Microwaving Sebastopol? Council Meeting Tuesday March 18th 7 pm

[Sasu]

On Tues. March 18th at 7 pm at the Sebastopol Youth Annex the City Council will be reviewing their decision to approve city wide Wi-Fi, which emits pulsed electromagnetic microwave radiation 24/7.
Each unit has a range of 600 feet. These frequencies penetrate buildings and our bodies.

Join Sebastopol residents, business owners, doctors and people who work and frequent Sebastopol in asking the City Council to vote NO on Wi-Fi! Sign the online petition https://www.petitiononline.com/mufifree/petition.html

Electromagnetic Radiation: the Invisible Hazard

Let's Choose Caution Over Convenience!

"I have no doubt in my mind that, at the present time, the greatest polluting element in the earth's environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields." Robert Becker, M.D., pioneering researcher of biological electricity and regeneration. Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize. Author of “The Body Electric” and “Cross Currents” https://www.energyfields.org/science/becker.html

· The European Environment Agency advises no Wi-Fi. The London Resolution endorsed by expert global scientists and public health experts calls for no Wi-Fi in homes, schools and public places. The World Health Organization suggests prudent avoidance to reduce children’s exposure. The Benevento Resolution, signed by 48 peer reviewed scientists worldwide, urges precaution and promotion of wired alternatives. https://www.icems.eu

· The Bioinitiative Reportcalls for biology based safety standards for electromagnetic fields. City wide Wi-Fi will add even more electromagnetic radiation to the existing exposures in our plaza, streets, homes and parks. https://www.bioinitiative.org

· Electrical hypersensitivity is an emerging global health problem. It is estimated between 3 and 8% are electrosensitive and up to 35% have moderate symptoms with impaired immune systems and chronic illness. The implications are great when you consider the effect on economic productivity, health care, fertility and ultimately the future, as these frequencies can be genotoxic. https://www.energyfields.org/pdfs/Wi...as-Science.pdf

"I have been collecting and integrating biological and epidemiological evidence from all around the world and will show that electromagnetic radiation is a ubiquitous universal genotoxic carcinogen that is causing massive increases in cancer, cardiac, neurological and reproductive health effects. If we set public health standards on this evidence then we could significantly reduce sickness in families..." Neil Cherry, Ph.D. environmental physicisthttps://www.neilcherry.com/

Wireless Industry writes, “... Further research and studies are ongoing, and we cannot be sure that additional studies will not demonstrate a link between radio frequency emissions and health concerns.” Numerous studies have linked electromagnetic fields to health risks:. https://www.powerwatch.org.uk/studies.asp

Europe's top environmental watchdog is calling for immediate action to reduce exposure to radiation from Wi-Fi, mobile phones and their masts. It suggests that delay could lead to a health crisis similar to those caused by asbestos, smoking and lead in petrol. The warning, from the EU's European Environment Agency (EEA) follows an international scientific review which concluded that safety limits set for the radiation are "thousands of times too lenient”. Sept 2007 NZ Herald

Is it really wise and safe to subject ourselves to whole-body irradiation, all around the clock and wherever we are, with the same mobile radiation which laboratory studies have shown to cause serious injuries and effects?" Dr. Olle Johansson of Sweden's Karolinska Institute

What you can do to help:

• Sign the online petition and come to the City Council meeting March 18th !
• Write a letter to the editor: [email protected] [email protected]
• Call the city 823-1153 or write the City Council: mayor: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
• Circulate flyers and petition to your neighbors and friends. Contact: [email protected]
• Learn more: https://www.emrpolicy.org https://www.radiationresearch.org www.antennafreeunion.org https://www.emrnetwork.org https://www.wave-guide.org

Sandi Maurer, Electrical Pollution/Sensitivity Research & Education
Michael Neuert, Electrical Engineer and EMF Consultant www.emfcenter.com
Melissa Weaver, Environmental Health Consultant and Educator, www.sustainablehealth.com
Layna Berman, www.yourownhealthandfitness.org, Health Educator, KPFA talk show host
Jeffry Fawcett, PhD President of the Sustainable Health Institute, www.sustainablehealthinstitute.org

[Sasu]

First I want to thank Larry. He offered to meet with anyone who wanted to have a conversation with him, and he followed through by meeting with me today.

Larry wants the Wi-Fi because he believes it will offer a bridge for the cultural divide, meaning closing the educational/informational gap for low income. And he feels that this is more important than the health concerns.

I didn't think to ask him, but I wonder where that idea came from. I have been a very poor single mom with a welfare check of $550 a month and rent of $425. This was before internet, but I paid my phone bill and rent. To think a whole city would be further polluted on my behalf would have been a serious insult, not a benefit for me.

That said Larry is open to reading more science.

Sam Pierce has not changed his position but says he is open to learning more.

Please let me know if you plan to attend the meeting on Mar 18 and if you are willing to speak or read online comments from the petition or help pass out flyers downtown? Thanks, Sandi

[Zeno Swijtink]

First I want to thank Larry. He offered to meet with anyone who wanted to have a conversation with him, and he followed through by meeting with me today.

