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Getting Involved
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Whether lowering wireless emissions in your own yard
or protesting wireless cell tower placement near a local wildlife habitat,
you can play a critical role in protecting the ecosystems in your area.
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Many wireless communication devices can be wired via Ethernet cable,
dramatically reducing the impact on ecosystems in your yard and beyond.
Laptops, streaming devices, and security cameras can all be connected through wired cables, rather than wirelessly.
Most electric utility companies offer a wireless meter opt-out for customers interested in reducing
their wireless footprint for environmental or health reasons.
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Reduce your wireless footprint
without sacrificing your connection to the modern world.
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Take Back Your Yard:
3 Ways To Improve the Electromagnetic Health of Your Garden or Yard
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Reducing man-made wireless emissions in your yard is a great way to create a safer habitat for butterflies, bees, birds, and frogs. Here are three easy ways to get started:
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1. Unplug your router at night. Most modern router emissions extend far beyond the walls of the home, into the front and back yard, and often into other yards nearby. They emit radio-frequency (RF) radiation continuously, including overnight while not in use, as long as they are plugged in. Simply unplugging the router at night while you sleep will give nearby birds and pollinators a break overnight. Alternatively a simple timer can be attached to automatically power the router off and back on at designated times.
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2. Protect the outdoors from your smart utility meter. Residential and commercial smart meters emit pulsed RF radiation into the yard outside. These emission then reach birds that may be nesting close by, as well as migratory birds and wildlife passing through. Because smart meters gather household energy data for real-time analysis, they emit frequent bursts of RF radiation 24/7, meaning that sensitive outdoor species are exposed night and day to the emissions. One great way to protect the many species in your yard is to place a metal mesh cover over your meter. Commercial covers are designed to allow meter readings while still blocking most background meter emissions.
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3. Wire up. The best way to eliminate outdoor radio-frequency radiation is to "Ethernet your internet." This means wiring up your internet connection by using Ethernet cables to connect laptops and other devices to the Ethernet port on your router. Wired connections were originally the default for home computing, and are used today by many government agencies, medical centers and professional gamers seeking to optimize speed and security. In 2024 a number of TV sticks and other streaming devices were released with Ethernet on/off switches for customers desiring wired connections. ​
Go Offline When You Enjoy the Outdoors
Power Down or Use Airplane Mode​
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Try unplugging during walks on nature trails and in parks. Experiment with how it feels to listen to nature without streaming music or scrolling news. Birds and wildlife nearby may be in the line of fire when our cell phones and wireless devices transmit to nearby cell towers. Maybe people are surprised to learn that their cell phones are emitting constantly even when they are not actively on a phone call or texting, due to the large number of background apps and navigation calculations that are constantly active on modern phones. Many phones are constantly scanning for 5G, 4G, 3G, bluetooth, and GPS even when the phone is not being used. This means that delicate birds and wildlife between you and the nearest cell tower are receiving the phone's radiofrequency emissions constantly when you are outdoors simply trying to enjoy your time with them.
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A great way to further reduce your electronic footprint while outdoors is to encourage your hiking companions, birding group members, and other nature lovers to place their cellphones on airplane or turn them completely off. Airplane mode often only deactivates a fraction of wireless emissions, while allowing frequencies that don't conflict with air travel frequencies. This means that turning the phone completely off for that outdoor walk is the best choice.
Radiofrequency Radiation and Your Pet
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Constant exposure to man-made wireless emissions is an emerging environmental stressor that can impact pets.
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In March 2024, biologists in the academic journal
Frontiers in Veterinary Medicine published a ground-
breaking scientific paper describing the negative
health effects of wireless tracking and other wireless
technologies on wildlife and domestic pets.
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They urged “more caution in the wildlife and
veterinarian communities before such technologies
are used.”
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The researchers characterized tracking and other wireless device emissions as “radiation pollution” and described “negative physiological effects” to wildlife and domestic pets.
Since our pets live alongside us, their exposure to wireless radiation has grown steeply in the past two decades. Smart TVs and phones, streaming devices, virtual assistants, and wireless laptops are all sources of radiofrequency radiation inside the home that can reach your pet’s living space.
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Our cellular devices rely on a vast network of cell towers which also emit radio frequency radiation day and night. As the numbers of cell towers increase, more residential homes are within close proximity, meaning that the cell tower emissions reach more of our pets.
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In July 2023, an expert panel of biologists and
wildlife experts reported on the harmful impacts
of cell tower radiation on mammals, birds, and
wildlife:
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Study co-author Dr. Blake Levitt stated that
radio-frequency radiation from cell towers
and cell phones caused harm in every animal
model studied.​​​​​​
FCC guidelines set limits on human absorption, but do not address safety limits for small animals.
We urge "more caution in the wildlife and veterinarian communities before such technologies are used."
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- Manville et al., 2024 in
Consider a corded landline phone for home use.
Consider an Ethernet-cabled laptop instead of a wireless connection, especially near your pet's sleeping areas.​
​​​​How Can I Protect My Pet?
Small Changes, Big Impacts
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​Fortunately, small changes can improve a pet’s electromagnetic environment with minimal inconvenience to humans.
Closer proximity to wireless devices has been correlated with higher risk of negative health effects. This means that allowing your pet some distance from wireless devices is important.
Is your pet’s bed in the same room as your wireless router? Moving the pet's bed to a different room, or moving the router, will reduce the pet's radiofrequency (RF) radiation exposure substantially.
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3 Steps to Unplug Your Pets:
Here are three easy ways to clean up your pet's electrical environment by reducing their wireless radiation exposure.
Pull the Plug: Give your pet's body a break during critical sleep time by physically unplugging routers from the wall, or attaching automatic timers.
