Category Archives: Environmental Health

Labor Shortages, Environmental Health, and Societal Renewal

Environmental Health, Philosophy, ,

I recently took a look at my old 2011 World Almanac (see image below) that had mid-year population projections for 2025 and 2050 and realized that back in 2010 the US Census Bureau was projecting the population of the USA to be about 357.5 million in 2025, and 439 million in 2050. As of 2024, it looks like the USA will likely have “only” 338 million people in 2025, a drop of almost 20 million people from the 2010 forecast when the USA had about 310 million people (mid-year 2010). This statistic stood out to me given the recent discussions about depopulation, excess deaths, and labor shortages in the alternative media over the past few years. That 2010 US Census Bureau projection was made only 13-14 years ago.

This population observation from the 2011 World Almanac opens up a lot of questions, such as, was the projection error/inaccuracy caused by a declining birth rate, an increasing mortality rate, or a combination of the two trends from 2010 to 2024? The Great Recession had already caused a significant decline in the birth rate in the USA right after 2007, so I imagine that decline was factored into the US Census Bureau’s 2010 forecast. Also, the surge in immigration into the USA over the past few years would obviously not explain the drop in the population projection. From the 2023 World Almanac, it appears that the birth rate in the USA dropped from 14.3 births/thousand people in 2007 to 11.0 births/thousand people in 2021. The mortality rate increased from 8.0 deaths/thousand people in 2007 to 10.3 deaths/thousand people in 2020 (see graph below). That’s a 23% drop in the birth rate and an astounding 28.75% increase in the mortality rate all the while health expenditures in the USA have ballooned to almost $5 trillion per year.

Labor Shortages and Environmental Health

In the past few years, many governments and many employers in different industries have been complaining about labor shortages at the same time that they ignore or dismiss that they are subtly poisoning their own populations with aluminum nanoparticles, glyphosate, excessive fluoride, non-native EMF radiation such as Wi-Fi and blue light from screens, and numerous other toxins that are actually recognized as toxins by mainstream society (e.g. microplastics, per-fluorinated compounds (PFAS), pesticides, etc.). In addition, as investigators like Edward Dowd have pointed out, after the experimental injection rollout in 2021 many people dropped out of the labor force due to disabilities or firings brought on by vaccine mandates issued by many of the same governments and corporations that are now stressed out about labor shortages. Unfortunately, our dysfunctional, demoralized and overworked society also contributes to many working-age people’s suicides, drug overdoses, or accidental deaths. As a reaction to that situation, many in the younger generations are attempting to work more meaningful jobs closer to nature, and are not applying to standard career positions (e.g. engineer, account manager, a spot in the military, etc.). Lastly, many couples that would have otherwise stayed together and started a family ended up breaking up under the socioeconomic pressures of trying to maintain a mainstream middle to upper middle class lifestyle (e.g. working two or more demanding jobs, no time for each other, disagreement on gender roles, etc.) and this drops the birth rate.

Societal Renewal

Given all the points mentioned above, why then should governments and employers be surprised at the current labor shortages? The slow motion collapse of modern civilization that many bloggers wrote about in the Peak Oil movement of the late 2000s and early 2010s appears to be occurring, though it seems to be manifesting through the labor and financial markets and the “cost of living” crisis as opposed to being brought about by acute resource shortages (e.g. oil skyrocketing to $300/barrel causing a fast economic collapse).

Instead of a societal collapse brought on solely by external causes (e.g. resource shortages, natural disasters, etc.), there actually may be a larger internal mental/psychological component as well, as many people such as myself have been asking themselves certain questions. For example, why should we work 40 to 60+ hour weeks to pay for things we can’t really afford or even want due to rising prices (e.g. $400,000 house, $45,000 car, $400/month groceries etc.)? It seems like trying to win the Red Queen’s race (from Alice in Wonderland), running faster and faster just to stay in the same place. Why not work part-time or drop out altogether and devote more time to building a more enjoyable system? A recent article discusses how many Millennials are thinking at least somewhat along these lines. Now, this may seem like a bad thing in a sense (a collapse of the current system), but it also means more time to devote building simpler houses or cabins, starting organic farms, growing suburban permaculture gardens, socializing and/or doing any number of other useful things to improve our lives on our own terms.

Community Garden Plot

Demographics and the Environment

Maybe 10 or so years ago, I used to be the kind of environmentalist that was actually happy when seeing population projections that showed that human populations would peak and fall, which would then presumably slow down the destruction of ecosystems. However, knowing now that there seems to be possibly deliberate yet subtle attempts by the technologic system to sabotage human biology/health in order to increase mortality rates and/or lower fertility rates, I definitely do not agree with this approach to the population issue from a moral perspective. If people want to have smaller families to lower pressure on the environment, that’s a good idea, but it should be an informed consent choice. I already wrote in my December 2022 post, Overpopulation or Roles Played, that obsessing about overpopulation is probably a waste of time for environmentalists. We need people to be healthy and clear-minded, and when people have healthy and clear minds and bodies, they consume a lot less resources and are able to appreciate nature a lot more. Also, we definitely need a lot of people to assist in healing the damaged Earth (e.g. starting regenerative agriculture farms, restoring salt marshes, reforestation projects, contaminated site cleanup, etc.).

Conclusion

All in all, the slow motion collapse of the current system may actually be a blessing in disguise. We can slowly decouple from this system and start or continue building a much better system than we currently have now. Many people in the alternative society movements have been laying the groundwork for a better system for years and they need some help to really get it going.

“Man has lost his way in the jungle of chemistry and engineering and will have to retrace his steps, however painful this may be. He will have to discover where he went wrong and make his peace with nature. In so doing, perhaps he may be able to recapture the rhythm of life and love of the simple things of life, which will be an ever-unfolding joy to him.”

Richard St Barbe Baker

Artificial Illumination: An Overlooked Environmental Health Stressor?

Environmental Health, , ,

In 2022, the USA banned the manufacture of incandescent bulbs and I had intuitively felt this was a bad move despite the claims by many of extreme energy savings from the switch to light emitting diodes (LEDs). My first thought when walking down a street with new LED streetlights a couple of years ago was that the light was overly bright and “harsh.” I also remembered seeing rumblings on the internet over the years that light from LEDs was maybe not so good for you but it had yet to really click for me until I stumbled onto Dr. Jack Kruse’s conversation with the DemystifySci team a couple of weeks ago. I’ve been researching the industrial EMF issue (Wi-Fi, 4G, 5G, etc.) for almost 4 years now and I’m surprised I hadn’t really looked into the blue light issue more deeply. Figures 1 depicts the cold white LED spectrum, the natural sunlight spectrum, and other spectrums for reference for the rest of this post. The spectrum emitted from LCD screens of technologic devices is similar to that of LEDs. If there are health problems associated with this artificial blue light spectrum then the energy savings argument falls apart as healthcare is one of the most energy intensive areas of the economy.