Larry wants the Wi-Fi because he believes it will offer a bridge for the cultural divide, meaning closing the educational/informational gap for low income. And he feels that this is more important than the health concerns.

Larry's intensions are laudable, but unrealistic. Closing the educational/informational gap for low income by providing free internet access thru wi-fi? This requires low income people to have (laptop) computer with wireless card.

Better to work with public library and improve availability of internet access there.

Better to have SRJC open a satellite campus in Sebastopol, with low-cost courses that can enrich and empower low income people.

[shellebelle]

I disagree my wifi/dsl connection has allowed me to enjoy the free classes podcast from Berkley now - though I am not officially in the class but I get great education. So yes if the person wants to gain education wifi/dsl can do it!

Larry's intensions are laudable, but unrealistic. Closing the educational/informational gap for low income by providing free internet access thru wi-fi? This requires low income people to have (laptop) computer with wireless card.

Better to work with public library and improve availability of internet access there.

Better to have SRJC open a satellite campus in Sebastopol, with low-cost courses that can enrich and empower low income people.

[Zeno Swijtink]

I disagree my wifi/dsl connection has allowed me to enjoy the free classes podcast from Berkley now - though I am not officially in the class but I get great education. So yes if the person wants to gain education wifi/dsl can do it!

DSL is a cable with high bandwidth, bits/sec, has nothing to do with wi-fi. No need to have the last feet of the connection to be wireless.

Free podcasts from our great universities can still be enjoyed just with cable or dsl lines.

[shellebelle]

Yes but FREE DSL seems not to be an option and FREE WIFI is!

GO FREE WIFI!!!

Lets get real it does connect those with limited resources to the internet. Anyone on a budget who can save that $20 month for DSL by getting on the FREE WIFI (like college kids, high school students, fixed incomes, etc) I am all for! I don't care if its to file their unemployment insurance or turn in their projects to their college professors and anything in between!

My kids professors and even their high school teachers not only require computer access but also require that projects be done in certain versions of programs. If they can save that $20 I am all for it - $20 saved is half a tank of gas!

DSL is a cable with high bandwidth, bits/sec, has nothing to do with wi-fi. No need to have the last feet of the connection to be wireless.

Free podcasts from our great universities can still be enjoyed just with cable or dsl lines.

[Sasu]

Do you live in Sebastopol? Will it benefit you?
Do you know anyone in Sebastopol who cannot afford the internet and wants it regardless of hundreds of people including doctors expressing health concerns? How many will actually benefit?

A senior who lives at the Burbank housing gathered 72 (40%) of the communities signatures asking that a wi-fi antennae not be placed on the rec room. THere are certainly many on a fixed income there. So do you go against them and put it there any way to bridge the cultural divide?

Have you read the online petition comments? https://www.petitiononline.com/mufifree/petition.html

Have you browsed the Bioinitiative? https://bioinitiative.org

[shellebelle]

I live on the border of Sebastopol, one of my lovers lives in Sebastopol, I have been trying for almost a year to get my son into school in Sebastopol, and so yes it will effect me! It will effect many people I know and the businesses I frequent! It will be a determining factor in whether I buy my home in very inexpensive Sebastopol or move somewhere else. It will effect me in that I spend more time in Sebastopol than any other place other than work. It will affect the surrounding communities in that their residents will have a place to come and draw more shoppers into Sebastopol! Yeh for business!!

It will affect the next generation in giving them access despite their limited income - many high school kids can not afford $20 a month for internet access - so for these kids it means they have a chance to potentially be educated despite not having the advantages of internet access at home no matter where in the local community the officially live.


Heres the deal:

You are making your choices based on your concerns - great! Your knowledge base - great!

Then you are forcing your beliefs on me! NOT SO GREAT!

I have my own beliefs and in your world I would probably be a techie. In my world I am the techies' girlfriend.

I have been online since 1992 and vying for internet access to be FREE for almost as long!

At this point you have not read anything about what you plan to do to bring technology to the masses as an alternative you have just posted other peoples thoughts and your fears.

I am not afraid of technology or microwaves or any of that other. Now on the other side I do not want it polluting my line of vision either.

So WIFI! YEH!!! Equal Access For All!!!!

Do you live in Sebastopol? Will it benefit you?
Do you know anyone in Sebastopol who cannot afford the internet and wants it regardless of hundreds of people including doctors expressing health concerns? How many will actually benefit?

A senior who lives at the Burbank housing gathered 72 (40%) of the communities signatures asking that a wi-fi antennae not be placed on the rec room. THere are certainly many on a fixed income there. So do you go against them and put it there any way to bridge the cultural divide?

