped on that bandwagon got their reputations burned because the bulbs are highly polluting. They contain highly toxic mercury. They make many people feel sick. People who felt good about ‘doing the right thing’ for conservation found out too late. They spent a bundle of money on bulbs recommended by organizations they trusted, only to realize too late it was a bad choice.
People think about these things at the end of the year when they write checks for charitable donations. They think about who they can trust to give them independent and reliable information to choose the best environmental options.
Let’s help our environmental favorites get it right on energy conservation AND on health and sustainability for our families, our communities and our wildlife. We’re talking about OUR planet.