Figure 1: Various artificial light intensity spectrums compared to natural sunlight in the top left corner.

In the DemystifySci podcast at timestamp 1:08:00, Dr. Jack Kruse makes a point that the neuropeptide pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) is normally used by the body in natural sunlight to generate a number of biologically active peptides including adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH), melanocyte-stimulating hormone (MSH) and B-endorphin (an opiate, sunlight makes us feel good!). However, he states that the spike in blue light intensity (~400-480 nm) in the emission spectrum from LEDs and tech devices, which is not balanced with UV or infrared light like it is in sunlight, causes neuropeptide cleavage in POMC to occur in such a way that lowers people’s dopamine levels and they then become addicted to screen scrolling/web surfing (endless dopamine hits in a subconscious attempt to get back to normal).

Photobiology

Dr. Alexander Wunsch is a photobiologist from Germany who has given some compelling presentations (available online) about natural light (sunlight, moonlight), circadian rhythms in organisms and the effects of artificial light (LEDs, incandescent bulbs, etc.) on our health. Incandescent bulbs are generally better for our health than fluorescent bulbs or LEDs. His research findings and discussions seem to solidly back up Dr. Jack Kruse’s claims. Dr. Jack Kruse and Dr. Alexander Wunsch seem to be the two people that have the best handle on this particular subject, as far as I can tell from my recent research. Not surprisingly, the LED/tech industry and governments say there is not much of a problem with this blue light. Though it is nice (and kind of telling) that in the past 5 years or so many devices like smartphones and laptops now come with a “Night Light” or “Dark” mode that removes much of the blue light spike from their emission spectrum.

Below is Figure 2, I modified one of Alexander Wunsch’s slides from one of his presentations and added more info. Basically, the figure shows that blue light from devices (that are also emitting RF and microwave radiation but not UV or infrared light) and LEDs disrupt circadian rhythms by stimulating the pituitary and pineal glands at the wrong times of the day. The other big interrelated point is that almost the entire near infrared/infrared-A (NIR/IRA) spectrum is missing from these devices and LEDs. This infrared spectrum is now well known to have several health benefits including increasing the size and charge of exclusion zone (EZ) water in the body and improved circulation in capillaries. All in all, it should be noted that blue light is actually beneficial when it occurs in sunlight in the late morning and mid-day as it is emitted along with the rest of the natural sunlight spectrum but when it isn’t, it has definite harmful effects on health.

Figure 2: A diagram depicting the difference between full spectrum sunlight and blue light from technology screens and how this difference affects the production of hormones in the body. The bottom graph depicts melatonin and ACTH + Cortisol concentrations in the body over the course of a day-night cycle.  Credit: Alexander Wunsch. Modified by me, see his presentation for original.

Esoteric Problems with Artificial Light

One of the disturbing thoughts that crossed my mind while doing this research is that what if LEDs were deliberately designed to have a spike in blue light intensity at around 440-460nm to artificially stimulate the pituitary gland of workers, thereby making them more productive, but not telling workers about the harmful long-term effects? The work, work, work, money, money, money, buy, buy, buy, consumerist culture. The system offers us free or cheap coffee, overhead lights with the blue light spike in their spectrum, and blue light backlit screens, all for short-term stimulation, but we pay for it later with myriad health problems (e.g. disrupted sleep, adrenal burnout, metabolism/weight gain issues, etc.). It also could just be that most experts in our society work in very isolated silos and do not communicate much (e.g. LED engineers do not go to biochemistry or photobiology conferences) and that maybe the cheapest material available for creating LEDs causes them to emit that blue light spike.

To back up the above discussion, below is Figure 3, a snapshot of the sections of the podcast between Dr. Alexander Wunsch and Luke Storey where they discuss why industrialists wanted certain types of lighting in their factories and offices. 

Figure 3: Snapshot of podcast overview between Dr. Alexander Wunsch and Luke Storey

Another disturbing finding I found when going down this rabbit hole was that in most organisms there is a class of enzymes in an enzymatic pathway called the cytochrome p450 pathway. The “p450” is a reference to the fact that the enzymes in this pathway have peak light absorption at about 450nm, the exact same peak in the blue light spectrum of most LEDs and screens of tech devices. Couple this with the fact that Wi-Fi sends out a signal at a frequency of 2.45GHz, a frequency which strongly affects water molecules and, again, this may make one think of possible intentional manipulation of human biology by the techno-industrial system. Building Biology advocate Roman Shapoval gives a good overview of the p450 problem and other similar esoteric problems with blue light in this substack article.

Conclusion

Of course, it seems that some engineers are actually making strides in developing LEDs and technologic devices that do not emit as much blue light as there previous generations did. But even with that, this post does go to show you, that being outside more and not indoors surrounded by Wi-Fi and blue light all the time is a good idea. The information in this post may also be pertinent to the theories of why there is so much more respiratory illness in winter than in summer in many places around the world, people are just inside so much more in winter than in summer, bathed in Wi-Fi frequencies and blue light vs. the full spectrum from the sun. 

In conclusion, light (electromagnetic) pollution is a very real problem, but is not taken seriously by mainstream society as much as chemical pollution in soil, air and water is. Light pollution is mostly considered only to be something that “blocks out the stars,” but it is much more than that as explained briefly in this post. Robert O. Becker, author of The Body Electric, stated that he thought exposure to electromagnetic pollution was even more of a concern than exposure to chemicals (e.g. PCBs, chlorinated solvents, gasoline vapors, etc.). If you have some time this winter be sure to check out Dr. Becker’s book and these other books in the image below if you are interested in a new scientific paradigm that recognizes electromagnetic energy as the foundational fabric of the cosmos.

Earthing, Tree Voltage, and the Effects of Electrosmog

Earth Processes, Environmental Health, , ,

Scientist Dr. Michael Clarage’s recent post on voltage readings in nature inspired me to take my own voltage readings in a spot in the forest using a standard multi-meter. I got similar readings of -150 millivolts (mV) when I stuck the negative electrode (black, “the ground”) into the topsoil by the tree and the positive electrode (red) into the cambium layer of the nearby slightly damaged tree.

Interestingly, I also got similar readings of around -180 mV when I stuck the negative electrode (black, “the ground”) directly into the surface water of the wetlands and the positive electrode (red) into the slightly moist topsoil beside the tree roots (see picture below).

These measurements suggest to me that electrons (and negative electric charge) are flowing from the groundwater and surface waters of Earth up into the topsoil and then into all plants and animals touching the ground.

Engineer Arthur Ramthun measured voltage between different tree limbs and the ground and found that electrons were flowing up from the soil to the tips of most of the branches (see this video for more information on this topic). Considering the research done on the fourth phase of water, is exclusion-zone (EZ) water providing the excess electrons to the surface of the Earth (see Figure 1)? Are these excess electrons available for redox reactions in plants and animals?

The maximum voltage measurement that Gerald Pollack and colleagues got when measuring the voltage between EZ water and the neighboring bulk water in their experiments was about -200 mV (directly adjacent to a piece of Nafion).

