Environment/Wildlife

animal bees bloom blooming

Photo by Michael Hodgins on Pexels.com

Electromagnetic fields from powerlines, mobile phones, mobile phone masts, smart meters and wireless devices also impacts birds, bees, wildlife, plant life and our natural environment.

Birds, Bees, Insects and Biodiversity

2021 – Effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields on flora and fauna, part 1. Rising ambient EMF levels in the environment https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/reveh-2021-0026/html

Effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields on flora and fauna, Part 2 impacts: how species interact with natural and man-made EMF https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/reveh-2021-0050/html

Electromagnetic radiation as an emerging driver factor for the decline of insects https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/

Effects of non-ionizing electromagnetic fields on flora and fauna, Part 3. Exposure standards, public policy, laws, and future directions https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/reveh-2021-0083/html

2020 – Radio-Frequency Electromagnetic Field Exposure of Western Honey Bees Thielens, A., Greco, M.K., Verloock, L. et al.

2019 – Effect of Electromagnetic Field (EMF) and Electric Field (EF) on Some Behavior of Honeybees (Apis mellifera L.) –   Yaşar Erdoğan, Mahir Murat Cengiz and PDF

Electromagnetic Pollution Risk to Bees: A New Perspective 2019 –  Lynne Wycherley – The Beekeepers’ Quarterly (edited by John Phipps)

2019 – Mobile tower radiation causing extensive damage to sparrows, once a common bird – OneIndia

2019 – French farmers sue the state over mystery cow deaths they blame on electromagnetic fields – Telegraph UK

2018 – Study: Electromagnetic Fields A ‘Credible Threat’ To Wildlife –  Joel M. Moskowitz

2018 – Radiation from Cell Phones, Wifi are hurting the Bird and The Bees; 5G may make it worse – Newsweek

2015  – Anthropogenic radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as an emerging threat to wildlife orientation – Alfonso Balmori

2015 – Botanist Report Links The Pulsed Microwave Radiation Emissions Of Wireless Networks To The Disappearance And Exodus Of Song Birds, Bats And Insects In Mt. Nardi – EHTrust

2014 – Man-Made Electromagnetic Noise Disrupts a Bird’s Compass – National Geographic

2012 – Impacts of radio-frequency electromagnetic field (RF-EMF) from cell phone towers and wireless devices on biosystem and ecosystem – a review S Sivani, D Sudarsanam India.

2011 – Exposure to cell phone radiations produces biochemical changes in worker honey bees – Neelima R. Kumar, Sonika Sangwan, and Pooja Badotra 

2011 Study – Mobile Phone Induced Honeybee Piping–  Daviel Favre

2010  – Mobile Phones responsible for disappearance of honey bee  –Telegraph UK

2010 – Paper on the bees and microwave radiation. “Will the Communications Industry be the final straw for Our Planet’s Ecosystems?” – Barrie Trower

2009 – How electromagnetic fields can disrupt both solar and magnetic bee navigation and reduce immunity to disease all in one go – Dr Andrew Goldsworthy

2008 – Study blames mobile phone masts and powerlines for collapse of bee colonies and decline in sparrows  – Independent UK

2007 – Bees, Birds and Mankind : Destroying Nature by “Electrosmog“ – Ulrich Warnke

Human Generated Radiation is Harming Wildlife  – whatis5g.info/environmental-impacts

Electric and magnetic senses in marine animals, and potential behavioral effects of electromagnetic surveys (2020) –  emfsa.co.za/research-and-studies

2018 – EKLIPSE REPORT, an EU-funded review body dedicated to policy that may impact biodiversity and the ecosystem, looked at over 97 studies on how electromagnetic radiation may affect the environment. It concluded this radiation could indeed pose a potential risk to bird and insect orientation and plant health.

Plant and Trees

Tree damage caused by mobile phonebase stations Observation Guide –  Helmut Breunig, (2017)

Radiofrequency radiation injures trees around mobile phone base stations – Waldmann-Selsam C, Balmori-de la Puente A, Breunig H, Balmori A (2016)

Adverse Influence of Radio Frequency Background on Trembling Aspen Seedlings: Preliminary Observations – Katie Haggerty (2010)

Why Our Urban Trees are Dying  – Andrew Goldsworthy 2011

Plant Responses to High Frequency Electromagnetic Fields – Alain Vian, Eric Davies, Michel Gendraud, and Pierre Bonnet

Weak radio-frequency radiation exposure from mobile phone radiation on plant – Halgamuge MN,  Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering , The University of Melbourne (2016)

Reduced growth of soybean seedlings after exposure to weak microwave radiation from GSM 900 mobile phone and base station –  Malka N. Halgamuge, See Kye Yak, Jacob L. Eberhardt (2015)

Radiofrequency Radiation from Wireless Technology Damages and Kills Plants and Trees – electricalpollution.com

Experiments showing the effect of WiFi radiation on Cress  RF SAFE & Pioneers of Science

