Mapping Our Technosphere
May 2023 Newsletter from Katie Singer
My new report, “Transportation within our means,”
illuminutes the shocking realities of electrifying everything.
It’s posted at
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Last March, after Judge Miranda Du ruled that there’s no ecological reason to stop lithium mining at Thacker Pass, Nevada, Lithium Americas began constructing a mining site. E-vehicles’ and mobile devices’ batteries depend on lithium. Last week, elders from the nearby Paiute-Shoshone tribe established Ox Sam Camp to prevent further destruction of Thacker Pass. Attorney Will Falk speaks about lithium mining—one way that electric vehicles harm the earth.
Because telecommunications requires millions of miles of fiber optic cables, thousands of towers, earth-based stations and satellites, and hundreds of thousands of small cells, the telecom industry’s environmental footprint leaves wetlands filled, viewsheds marred, cultural resources damaged and wildlife habitat destroyed. Former FCC attorney Erica Rosenberg has documented the FCC’s failure to fulfill its mandatory duties related to environmental review regarding deployment of telecommunications infrastructure. View Erica Rosenberg interviewed by EH Trust’s Theodora Scarato. Read Rosenberg’s paper, Environmental Procedures at the FCC: A Case Study in Corporate Capture.
AI developer Gregory Hinton believes that AIs are now very close to being more intelligent than humans. Because of this profound risk to humanity, Hinton and more than 1000 researchers and technologists have called for a six-month pause on AI development. Could we also pause tech developments until fire hazards, collapse hazards, and threats to public health and wildlife habitats are mitigated?
A Michigan boy’s not having a cellphone allowed him to save his schoolbus from crashing.
Canadians for Safe Technology presents Katie Singer’s talk:
“Unexplored Policies for Safer, More Responsible Technologies”
Tuesday, May 23rd, 7:30 pm Eastern. The event is free:
https://zoom.us/j/97250411732?pwd=YU9kZlE5S291anpkOVI3VzVaQ2hGQT09 Meeting ID: 972 5041 1732; Passcode: C4STRR
Or, find your local phone number to connect: https://zoom.us/u/adqLEcepOB Mtg ID: 972 5041 1732; Passcode: 481062
A dear group of friends in rural Kentucky sent me a letter that included the story of the Spanish patron saint of farmers, Isadore, from the twelfth century. Like all stories of Catholic saints, his included miraculous events. Often when I read about various programs for better energy systems, more fair distribution of resources etc. I feel as though we are asking ourselves how we can simplify our lives without "giving up anything". It's a quick step from there to being overwhelmed with work and care (as Isadore was) and I wonder whatever happened to miracles?
My friends have pondered that and tell me, "the truth which emerges is this: If you have your spiritual self in order, your earthly commitments will fall into order also. “Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness,” said the carpenter from Nazareth, our Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, “and all these things will be given you besides” (Matthew 6:33).
As your fellow Substacker , Paul Kingsnorth, has written at length, the Technosphere is far from being "spiritually neutral". Urgency, complexity, brutal unfairness -- this "sphere" is adequate to entrap many of us, preventing our seeking the things of God, also known as miracles.