Figure 1: Discussion of the redox characteristics of EZ water on the left, with scientists stating that EZ water is a major donor of electrons, and a slide from Arthur Ramthun’s presentation on the right, estimating the amount of electrons flowing to a tree branch tip.

The preceding discussion brings to mind the subject of earthing or grounding. Modern humans are almost always electrically insulated from the Earth by working inside of concrete buildings, wearing rubber and plastic shoes, and rarely walking barefoot on the Earth. If the excess electrons from the Earth are available for redox reactions in the body, and recent research suggests that they are, than this negative charge may be a missing master “nutrient” for our bodies. Also, it has been noted in the scientific literature that earthing reduces the negative health impacts of electrosmog on humans.

In addition, electrosmog (industrial EMF pollution) should be mentioned as the radiofrequency (RF) and microwave electromagnetic fields impinging on the branches and leaves of trees and shrubs is likely causing significant health effects in these organisms (as well as humans, of course), as evidenced in the series of pictures below. It makes intuitive sense that electromagnetic fields and induced electrical charges from industrial equipment would affect the natural flow of electrons in living things. The in-homogeneous damage on the trees suggests that the flows of electrons along certain branches are being affected by the RF and microwave radiation. For a much more detailed discussion on this tree damage topic, please take a look at this presentation by scientist Dr. Volker Schorpp and additional general information is located in my post on electrosmog from 2020.

Trees along the road and in the path of the main radiation beam show significant signs of damage and/or ill health including a thinned out canopy, dead limbs, and burnt edges of leaves. Red arrow denotes location of the RF/Microwave antennas on top of the chemical storage tanks. Image courtesy of Google Earth.
Trees in the immediate vicinity of a large cell tower exhibit sings of damage/ill health. The three trees in the central portion of the photo were removed in late 2020.
As these three trees peek above the building’s radiation shadow, they become damaged and cease to grow when in line-of-sight of the antennas on the large cell tower.
This church steeple is a cell tower, not surprisingly the trees in the foreground show signs of damage/ill health and were removed in late 2021. Image courtesy of Google Earth.
The tree in the center of the photo is located directly in front of a set of black RF/Microwave antennas and clearly show signs of dying. Note the trees in the background away from the antennas are doing relatively well despite the effects of drought, insects, and particulate pollution.
Trees located over 2,000 feet from the nearest cell tower show signs of being relatively healthy despite effects from drought, insects, and general particulate pollution.

NATO and Russia – Environmental War Crimes

Environmental Health, Philosophy, ,

The world is currently embroiled in a East-West conflict with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) countries currently accusing Russia of using or planning to use chemical weapons in their incursion into Ukraine. However, it seems to be lost on NATO countries that that they have historically used various internationally illegal chemical weapons in numerous conflicts across the entire world causing immense amounts of environmental harm. Russia and other countries in the East are also guilty of these crimes, but the Western media almost always portrays NATO countries as the “good” guys with almost no questioning of their military practices. The feature image of this post shown above depicts damage to an oil refinery in Serbia that was bombed by NATO forces during the Balkan wars of 1999.

Explicit Examples of Environmental Harm

In the Vietnam War, for example, the United States armed forces utilized Agent Orange and napalm over large swaths of Vietnamese jungles and agricultural land. It also dropped these harmful chemical agents directly over villages, villagers and even their own troops. Many Vietnam veterans have suffered debilitating health effects from exposures to Agent Orange residues and napalm fumes, in addition to the hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese people who also died or suffered severe negative health effects. There is also the issue of geoengineering (aka weather warfare) conducted in Vietnam by the US air force through Project Popeye. This is discussed briefly here in this article on weather warfare, here’s a quote:

“During the Vietnam war, cloud-seeding techniques were used, starting in 1967 under Project Popeye, the objective of which was to prolong the monsoon season and block enemy supply routes along the Ho Chi Minh Trail.“

NATO countries also used depleted uranium rounds early on in the Iraq War (see this article for more of a discussion on the evidence) exposing both Iraqi civilians and NATO’s own troops to dangerous amounts of radioactive compounds. One of the industrial facilities that formerly manufactured depleted uranium materials for the US military is ironically located in one of the wealthiest suburbs of Boston: Concord, Massachusetts. The former Starmet facility is now a Superfund site with extensive environmental contamination of soil and groundwater. The environmental effects of war are hidden in plain sight, not only in the war-torn countries but also right here back at home in one of the wealthiest areas of the USA.

I will also briefly mention here that many Gulf War veterans have suffered chemical sensitivity symptoms collectively referred to as ‘Gulf War Syndrome’ or ‘Desert Storm Diseases.’ Initially the veterans’ symptoms were dismissed as psychological, but over the years researchers have uncovered multiple possible environmental causes including excessive diesel fumes, ground-level smoke from the horrific oil fires, exposure to sarin gas, and even the ingestion of the “nerve gas pill” pyridostigmine bromide. Though pyridostigmine bromide protects the body from the worst effects of sarin gas, it causes toxic side effects by affecting the body’s levels of the enzyme cholinesterase. See this article for a detailed discussion on Gulf War Syndrome.

There are also reports online that claim several countries have used white phosphorous as an incendiary compound in bombs, though it is difficult to find reputable evidence that this highly toxic substance has actually been utilized in conflicts. Honestly though, it wouldn’t be surprising given the track record of the world’s militaries over the past century.

War: A Pointless Use of Precious Resources

All in all, even ignoring the horrific environmental health effects of war and colossal loss of life, in a world of rapidly diminishing stores of precious natural resources, it seems the height of folly to engage in military conflicts that consume vast amounts of petroleum, precious minerals, and metals. These are highly valuable resources that could obviously be used instead to construct solar panels, remediation systems or ecological shelters. In addition, these military conflicts, by their very nature, destroy the most valuable natural resource of all: fertile agricultural land. Right now the war in Eastern Europe is causing massive disruptions to the global wheat and fertilizer markets and prices for basic foodstuffs are already skyrocketing in many countries.

The petroleum, precious minerals, metals and fertile agricultural land represent “real” wealth. These are not just numbers in a computer representing your bank account balance (i.e. a claim on real wealth), they are the actual physical things that benefit your life and community on a day to day basis. War destroys real wealth while increasing the fake wealth (the bank account balances) of the military industrial complex.

Whether you live in the East or the West or in the middle, tell your representatives to stop their warmongering propaganda and put our remaining real wealth towards creating a better future for our children and grandchildren.