Attributes of non-ionizing radiation of 1800 MHz frequency on plant health and antioxidant content of Tomato (Solanum Lycopersicum) plants https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article

MORE STUDIES ABOUT THE EFFECTS ON WILDLIFE & OUR ENVIRONMENT:

Physicians for Safe Tech : Environment & Wildlife Effects

Wildlife and Biodiversity: A Disappearing Act by Cell Towers on Land and in Space? https://mdsafetech.org/2021/07/19

Environmental Health Trust Bees, Butterflies, Wildlife and EMFs

153 peer-viewed studies or articles reporting significant effects from EMF exposures on wildlife https://www.emfresearch.com/emf-wildlife/

Other Human & Environmental Considerations

Agbogbloshie_Ghana_girls-in-wheelbarrow1-1024x683Mining and Toxic E-Waste, Child Labour, Injury and Deaths

Vast amounts of mining of tin, lead, cobalt etc is required for components for smart phones, tablets, batteries. Workers who mine for these raw components work in extremely unsafe conditions for very little pay.  Children, some as young as four, are also forced to work in mines.  Children are being injured and dying while working in these unsafe mines.

With technology companies bringing out new and updated phones and devices regularly, consider the environmental implications of disposing old ones. Much of these are illegally exported to dumps in developing countries, causing toxic waste and harming those working at the dumps and living nearby.

2019 – Apple, Tesla & other US tech giants sued over child labor deaths at cobalt mines in Congo https://www.rt.com/business/

Friends of The Earth – Mining for Smartphones – The True Cost of Tin https://friendsoftheearth.uk

Four-Year-Old Children Are Being Forced To Mine For Cobalt To Make Smartphones Work  http://www.trueactivist.com

Toxic ‘e-waste’ dumped in poor nations, says United Nations https://www.theguardian.com

3 Ways Making a Smartphone Can Harm the Environment https://www.ecowatch.com/smartphone-harming-environment-2600128270.html

Energy & Electricity Consumption

Many companies and governments are heralding “smart” technology as being “green” and good for the environment and using false claims to push smart meters, IOT and wireless devices on us.   Wireless technology is neither a sustainable nor an environmentally-friendly technology because wireless technology uses far more energy than wired connections.

Mobile phone masts and base stations are constantly on.  Data centres where information is stored and downloaded and streamed from to mobiles, tablets and computers require immense amounts of electricity for cooling systems and the electrical power to process information to billions of devices around the globe.

Eirgrid reports that by 2027, electricity demand from data centres will have risen to 31 % of total demand.   High-energy data centres not quite as clean and green as they seem – Irish Times 11/9/2019

“Why Irish data centre boom is complicating climate efforts – Surge in processing industry will increase Ireland’s already too high carbon emissions” https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/jan/06/why-irish-data-centre-boom-complicating-climate-efforts

“5G will prompt Energy Consumption to Grow by staggering 160% in 10 years”  https://www.datacenter-forum.com/datacenter-forum/5g-will-prompt-energy-consumption-to-grow-by-staggering-160-in-10-years

With the roll-out of further base stations and antennae for 3G, 4G and thousands more for 5G, and more data centres being built in Ireland, energy consumption will increase.  Millions more devices, including smart meters to monitor our usage will contribute to considerably more energy usage which in turn contributes to climate change.

Climate Change, 5G and the Internet of Things – The unbridled energy consumption of 5G and the Internet of things is contributing to climate change https://ehtrust.org/climate-change-and-5g/

For a greener future, we must accept there’s nothing inherently sustainable about going digital https://theconversation.com

Global warming: Data centres to consume three times as much energy in next decade, experts warn https://www.independent.co.uk

Smartphones Are Killing The Planet Faster Than Anyone Expected https://www.fastcompany.com

Do Mobile Phones Cost the Earth? http://news.bbc.co.uk/

E-lephants in Our Hands: How Electronics Impact Climate Change – By Katie Singer https://www.electronicsilentspring.com/e-lephants/

Wireless Technology Consumes Far More Energy Than Wired Connections https://whatis5g.info/energy-consumption/

Emerging Trends in Electricity Consumption for Consumer ICT https://wireless.kth.se

Our phones and gadgets are now endangering the planet – The energy used in our digital consumption is set to have a bigger impact on global warming than the entire aviation industry https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/17/

Wireless footprints: the hidden environmental cost of convenience https://medium.com/@anneliefitzgerald/wireless-footprints-the-hidden-environmental-cost-of-convenience-6fcecdd8e55d

5G is likely to increase total network energy consumption by 150 to 170 per cent by 2026 https://www.cio.com.au

The 5G Dilemma: More Base Stations, More Antennas—Less Energy? https://spectrum.ieee.org/energywise

5G Dilemma: Higher Throughput But Also Higher Energy Consumption https://ma-mimo.ellintech.se/2018/

Power Consumption: 5G Basestations Are Hungry, Hungry Hippos https://www.lightreading.com/mobile

Operators Optimistic About 5G Technologies but Fear Increasing Energy Consumption, Survey Says https://www.ecnmag.com/news/2019