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Access to Lo-Fi: You can create a safe space for your pets by keeping streaming devices and routers in a different room from their sleeping space. Does your dog or cat like to watch movies with you or lay on your laptop to get your attention? Try uploading movies first and then putting the device on airplane.
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Wire Up: Eliminating wireless emissions has become
easier as many modern devices now come equipped
with "wired" options such as on/off Ethernet connections.
In 2024, several major tech companies launched streaming
devices and routers with user-friendly wired options as
an alternative to wireless. Corded landline phones are a great
option for home use, allowing cell phones to be powered
off overnight. ​​
A domestic cat's brain is smaller than a human's and may more easily absorb wireless frequencies.
A great way to get involved is to oppose the placement of cell towers in your community's parks and natural wildlife habitats.
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The story of Amazon Creek in Eugene, Oregon is the story of simple steps that neighbors in a small community took to protect threatened and endangered species from wireless infrastructure and emissions. Amazon Creek is a protected nature area, implemented for biodiversity conservation and habitat protection.
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An application for installation of a 75-foot cell tower was submitted by a major telecommunications company in 2013 on a church property located next to the Amazon Creek protected nature area.
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The cellular provider erecting the tower was required to notify neighbors residing within 500 feet of the proposed tower, but community members expressed concern that no notices were mailed. There was only one report of a singular utility pole displaying a 8.5 x 11 inch poster about the proposed tower.
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A meeting was organized at the church to discuss the planned tower. A nearby resident read about the meeting in the newspaper and decided to raise awareness about the meeting by placing fliers under the doormats at 200 of her neighbors' homes. When the meeting was held to discuss the planned cell tower, the church was filled with concerned neighbors and residents. Expert testimony in opposition to the tower's construction was heard before the City Planning Department. More at ElectronicSilentSpring.com. ​​
Enlist the Help of Your School Board in Protecting the Ecosystems Near Schools ​​
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Cell towers on school campuses impact vast ecosystems because the radio-frequency emissions reach outward in a radius of one to 25 miles depending on the frequency, network capacity, and geographical landscape. This means that birds and wildlife are affected in any surrounding parks, forests, and gardens within many miles of the school.
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By working with your local school board, you may be able to block the placement of cell towers on campus at your child's school.
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A recent success story involves the grassroots Pittsfield Cell Tower Concerned Citizens who objected to the building of four cell towers on and near their children's school campus.
Addressing the school board on July 23, 2024, parent Maryam Esfarjani expressed her concerns about reliance on outdated studies on electromagnetic radiation, as well as lack on longitudinal studies looking into the long-term health and environmental impacts of radiofrequency exposure over many years or decades. She requested that the tower construction be halted at least until the FCC testifies in a federal court case, as it was ordered to do, about whether it ignored scientific evidence showing environmental as well as human harm from wireless radiation.
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“We respectfully request that no cell towers be built on LCPS schools
until the FCC has responded to the federal court.”
- Parent Maryam Esfarjani
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The work of Esfarjani and other parents paid off on August 1, 2024, when the Mayor of Point Pleasant Beach in Pittsburgh announced that attorneys for the borough had notified the cellular company installing four cell towers on and near school campuses that the towers must be taken down. ​
Contact Your Congressional Representatives
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Is there a park, migratory route, or protected wildlife area in or near your community?
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Make sure that no cell towers are erected within 500 feet of birds, wildlife, and ecosystems that may be harmed by radiofrequency emissions.
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Many citizens are surprised to learn that state and local regulation of cell tower placement is expressly prohibited on the basis of environmental concerns.
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Unfortunately, the current regulatory statute in the U.S. Code expressly prohibits consideration of environmental impact when placing new cell towers, as long as the towers meet federal compliance through the FCC.
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"No State or local government
or instrumentality thereof
may regulate the placement, construction, and modification of personal wireless service facilities on the basis of the environmental effects
of radio frequency emissions to the extent that such facilities comply with the [Federal Communications] Commission's regulations concerning such emissions." 47 U.S. Code § 332(c)(7)(B))(iv)
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Let your Congressional representatives know that you believe local environmental concerns should be allowed as a basis for opposing the new cell tower placement.
A Legal Challenge to 47 U.S. Code § 332:
Express Omission of Environmental Effects
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There has already been at least one legal challenge to the regulatory statute which expressly prohibits consideration of environmental impacts when making decisions about new cell tower placement: Santa Fe Alliance for Public Health and Safety v. City of Santa Fe.
"The questions presented are as follows:
1. Whether Section 704 violates petitioners’ First Amendment right
to petition the government by pursuing claims in court.
2. Whether the term “environmental effects" in Section 704
includes effects on human health."
Protect Your Right to Vote on Cell Tower Placement
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A California City Park Succeeds in Protecting
Voter Approval Requirement Before Erecting Cell Tower
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The City of Huntington Beach, California used the legal system to protect voter rights in its city. The City informed a cellular carrier that it must obtain approval from city voters before leasing city park property for placement of a new cell tower. This voter approval requirement was possible under a section of an existing city charter known as "Measure C" that laid out voter rights regarding proposed development projects on Huntington Beach city property.
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The cellular company argued that voter approval was unnecessary because the voter approval requirement was preempted by the Telecommunications Act of 1996.
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The disagreement was decided by the Ninth Circuit court, which found that voter approval was in fact required before constructing a cell tower on city-owned park property, under the city's Measure C requirement.
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"The panel held that the Telecommunications Act of 1996
did not preempt the City of Huntington Beach’s decision
to require a company to obtain voter approval
before constructing a mobile telephone antenna
on city-owned park property."
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https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2013/12/11/10-56877%20web_a.pdf