The words of John Trudell in this song really ring true at this moment in time:

Last rush in Babylon

Voices catching up, voices catching up

Watch out child, watch out child

Babylon falling down falling down

Society a broken promise

Economies war citizen whores

Political pimps

Leaving us flat on our backs

Trading today

Waiting for the promised land

…

Arms Race

Jacks boots pounding earth

Military precision

Dissecting elements of life

Taking apart instead of healing

Generals and Gods

Fascists and oil wells

Man images and machines

Petrochemical societies

Trying to hide the sun

…

Babylon in terror

World run over by machines

The economics of captured dreams

The rich are the poorer

While the poor are waiting

Everyone pretending to live

Calling exploitation progress

Calling submission freedom

Calling madness profit

Calling earth a plan et

Plaguing her with civilization

The Fourth Phase of Water and Groundwater Pollution – A Case Study

Earth Processes, Environmental Health, ,

I was recently reading through Dr. Gerald Pollack’s book, The Fourth Phase of Water, and the section on exclusion zone water (named for excluding most solutes) forming around charged hydrophilic particles caught my attention. It reminded me of surprising observations I had made working at an environmental remediation site some years ago. At this site, shown in Figure 1, three or so feet of light non-aqueous phase liquid (LNAPL) oil was sitting on top of the water table in well MW104 in auto bay 1, but MW101 located just 15 feet down-gradient of this well had non-detect concentrations of dissolved petroleum compounds, which was surprising (see Table 1 for the data, and Figure 2 for a water table map). MW101 is also just 5 feet down gradient of a well, MW202 in auto bay 2, that contained half of a foot of LNAPL. Amazingly, the down-gradient groundwater was able to remain clean despite the LNAPL oil sitting on top of the water table just 5-15 feet away for several decades, as the release occurred from old hydraulic lifts in the 1970s or early 1980s.

At certain points in the site investigation, dissolved petroleum compounds in groundwater were detected in wells TW101, MW203, and MW205 within the auto bays of the building, so there must be something preventing the movement of this petroleum mass down gradient into the groundwater underneath the site parking area. Here is a link to the final report for this site for fellow environmental scientists who want to look at the details: final report.

Figure 1. Site Plan snapshot from a previous report.
Figure 2: Water table elevation contour map. During the high water seasons, the groundwater flow direction is almost directly east towards the site parking area.
Table 1. Dissolved petroleum compound concentrations in groundwater. Note, all downgradient wells in the site parking area have no detections of dissolved petroleum compounds. BRL = Below Reporting Limit.

Most petroleum-contaminated sites have a dissolved hydrocarbon phase plume stretching from the source and/or LNAPL area to dozens of feet to possibly even hundreds of feet down gradient, as shown Figure 3. The plume is especially long if the original release occurred many years ago, so why didn’t we see it at this site where the release occurred in the 1970s or early 1980s?

Figure 3. Simple diagram depicting a LNAPL release and contamination of an aquifer. The small “q” is groundwater discharge and the arrows represent groundwater flow direction. Figure from “Modelling LNAPL Plume Breakthrough and Saltwater Intrusion, for a coastal site in the South-western Nigeria.” Oct. 2010.

Obviously, the geologic materials comprising the aquifer at any given site will have a huge impact on the vertical and horizontal extent of the petroleum plume. At this particular site I am discussing, a layer of silty clay a foot or two thick right around or below the average water table depth may have facilitated the creation of exclusion zone water around the silt and clay particles, each of which carry a net negative charge (see Figure 4 and Figure 5). This silty clay layer in the sand and gravel aquifer would then keep out virtually all of the large petroleum molecules dissolved in the groundwater right below the LNAPL mass. Even though a silty clay layer may have a low hydraulic conductivity of around 10^-6 cm/sec (compared to 10^-2 to 10^-3 cm/sec for sands), after 40 or so years, groundwater with dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons should have had plenty of time to traverse a short distance of 0.5 to 1 meter through the thin silty clay layer and into the more transmissive sand and gravel layers, but at this site there are no dissolved petroleum hydrocarbons in downgradient wells in the site parking area. Most other releases happen at sites with only sand and gravel layers in the subsurface which result in long plumes of contaminants. This is possibly due to less exclusion zone water filling up the pore spaces between the sand and gravel particles, allowing for dissolved petroleum molecules to travel through the aquifer more easily and obviously due to the higher hydraulic conductivity of these materials.

Figure 4: Boring Log for MW-101, note the description of a layer of organic silt/clay at a depth of approximately 7-10 feet.
Figure 5: Diagram of exclusion zone water (darker blue color) around silt particles (around 16 microns across), this water carries a net negative charge, while the bulk water beyond carries a net positive charge. Notice that a large petroleum hydrocarbon molecule will have almost no chance of being transported across this area as it will not pass through the exclusion zone water even though water can still flow, albeit very slowly.

The implications of the fourth phase of water discoveries may lead to new ways of remediating groundwater. New hydrophilic materials could be used for reactive barrier walls across a section of an aquifer to prevent contaminants from moving downgradient of the release area. In a future post I will build off this discussion and cover other alternative soil and groundwater remediation methods including enhanced bioremediation, mycoremediation and microbial remediation.

Reclaiming Gaia from the Technosphere

Earth Processes, Environmental Health, Philosophy, , ,

In virtually every sphere of life including the physical, biological, and social, technological devices are displacing and replacing natural systems and the innate abilities of human beings. Why is that? Why don’t we focus on restoring our natural environmental systems and developing our innate physical, mental and social abilities to their fullest potential? For centuries humans have been embarking on a process of mechanization and utilization of increasing amounts of technology, culminating here in the early 21st century with the rollout of a worldwide 5G wireless network over the landscape and the launching of a literal “skynet” of satellites into low-earth orbit. Yet, mental illness is at an all-time high, pollution of our air, water, and food is still widespread, and the entire enterprise is obviously unsustainable on any number of environmental, ecological, and even psycho-spiritual fronts.

Many technologies have their uses and their places, as obviously this blog would not exist without the internet, but the extreme focus on mechanizing, controlling and manipulating every life and planetary process with complex technology leaves something else to be desired for many. A new renaissance is sorely needed at this time, right? The following is a short list of examples of where technology has usurped natural processes and following that is a list of ecological alternatives to those technologies.

Immune Systems and Pharmaceuticals

Regarding our overall health, our natural immune systems are being disrupted and degraded by different types of environmental pollution, as I have discussed at length in previous posts on environmental health. Consequently, our innate immune system capabilities are systematically being replaced with an ever increasing number of vaccines and other kinds of pharmaceuticals, many of which have significant side effects, including the over-stimulation of our immune systems and their contribution to the development of autoimmune disorders. In addition, think of the immensely complicated industrial supply chain that has to exist in order to mass produce a vaccine or other pharmaceutical that is delivered from a research lab all the way to being directly injected into your body. The different biochemical laboratory facilities, the large factories for constructing glass vials or plastic containers, all of the delivery trucks along the supply chain, the refrigeration systems and many more technological systems just to keep the vaccine/pharmaceutical supply chain going. This entire supply chain requires the consumption of vast amounts of natural resources and human labor in order to perform a natural function (immunity to pathogens) that our bodies could easily do well if we actually took good care of them (our “terrain”) and the environments we live in.

