We’ve had a little bit of stick about this rant we posted up a few days ago on having to own a smartphone to be able to function in society – How the f**k did we sleepwalk to this point? It’s pretty much on the cards that we’ll have to have some kind of CovidPass on our smartphones at some point if we’re going to be able to continue to be able to get out and about. Those who don’t own smartphones don’t seem to have been taken into consideration. What also seems to be getting missed is the environmental and human cost involved in producing your smartphone.

What baffles and riles us is the number of ‘anarchists’ and ‘radicals’ who in the face of the COVID-19 crisis are unquestioningly urging us to embrace invasive, privacy destroying tracking apps and the environmentally destructive technology that supports them. We would urge these technophiles to read this piece below and then give their heads a bit of a wobble…

5G and the Myth of a Green Transition – Jo Baker | Rethinking Security | 11 September 2020

Far from absurd conspiracy theories about spreading coronavirus, Jo Baker argues that the rapid and seemingly unstoppable spread of 5G is happening without consultation or due consideration of the economic, environmental and climatic impact of such technologies.

5G infrastructure is currently being rolled out in many of our towns and cities. In Bristol, where I live, there has been a spate of planning applications from telecom companies for 20-metre-high monopoles in just a few weeks. A local campaign has resulted in hundreds of objections and Bristol City Council has so far refused sixteen applications on grounds of unsuitable siting and dominant appearance. There is a sense that something is being imposed from above without consultation or consent.

Bristol is well-known for its status as a ‘green’ and ‘smart’ city. It was the European Green Capital in 2015; in 2017 it overtook London as the leading smart city in the Huawei Smart City index; and it was one of the 100 Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Cities. Bristol was the first city in the UK to declare a climate emergency, followed, earlier this year, by an ecological emergency. And herein lies the conundrum. Can a city be both green and smart? Will wireless technology deliver a green transition or will it push us further towards ecological disaster?

You can read the rest of this piece here – https://rethinkingsecurity.org.uk/2020/09/11/5g-and-green-transition/