Have you read the online petition comments? https://www.petitiononline.com/mufifree/petition.html

Have you browsed the Bioinitiative? https://bioinitiative.org

[Zeno Swijtink]

I live on the border of Sebastopol, one of my lovers lives in Sebastopol, I have been trying for almost a year to get my son into school in Sebastopol, and so yes it will effect me! It will effect many people I know and the businesses I frequent! It will be a determining factor in whether I buy my home in very inexpensive Sebastopol or move somewhere else. It will effect me in that I spend more time in Sebastopol than any other place other than work. [B]It will affect the surrounding communities in that their residents will have a place to come and draw more shoppers into Sebastopol! Yeh for business!!

Shellebelle, You don't seem to fit the category of low income that Larry is concerned with if you are thinking about buying a house in Sebastopol and have the time and leisure to have more than one lover

[shellebelle]

That's my choice, "to not seem to fit".

So I guess the truth be told I am a poster child of how to live rich while income challenged.

Yet by Federal, State and County definitions I am - though not for long!

Shellebelle, You don't seem to fit the category of low income that Larry is concerned with if you are thinking about buying a house in Sebastopol and have the time and leisure to have more than one lover

[PeriodThree]

Thank you for posting the email addresses of our city council members.

I sent them an email expressing my support for the wifi network.

Years ago I was part of the NoCat community networking group. Some of us optimistically thought we could help to build a stronger local community by building a community network.

To a certain extent that worked. Building wireless networks, especially for low cost, requires building community. Meeting your neighbors, talking with businesses to try to get on their roofs, building consensus with community groups and schools. We wrote lot of software for captive portals, and for mapping. We tried.

We had the conceit, the fable, the founding myth that it was possible for a rag tag group of amateurs to build Carrier Class Communications Infrastructure with antennas made from Pringles cans and Coffee cans, and hacked together repurposed computers and routers, and a stripped down custom Linux distribution.

And to an extent we failed. Building community is hard work. And at least part of that difficulty in building a community with technology comes from
dealing with activists who are opposed to what you are doing, and who use deeply emotionally damaging tactics in manifesting their opposition.

While we were building our network we watched with horror what was happening in Mendocino. The local ISP, which is owned by the school district, was attempting to provide high speed internet access by way of WiFi. There was no way to provide DSL up their at the time for all sorts of reasons mostly involving our fairly lame telecom policy.

They were having good success, advancing the state of the art, and getting a fairly isolated community connected. And then they made the mistake of publicizing their efforts. And they were slammed. Slammed in hateful and destructive and personal ways.

And our little group fragmented. Not just because of the drama up north, but that was part of it. At a deep personal level I was unable to sustain my focus on connecting a community in the face of the sort of antagonism which I received from my community.

The same sort of antagonism evident in subject lines like 'Microwaving Sebastopol.'

I wrote that to an extent we failed, and to another extent we succeeded.

Rob Flickenger wrote some books, including _Building Wireless Community Networks_, and the first edition of _Wireless Hacks_. Among other things he went on to run workshops on building real communications infrastructure for voice and data in the 3rd world using off the shelf and hacked gear. He now runs a publishing house, https://hackerfriendly.com. Their first books is _Wireless Networking in the Developing World _

Roger Weeks wrote the books _Linux Unwired_ and the second edition of _Wireless Hacks_. Schuyler Erle coauthored, with me as it happens :-) some books on mapping. He does lots of stuff, including running workshops in India on community mapping.

Parts of the network morphed into a 'bandwidth collective,' of people who can't, or could not, get broadband. There are a lot more people worthy of shout outs who I am leaving out.

One of the members of the family who is most responsible for NoCat's creation works for Sonic. Last I heard they still get their connectivity from the network.

There are literally a _lot_ of people in India and Africa who have connectivity because of the work which started in little Sebastopol (to give proper credit, it is also due to work which happened all over as well - but we can take pride in our hugely disproportianate role in the growth of community driven networking and mapping!).

These are people in the third world who perhaps owe their knowledge of Oral Rehydration Solution to their internet connection. There are definitely people in the third world who are able to avoid bringing crops to market on the days when prices are low because they now have a network connection.

We were working on something great. Something that mattered. Something which still matters. And that thing was slowed by the same people who now want us to oppose Wifi in Sebastopol. It was slowed by people who will quote the precautionary principle, but who won't include the costs of doing nothing in their calculations.

Here are the addresses of our city council again. It would probably help if you mentioned whether or not you are a resident of Sebastopol.

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[shellebelle]

I wrote in too! Thanks for pointing this out!

Hey and thanks for being willing to expand despite opposition.

Thank you for posting the email addresses of our city council members.

I sent them an email expressing my support for the wifi network.



Here are the addresses of our city council again. It would probably help if you mentioned whether or not you are a resident of Sebastopol.

[email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected], [email protected],

[shellebelle]

Hey I got a very nice note back from Sam Pierce!

I didn't expect anyone to respond and that was really nice! Honestly I wasn't sure anyone would even read it. Coming from the big city here so unless you are Disney no one listened. This was very refreshing and very nice!

I really appreciate my being heard and being able to weigh in!

I wrote in too! Thanks for pointing this out!

Hey and thanks for being willing to expand despite opposition.