Human Breast Milk and Cow Milk/Formulated Milk

In the 20th century, some scientists and doctors decided that breast milk from a human mother could be replaced with cow’s milk or other formulated milks to improve a baby’s nutrition. The problem is that milk from the mother has just the precise balance of nutrients for satisfying the needs of a human baby. As Edward Goldsmith notes in The Way: An Ecological World View, human milk has a higher calcium to phosphorous ratio than other milks which is important for the growth of a baby’s musculoskeletal system. In addition, the level of sodium in cows milk is too high, leading to potential blood pressure issues in babies and toddlers. The level of copper in cows milk is also too low, leading to iron/hemoglobin transport issues and the development of anemia, which was common in North American infants a few decades ago.

Physical Tolerance Limits and Heating/Air Conditioning

After heating fuels and air conditioning became economical in the beginning of the 20th century many people have let their physical tolerance limits atrophy. They do not feel comfortable with temperatures below 65 degrees Fahrenheit inside of buildings in the winter, and temperatures above 72 degrees Fahrenheit inside of buildings in the summer. This is an extremely narrow range of comfortable temperatures and the consumption of vast amounts of fuels and electricity is required to maintain this narrow range inside of the built environment.

Innate Cognitive Capacity and IT Devices

Regarding memory and cognitive capacity, our innate memory skills are being degraded by increased reliance on information technology devices like GPS for navigating, for example. A study was done around a decade ago showing that old-school taxi drivers who had memorized the streets of London had a larger hippocampus compared to citizens who used GPS devices to get to their destinations. The citizens’ ability to create a mental map of London had atrophied, and a part of their brain literally became smaller after increased reliance on the new technology. Regarding cognitive capacity, calculators replace our ability to do simple arithmetic in our heads, emails cause our ability to compose hand-written letters with legible handwriting to atrophy… the list goes on, it is the the literal outsourcing of our cognition and memory to the technosphere.

Natural Waste Recycling Processes and Sewage/Wastewater Treatment Plants

Historically, human waste was delivered by wagon and wheelbarrow back to the agricultural fields surrounding the village for use as humanure commonly referred to as “night soil.” In modern societies, gigantic wastewater treatment facilities are built next to natural water bodies and dump large amounts of treated wastewater, which then still heavily pollutes natural water bodies with excess nutrients, trace pharmaceutical residues that are not filtered out by the treatment process, and some heavy metals. Other areas use cesspools and septic tanks, which when they fail, cause drinking water aquifers to be contaminated with excess nitrogen and traces of pharmaceuticals.

Traditional Social Networks and Social Media/Dating Websites

The vast majority of people desire to be accepted as part of a group and to find a loving partner, and historically this goal was accomplished by living in a small band of people with whom you were intimately familiar with. In modern anonymous mass societies people are now strewn across the country in urban sprawl conurbations with weak social connections to the people around them due to people continuously moving away for jobs and other reasons. The social connections, that often had a large physical component (e.g. handshakes, hugs, sex, etc.), between people in historic social networks have now been largely digitized by social media websites, dating websites, and email. For example, a few extroverted people in historic social networks used to be great matchmakers, introducing potential mates to each other and helping to form couples. This formerly organic process has now been largely relegated to social media, dating websites, and professional matchmaking services with mixed results, not to mention the large amount of resources including the electricity it takes to run the servers that host these websites.

A comparison of a formerly heavily forested area north of Houston, TX in 1944 on the left and the same area in 2021 on the right, an extreme example of urban sprawl.

The Eco-logic Renaissance

With the increasing creep of the technosphere into every aspect of life over the past decades and especially over the past two years, it is uplifting to see a growing interest among the public in ecological living topics including composting, organic gardening, composting toilets and humanure, small-scale renewable energy systems, simple water filtration, holistic health modalities, and other appropriate or “nature-like” technologies.

Natural Healing Modalities as Immune System Enhancers

Instead of relying solely on vaccines and other pharmaceutical agents for solving every health problem or curing an infection, many people are turning to alternative healing modalities for solutions to their health problems that have not been adequately addressed by mainstream medicine. The following table is a brief list of simple holistic health tips to improve immune system function naturally, as an example. Tomes of more information on alternative health can be found online or in an alternative book store.

  • Drink pure, unpolluted water
  • Improve sleeping conditions
  • Improve nutrient intake including Vitamin C, Vitamin D, Zinc, etc.
  • Decrease exposure to chemical pollutants and electrosmog (non-native EMFs)
  • Increase time in nature including grounding with the Earth
  • Natural breastfeeding for babies
  • Herbal remedies

Wetlands as Natural Wastewater Treatment Systems

A growing number of communities around the world are turning to restoring wetlands in order to process large amounts of wastewater. Healthy wetlands contain large amounts of peat with brown lignin compounds that can absorb large amounts of organic wastes and sequester heavy metals, thereby filtering the water as it flows downstream to other water bodies. At the scale of a home or small business, many are turning to composting toilet technologies or greener septic systems to reduce the amount of wastewater that is generated and discharged to the environment.

Developing Natural Human Abilities Instead of Overreliance on Technologies

When the power goes out, the GPS signal is lost, the water stops running, and the delivery trucks run out of fuel, people in modern societies are often left helpless as we have lost ancient skills that our ancestors used to survive in natural environments. We can learn or relearn old skills and even marry new ways of thinking to old skills and technologies (e.g. developing new passive solar water heater designs). We can develop mental maps of the towns and cities we live in instead of relying on GPS all of the time. We can practice hormesis (improve our physical tolerance limits) and maintain a comfortable body temperature throughout the year without resorting to excessive use of heating fuels in the winter or air conditioning in the summer. This seems to be a wiser choice than choosing to rely on the fossil-fueled technosphere that is showing increasing signs of incoherence, disruption and outright collapse (especially obvious in the last two years). Explore Arthur Haines’s website on rewilding and relearning ancient survival techniques for more information on this.

Ecovillages as Cohesive Social Networks

Many people are fed up with the social and mental illness that results from living in anonymous mass societies, and ecovillages are one antidote to the increasing social alienation and mental illness observed in modern societies. Ecovillages and ecocentric communities can allow people to form more permanent connections with those around them and possibly lighten the load of anxiety and stress so prevalent in modern mass societies. Regarding love, Tamara ecovillage in Portugal, for example, has a radical take on love and sexual relationships and creates a space for people to freely explore alternative ways to express their romantic desires and form partnerships that are difficult to implement in anonymous and alienating mass societies.

Conclusion

All in all, the wholesale replacement of the basic functions of the biosphere (Gaia) has been going on for centuries, but we still have time to change course if we want to. It is becoming increasingly apparent to a growing number of people that attempting to solve the problems created by technology with ever more complex technologies is maybe not the best way to go about the issue.

Instead of relying on and looking to “tech-no-logic” solutions for all of our problems, maybe a shift to focusing on “eco-logic” techniques and solutions would help? Why develop a Rube-Goldberg type of device to suck carbon out of the atmosphere but breaks down every few months, for example, when you can simply plant and maintain an edible forest garden, instead?

