In response to comments from Jeanne and Wes about cell coverage for emergency services,

Jeanne and Wes, I appreciate your comments and your position in the dialogue about the Telus towers.  I value your work with the fire department and the ambulance and your commitment to helping members in our community.  I understand the role that communication plays in providing emergency services.  I also understand that these services are based out of a goal and desire to contribute to and maintain the health of island residents.  

Now I’ll open it up and address the broader community.  One way that I see the emergency services intersecting the tower issue is this: do you believe that cell phone towers have negative effects on human health and other living beings in proximity?  

I do.

My views and concerns are based out of information I have seen from sources that I trust, along with my deep desire for the health and well being of all of you, even if you disagree with me.  That’s OK.  I love you anyway and wish the best for you and your loved ones.

If you believe that cell towers have no adverse health effects then it would make sense to utilize those technologies to prepare for potential risk in possible future scenarios when conventional communication service is inadequate.  

So here is how I come to my opposition of this communication technology.  When it comes to issues surrounding industrial technology, I find it helpful to reflect on how my beliefs are formed and what information they are built upon.  I have deep concerns about the elements of regulatory capture in the telecommunications industry and the profit motives of billion dollar corporations that indicate we are not getting reliable safety information from them about their products.  We know that time and time again large corporations have been shown to act in illegal operations with impunity, with regulatory bodies in their pockets.  If we disagree on that then we hold different views on how industrial, corporate culture operates.  

I have more trust in the intentions and the integrity of independent studies that display the harm they find from these technologies.  Where does your gut suggest that the motive exists to lie?  Is it with the billion dollar corporation saying their product is safe or the small scientist / researcher speaking out about harm discovered?  There are studies that show these electromagentic frequencies have negative effects on humans and other living beings.  Children have thinner skulls and bone structure which has them at increased risk.

So for me, the immediate risk of these technologies impacting island residents proposes greater risk than the possible future scenarios where emergency communication is not available quick enough. And it is worth noting that Telus cannot say how much the service will actually be improved. This question was asked and Brian Gregg said he does not know. There is a possibility that expectations might be higher than what Telus can deliver in terms of coverage.

We have lived for so long without these technologies and for many reasons, I believe life was better before cell phones.  In industrial nations human health is not optimal and in many important health metrics it is shown to be getting worse.  By an order of magnitude, far more people die from cancer, auto immune disease, heart disease, depression, and suicide than do from car accidents and fires.  That is neither to say that deaths in car accidents and fires are no less tragic nor that all of those other things are solely attributable to cell towers, but cell towers and cell phones are among many unprecedented modern technologies and habits shown to contribute to toxic conditions in the human mind and body.

Cell towers emit constant radiation, and they are constantly ramping up both frequencies delivered and overall saturation with each new iteration and location.  The synergistic effects of how these frequency soups interact with each other are undeniably unprecented and unexplored / studied.  I imagine that one day we will look back on cell phones and wifi and all these technologies the same way we look at doctors prescribing cigarettes for pregnant mothers to lower birthweights for easier deliveries.  Again, call me crazy- I’m OK with that.  I still love you and wish you the best.  We have the same needs for safety and understanding of what’s important to us.  I just see life as better without cell phones.  What does your gut tell you about where we are at with cell phones and modern technology?  I don’t presume to know your answer, nor would I judge it, but I know mine.

And that doesn’t even touch on the psychological and social harms that come along with cell phones, which are also observable and documented in their various, tragic forms.  The most tragic to me being to the most vulnerable among us, our youth.

If you share my concerns, please write a letter to Telus while we still can, before these things get built.  It can be this simple.

“Dear Brian Gregg,

I do not consent for tower BC 109114 - Mansons Landing to be built, nor any other towers on Cortes Island.  Thank you.

Your name.”

That’s it.  Know that throughout this process, Brian Gregg’s required responses have been the typical tone of a lobbyist (who profits from these towers) and seeks to placate and obfuscate.  So I don’t recommend wasting your energy responding to him.  We’ve tried that in depth.  Just getting your non consent on record is the most effective thing that can happen right now.

Here are the email addresses we ask you send a letter to if you are willing:

TELUS C/O Brian Gregg, SitePath Consulting Ltd. -
Phone: 778-870-1388
briangreggsitepathconsulting.com

ISED Innovation,Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) - Phone: 250-363-3803
spectrumvictoria-victoriaspectreised-isde.gc.ca

Safe Tech Cortes - Concerned Cortes residents & the Safetech Team
safetech.cortesprotonmail.com

We can be the island that says no.

Thanks if you’ve made it this far. <3