Currently, it appears that the entire physiology of Gaia is being systematically disrupted, degraded and replaced by a technologic mechanical system for whatever host of reasons (there are different theories floating around). However, whatever the reason is, a growing minority of people are fed up with this enterprise of attempting to conquer and control nature and are seeking ways to work with and make peace with her instead.

Further Reading:

The Ascent of Humanity  Charles Eisenstein  (free to read on his website)

The Way:  An Ecological World-View  Edward Goldsmith (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1098214.The_Way)

My Name is Chellis and I’m in Recovery from Western Civilization Chellis Glendinning (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/560830.My_Name_is_Chellis_and_I_m_in_Recovery_from_Western_Civilization)

Green Wizardry John Michael Greer (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17347699-green-wizardry)

When Technology Fails: A Manuel for Self-Reliance, Sustainability, and Surviving the Long Emergency Matthew Stein  (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2332274.When_Technology_Fails)

Shrinking the Technosphere Dmitry Orlov (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/29633720-shrinking-the-technosphere)

Do you think you can take the world and improve it?

I do not think it can be done.

The world is sacred.

You cannot improve it.

If you try to change it, you will ruin it.

If you try to help it, you will lose it.

Lao Tzu

Respiration, Cancer and the Electricity of Life

Environmental Health, Philosophy, , , ,

I was reading the chapter on cancer in Arthur Firstenburg’s book, The Invisible Rainbow: A History of Electricity and Life, and it reminded me of Dr. Jerry Tennant’s talks on voltage inside and across cellular membranes, and Dr. Gerald Pollack’s research on the fourth phase of water or “Exclusion Zone” water. In this post, I will attempt to connect their findings together and then tie them into the issue of electrosmog (i.e. electromagnetic radiation pollution).

In his chapter on cancer, Arthur Firstenberg discusses the metabolic theory of cancer which was studied by Otto Henreich Warburg in the early 20th Century. The theory states that tumors thrive in an oxygen-deficient (anaerobic) environment and are caused by that lack of oxygen. Basically, starving parts of the body of oxygen results in cancerous growth. Recently, the research team led by Dr. Thomas Seyfried at Boston College has confirmed by experimentation that cancer is caused by disruptions to the mitochondria in the cytoplasm and not by mutations in the DNA-containing nucleus of the cancerous cell (see this article, titled “Cancer as a Mitochondrial Metabolic Disease”). The mutations in the DNA may be a secondary effect of the disruptions of mitochondrial respiration processes and so this research suggests that the metabolic theory of cancer is accurate. There must be something affecting the mitochondria in cancerous cells and the oxygen transport system to cells which likely involves the synergistic effect of environmental toxins, RF or microwave radiation, dirty electricity and/or certain viruses.

Dr. Jerry Tennant: Healing is Voltage

Dr. Jerry Tennant, who has built off of the work done by Dr. Robert Becker and others, explains healing and regeneration of biologic tissues in terms of pH and voltage in this video. He states that another way to think about pH is that it corresponds to the voltage of a solution, such as pure water. Remember that from general electrochemistry, the voltage or the charge of a substance will have polarity (either + or -). The following lists give a short review of the general characteristics of electrochemical solutions of pure water:

  1. Low pH solution (acidic):
    • pH < 7.0
    • higher [H3O+], lower [OH-]
    • lower voltage (i.e. higher positive voltage, e.g. +100 millivolts)
    • higher positive charge
  1. High pH solution (alkaline):
    • pH >7.0
    • lower [H3O+], higher [OH-]
    • higher voltage (i.e. higher negative voltage, e.g. -100 millivolts)
    • higher negative charge

A neutral solution of pure water with a pH of 7.0 would have a voltage of 0 as it would contain the same number of H3O+ and OH- ions. A pH of 0 would correlate to a voltage of approximately +400 millivolts (mV) and a pH of 14 would correlate to a voltage of approximately -400 mV. Obviously, these voltages would change depending on what solutes are dissolved in the water, or if any oxidizing or reducing agents are added to the pure water. For a solution other than pure water oxidation/reduction potential (ORP), measured in millivolts, would measure the voltage in a solution. A positive ORP value would be mean the solution is oxidizing and a negative ORP value would mean the solution is reducing. Below is a simple list reviewing the basic characteristics of oxidation and reduction agents in redox reactions:

  1. Oxidizing agent:
    • electron acceptor
    • reduced during reaction
    • gains electrons
    • example substances (this depends if they are dissolved into an already acidic or alkaline solution): Oxygen Gas (O2), Hydrogen Ion (H+), Hydronium Ion (H3O+)
  1. Reducing agent:
    • electron donor
    • oxidized during reactions
    • donates electrons
    • example substances (this depends if they are dissolved into an already acidic or alkaline solution): Oxygen Ion (O2-), Hydroxide Ion (OH–), Hydrogen Gas (H2), antioxidants (e.g. vitamin C)

With that general electrochemistry review out of the way, Dr. Jerry Tenant states that any cellular biology textbook will mention that the optimal pH environment for cellular processes ranges from 7.35 to 7.45 (slightly alkaline), corresponding to voltages of -20 mV to -25 mV, respectively. Cells require a voltage environment of around -25 mV to run well and around -50 mV to make new healthy cells. Consequently, an excessively low pH/voltage (acidic) bodily environment will enable a chronic disease to fester or allow an infectious microbe to thrive as the body’s cells cannot repair themselves correctly, get rid of cellular wastes or adequately neutralize an infection. Though, an excessively high pH/voltage (alkaline) bodily environment could conceivably cause health problems as well.

According to Dr. Tennant and other researchers, cancerous growth appears to occur in bodily environments where the cellular pH has dropped to around 6.48, or a voltage of approximately +30 mV. Regarding the metabolic theory of cancer, is there a connection between declining pH/voltage levels and cells being starved of oxygen and negative charge? Do deteriorating environmental conditions stemming from pollutants cause the pH/voltage in the bodily environment to drop, which results in cells being starved of oxygen? Or is something else going on, such as the deteriorating environmental conditions from pollutants disrupt the oxygen transport system to cells, leading to low pH/low voltage conditions and a further decrease of oxygen levels in blood and inside cells? It is known that if the pH of the blood decreases, this leads to a decreased affinity of hemoglobin for oxygen.

The information and discussion above does not imply that low pH or oxidizing agents are necessarily ‘bad’ for health, as we need both the oxidizing and reducing agents to react together to complete the electrical circuit of life and maintain homeostasis. Also, there obviously needs to be a voltage gradient in the cellular environment in order for a cell to do repair work, or replicate. The discussion above just implies that if an organism is sick then there is likely an imbalance between the oxidizing agents and reducing agents within the organism.

The Fourth Phase of Water

Dr. Gerald Pollack at the University of Washington, building off the work of Dr. Gilbert Ling and others, has undertaken interesting research on what he terms is the “Fourth Phase of Water” (here are a few chapters of his book on the subject). This phase of water, with the chemical formula H3O2, exists as a thin layer right at the interface of a hydrophilic (i.e. “water-loving”) surface. Interestingly, his research team has found that this phase of water excludes virtually all particles and even solutes hence the name “Exclusion Zone (EZ)” water. Dr. Pollack’s research team has discovered the following other electrochemical characteristics of EZ water (see this video):

  • EZ water is alkaline (i.e. pH > 7.0) and can act as an electron donor, which, based on Dr. Tennant’s discussions indicates that it is an important factor in the prevention of cancer
  • The EZ water layer holds a net negative charge, while the water beyond it is positively charged, creating a battery-like environment that has a current
  • The EZ water layer increases in width when exposed to certain frequencies of light, especially the infrared spectrum of sunlight (i.e. the sunlight “charges” the battery)
  • EZ water helps to fold proteins inside of cells

In his talks, Dr. Pollack points out the potential health benefits associated with actions that increase the amount of EZ water in the body:

  • Grounding with the Earth: grounding via walking barefoot on the Earth (soil, sand, grass, etc.) is known to bring negative electric charge into the body, thereby increasing the amount of EZ water in the body
  • Absorbing radiant natural energy increases blood flow, improves respiration: spending a significant amount of time outside, absorbing the sun’s radiant energy, especially the infrared spectrum portion, which increases the width of the EZ water layer the most
  • Eating Plants: the EZ water inside of plant cells is yet another reason to increase your consumption of leafy greens and other plants

Breathing, Drinking Water, and Electrosmog

Tying all of this information discussed above together, we now know why breathing clean air and drinking pure water (free from toxins, but maybe has some dissolved minerals) and being out in nature is so integral to physical health. The electrochemical reactions of cellular respiration processes and the oxygen transport system require ideal environmental conditions including optimal pH/voltage values and levels of EZ water in cells. Any toxin or pollutant that disrupts those ideal environmental conditions will most likely result in some kind of serious disease or loss of vitality in the exposed organism.

Oxygen gas is entering our bodies through our respiratory tract to bind to hemoglobin for transport to cells for cellular respiration processes. The carbonic acid buffering system in our circulatory system involving bicarbonate, carbonic acid, and carbon dioxide, must not be upset during this process and excess carbon dioxide must be removed from our bodies by exhalation. Based on the information discussed previously, these electrochemical reactions between water, oxygen, carbon dioxide, bicarbonate, carbonic acid and hemoglobin are most likely being disrupted by electrosmog and chemical toxins. Again, these fundamental substances for life will not react in the correct way to achieve organism homeostasis and optimal health unless the pH/voltage conditions are ideal. For example, per Dr. Tennant, less oxygen is able to dissolve in fluids with a lower pH/voltage, so there is a positive feedback loop there resulting in a deteriorating cellular environment that allows cancerous growth to thrive, or for an infection to grow out of control.

All in all, it may be that not enough negative charge is entering into people’s bodies due to electrosmog, chemical toxins, and other factors which then cause low pH/voltage environments, low amounts of EZ water to form in their cells, disruption to the oxygen transport process to cells and disruption to the mitochondrial respiration processes in cells. Arthur Firstenburg, among others including Martin Pall, Magda Havas, Dr. Dietrich Klinghardt, etc., make a strong case that electrosmog is contributing to the disruption of cellular electrochemical processes (e.g. Martin Pall’s research on EMFs and Voltage-Gated Calcium Channels, ‘VGCCs’ in cells).

Why are so many people suffering from chronic disease and infections?

In conclusion, the current focus of society on total war against one kind of microbe (currently coronavirus – Delta Variant) does not solve any of the underlying environmental problems contributing to poor health outcomes amongst the populace, especially poor respiratory health. In fact, sometimes getting a respiratory sickness may actually help remove toxins and damaged cellular debris from the body. The following is a general list of environmental health problems that must be remediated over the next few decades if we truly want to heal and protect others:

  • Insulated from the Earth: Wearing rubber shoes or boots all day cuts us off from receiving extra negative charge by directly insulating us from the negatively-charged earth (soil, sand, grasses, etc.).
  • Electrosmog and Light Pollution: We are surrounded by artificial EMFs from cell phones, Wi-Fi routers, cell towers and poorly configured electrical wiring for most of our day causing all kinds of health effects, including the disruption and degradation of our immune systems and circulatory systems. Visible light pollution at night is already accepted by mainstream society as a legitimate problem as it affects circadian rhythms of people and animals.
  • Enclosed Indoors: Breathing in poor quality indoor air due to poor building ventilation, volatile pollutants, molds, mites, low humidity, etc. Many are bathed in fluorescent and LED light while being cut off from receiving infrared energy from the sun.
  • Noise Pollution: Industrial machines are very loud and create jarring noises and given the findings from the growing science of cymatics, these sounds contribute to chronic stress and disease.
  • Air Pollution: Many people breathe in combustion gases (NOx, SOx, CO, etc.), volatile organic pollutants, particulate matter, and smoke in outdoor air across the world.
  • Water Pollution: Drinking water is potentially contaminated with thousands of different industrial chemicals (e.g. PFAS, TCE, PCE, benzene, lead, excessive chlorine and fluoride, etc.) in addition to traces of many pharmaceuticals including antidepressants and hormonal drugs.
  • Food Pollution: Many of us eat industrial food covered with dozens of herbicides and pesticides including glyphosate, chlorpyrifos, atrazine, etc. which cause all kinds of health effects especially the disruption of the gut microbiome. GMOs, high fructose corn syrup, and other artificial food ingredients are not easily digestible, increase obesity and inhibit nutrient uptake in the body. Sodas are low-pH beverages that may cause bodily pH imbalances in people.
  • Mental/Emotional Pollution: Authorities, media outlets and/or abusive people who attempt to control us by manipulating our fears, doubts and insecurities. Many people are addicted to pornography or romance novels (fake intimacy mediated by a screen or book, due to lack of available intimacy in disrupted social networks). Many people are also addicted to video games (artificial adventures replace the real missions we must go on in the real world, for example, missions to restore our planet). Finally, many of us have excessive anxiety and stress caused by the pace and complexity of modern life and a lack of a strong social network.

As I’ve and others, have stated repeatedly, the coronavirus is exposing the toxicity of the environments we have created via Loius Pastuer’s quote “The microbe is nothing, the environmental conditions (the terrain) everything.” Pharmaceuticals and vaccines may ameliorate symptoms or temporarily prevent health problems related to infections but they have serious side effects and risks. Also, they distract from focusing on remediating the underlying environmental health problems in our society that are growing more alarming by the day. The current focus on vaccinating over 90% of the population with coercion and totalitarian controls does nothing to solve these environmental problems. Who is going to help shift the focus?

Flashback to The Ecology of Health

Environmental Health, Philosophy,

In August of 2020, I wrote the following in my post, The Ecology of Health:

“Lockdowns, mandatory masks, social distancing and mandatory vaccinations all have serious side effects on people’s physical and mental health, and these effects (e.g. increased depression from social isolation and job loss) are the collateral damage from a total war approach.  Instead of the germ warfare approach, why not improve people’s immune systems and their local environments so they can withstand viral infections much more easily?  This approach would help for any number of infectious diseases including influenza.  Germ warfare only solves one problem (eradicating the germ) at the expense of causing extensive collateral damage, while the environmental/immune system approach solves many problems all at the same time, though this approach will take longer to have an effect.

Another quote from The Way:  An Ecological World-View sums up the problems with the germ warfare approach succinctly:  ‘Unfortunately technological expedients [e.g. lockdowns, antivirals, vaccines, social distancing, etc.] only solve technological problems. They cannot reverse the disruption of natural systems [e.g. our immune systems and environments].  Alleviating the symptoms, they render the problems more tolerable and thus serve to perpetuate them.’ Consequently, this current infectious disease crisis could go on perpetually if the environmental health problems facing our society are never resolved.”

Now what happened in 2021? The experimental vaccines were rolled out which contributed to the mutation of the coronavirus into the Delta variant, which has spread across many countries including those that were heavily vaccinated. This is similar to the problem of overusing antibiotics over the past few decades leading to the mutation of bacteria into “superbugs” that resist antibiotic treatments. Indeed, it looks like the current crisis will continue on until we change course.

The chapter titled ‘The War on Germs’ in Charles Eisenstein’s book, The Ascent of Humanity, is even more eerily prescient of the current crisis as it was published over 14 years ago in 2007, here is an excerpt from it with emphasis by me:

“The new diseases of the modern era are of a different sort.  Cancer, arthritis, chronic fatigue syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, Crohn’s Disease, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, AIDS, and so on defy the medicine of control, which has made almost no progress in curing them despite research outlays dwarfing those of the vaccine/antibiotic era.  Significantly, most if not all of these new diseases involve a dysfunction of the immune system.

Helpless against the diseases of the 21st century, we instead take ever more extreme measures against the microbial world.  One manifestation of the war on germs is the proliferation of antibacterial soaps, latex gloves for all food service workers, and strap-on mouthguards that appeared (and in some cases were legally mandated) during the Asian SARS ‘epidemic.’  These devices constitute a physical barrier between self and world, concretizing the psychological distance that separates us from each other and nature. Sometimes I have nightmare visions of a future where the very idea of breathing in each other’s unfiltered air is repulsive and illegal, where everyone wears a gas mask and all human contact is mediated through latex or computer terminals.

Equally frightening is the current hysteria about avian flu. Since it is supposedly spread by wild birds to poultry flocks, some officials are implementing new controls prohibiting chickens from ranging free. Yet it is the caged indoor hens with their debilitated immune systems that are the most susceptible, and it is factory methods of poultry production that actually spread the disease. A related proposal in the United States is the National Animal Identification System (NAIS), which would mandate that a digital tag be embedded under the skin of all livestock. Everywhere, the technologies of control are the same: separation, confinement, and the numbering of all things.

As long as their ideological underpinnings remain intact, none of these trends will abate. Already medical microchips are available that can be embedded under human skin to monitor various physiological states. In Asia during SARS, body temperature readings were taken as condition for entering certain public facilities. Potential epidemics offer a rationale for the quarantine of populations and control over their movements – an internal passport system justified on medical pretexts. All such measures make perfect sense from the mindset of separation and control.”

Replace the words ‘chickens’ and ‘livestock’ with “people” in the third paragraph of the excerpt above and what do you have going on here in the world in 2021? We have other options, we could be collectively embarking on a massive environmental restoration operation to improve people’s local environments and reduce the disruption and debilitation of their immune systems. Restoration of agricultural soils, growing more nutritious food, cleaning up toxic waste sites, reducing air pollution, removing cell towers from residential areas, etc. What is it going to take to get all that going instead of more and more control measures and coercion?

Many Church Steeples are Cell Towers

Environmental Health, ,

Beginning in the early 1990s, telecom companies have approached and continue to approach cash-strapped churches and other houses of worship to install wireless antenna infrastructure within and/or on the outside of the church steeples (see this article from 2000). Cell towers are not aesthetic structures and one might even describe them as “ominous”-looking, so hiding away the antennas in beautiful church steeples located in the centers of towns and cities is an attractive option for telecom companies.

The companies entice the church groups with monthly rent payments and offers of free renovation of their deteriorating steeples, many of which are many decades old. It’s hard to blame the churches given the dire financial straits many of them are in, but this is a concerning revelation that not many people know about or quickly brushed off due to their lack of knowledge about electrosmog. Given the health and environmental concerns of EMF radiation pollution, will churches be able to remove the antennas from their steeples as more people become aware of the problem, or are they legally-binded to house the antennas for a certain number of years? The churches may also be too heavily dependent on the monthly rent payments to consider removing the antennas.

Something disturbing I discovered while searching through the AntennaSearch.com website, is that the vast majority of cell antennas inside of church steeples are not registered through the FCC and so they do not appear on the AntennaSearch.com map. Consequently, if one does not have an electrosmog meter, then they would not know if they are possibly buying a house or renting an apartment next to a large cell tower. Are most of these deals between churches and telecom companies done behind closed doors to prevent neighbors from protesting against their installation inside or even outside of the steeples? Much more investigation is needed looking into this matter.

Update (2023): I discovered that the church cell antennas do appear on the cellmapper.net database. Interestingly all three steeples that had cell antennas that were not listed on the AntennaSearch.com site are owned by T-Mobile.

Example of cell antennas camouflaged with red brick paint on the outside of the top portion of a church steeple. The red arrow depicts the exact location of the antennas. Image courtesy of Google Earth.
With my Cornet ED-88T Plus electrosmog meter I was picking up readings of around 5,000 to 45,000 µw/m^2 of radiofrequency (RF) radiation in direct line of sight with this church steeple. No antennas are visible around the church steeple, but the background readings in this neighborhood range from below 10 to 100 µw/m^2, suggesting the antennas are hidden inside of the church bell chamber depicted by the red arrow in the image.

General Decline of Tree Health

Earth Processes, Environmental Health, , ,

As of 2021, the cumulative effect of many different types of pollution is really showing itself on many different species of trees. The photographs below, taken in New England over the past year, demonstrate a significant decline in tree health in certain areas. A similar decline in tree health is evident in many other parts of the world as well. Thinning crowns, smaller leaves, less dense forest canopies, and dead trees (many of which were not that old) have been observed, especially along major roadways and highways. Decades of road salt application, excessive microwave and radiofrequency radiation, particulate pollution, natural gas leaks, and drought are probably all synergistic culprits in causing this decline.

How are the trees doing where you live?