What matters?
Robots keep signaling me that I need to upgrade my software and get A.I. I’m fine with what I’ve got. The robots have other ideas. Some moments feel like an existential wrestle. I notice my temperature rise. I remind myself that for most of human history, survival has not depended on electricity, cars, smart meters, smartphones, Internet access, solar PVs, battery energy storage or targeted missile strikes (all here whether I like them or not).
Thinking that survival depends on nature, on abiding by nature’s cycles…can seem like a kindergarten lesson that’s no longer relevant.
I clarify that from conception until death, every living creature depends on an ecosystem of water, food, soil, air, insects, birds, fish and other animals. Actually, we depend on the biosphere before conception—for healthy parents—and after death—when the body decomposes and returns to soil.
In what schools does nature serve as our teacher? Who still teaches that all life evolves from heating and cooling and drying and moistening? Glaciers, rocks, plants, animals and menstrual cycles all evolve from these two cycles. Since survival depends on healthy water-soil-plant relationships, could we stop covering soil with paved roads, parking lots, data centers (etc.)? Healthy soil absorbs and holds water. It grows food, cools the temperature and prevents fires. Why not stop cutting down climate-regulating forests (for solar and battery storage facilities, data centers and new housing developments)? Let forests that we have ruined regenerate themselves. Why not pause technological developments until we can do them without ravaging nature? Let go the belief that survival depends on making money and upgrading electronics. Reduce dependence on international supply chains, decrease military spending—and learn to live by the food, water and energy offered within our region’s watershed.
Even in highly populated areas, could we stop deploying new tech infrastructure and encourage people to grow food at schools, hospitals, office complexes, empty lots and windowsills?
Could we teach ourselves to abide by nature’s cycles? I hear that when people do that, we genocide and ecocide become less common.
WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW ABOUT OIL Former Wall Street broker Nate Hagens explains that “the human economy, measured by people times goods and services per person, is now 1000 times bigger than it was 500 years ago. This lens is missing from virtually all mainstream economic and political discussions and analysis. We’re making long-term plans, taking on long-term debts, building long-term institutions and financial systems…all based on the assumption that the energy and material largesse at the top of the carbon pulse is a permanent plateau. It isn’t. It goes up and it will likely come down soon. The downslope has implications for every dimension of civilization, but especially our economic system, because the economy runs on energy.” I highly recommend Nate Hagens’ three brief videos: Oil 101; Oil 201; Oil 301.
Iranian/Canadian Kaveh Madani explains that because of its chemical debris, fallout from explosions, targeting of oil sites and desalination plants, WAR IS THE WORST THING FOR THE ENVIRONMENT. Madani says that problems come from blaming only oil producers—and from excluding oil buyers’ responsibility. See his recent report, Global Water Bankruptcy: Living Beyond Our Hydrological Means in the Post-Crisis Era.
WANT TO RESISIT A DATA CENTER? Organizers from Tennessee, Wisconsin and Arizona share how they did it. A Pennsylvania farmer rejected a huge payment to turn his land into a giant data center. Students at Colorado U/Denver surveyed responses to a $2 million contract between the university and OpenAI. Most students do NOT support this contract.
Landlines are an underrated lifeline—even in 2026. Unlike wireless devices, landlines keep working through power outages. And yet the FCC’s latest rulings can preempt state and local authority over Plain Old Telephone Service (POTS). The FCC’s 2019 Order 19-72A1 and 2025/2026 updates…permit carriers to retire copper lines and transition to modern technology, overriding local “carrier of last resort” (COLR) obligations that force providers to maintain outdated infrastructure.
Beware: Solo screen time poses a unique peril for young children already at risk.
To break the vicious circle that destroys ecosystems, David Bollier, whose work focuses on the commons (a social system for long-term stewardship of resources that preserves shared values and community identity), speaks with degrowth scholar Federico Savini—who explains we need “to focus on building up the essential economies of care, housing, transport, health, education creativity and art.”
AN URGENT UPDATE FROM THEODORA SCARATO A Congressional bill that would fast-track cell towers in front of homes is advancing to a full House vote. H.R. 2289, the American Broadband Deployment Act, has cleared committee and is headed to the full House floor. After the House Rules Committee meets on April 20 at 4 PM to set debate rules, the bill can move quickly to a final vote. If it passes, it goes to the Senate. H.R. 2289 would fast-track cell towers near homes in neighborhoods nationwide, override local control and strip cities and towns of their ability to enforce basic safeguards like setbacks, safety review and community input. This bill will also expand federal preemption regarding RF related health effects.
KEY ACTION STEPS
1. Send a letter to your Congressmember (use our 1-Click tool), then call them!
2. Urge your local officials to write letters and to contact federal representatives.
3. Share this alert with your community.
CELL PHONE AND WIRELESS CORPORATIONS ARE LOBBYING FOR AN IMMEDATE VOTE
On April 13, major telecom and infrastructure groups, including CTIA (The Wireless Association representing corporations such as Apple, AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile), sent a letter to House leadership urging them to bring H.R. 2289 to the floor immediately, “because it directly supports America’s position in the global AI race.”
H.R. 2289 WOULD UNDERMINE PUBLIC SAFETY
On April 16, 2026, the National Association of Counties (NACo), the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCM), the National League of Cities, and the National Association of Telecommunications Officers and Advisors (NATOA) wrote a letter to House leadership stating that H.R. 2289 “would undermine public safety, force local taxpayers to subsidize private corporations and disrupt the very broadband deployment progress it aims to accelerate.” “H.R. 2289 creates a framework that prioritizes communication companies’ shareholder value at the expense of the safety and financial interests of the communities and the taxpayers they serve. Furthermore, by limiting cost-recovery mechanisms for application reviews, the bill effectively forces local taxpayers to subsidize private providers’ administrative expenses – a cost that falls entirely on the public.” “H.R. 2289 as written, would sacrifice local autonomy, impose unfunded mandates, and disrupt deployment progress already underway.”
The National Association of Counties (NACo), representing counties serving more than 80% of the nation’s population, states that “the preemption of local permitting authority will not lead to the expedited build-out of broadband infrastructure, but instead jeopardize the safety of the public.”
RESOURCES TO SHARE WITH POLICYMAKERS
Environmental Health Sciences (EHS) Resources on HR: 2289 with key quotes from letters from states, cities, and towns. Download EHS Factsheet on H.R. 2289
See also letters regarding the FCC proposal to fast-track cell towers.
The National Association of Counties: Oppose the Preemption of Local Broadband Permitting Authorities | National Association of Counties
National Association of Towns and Townships Action Alert: Oppose H.R. 2289, American Broadband Deployment Act. They have a draft letter of opposition for towns.
TAKE ACTION TODAY
Write Your Lawmaker Then call your representatives, set up meetings, elevate this issue in your community—and share resources. We can do this! THANK YOU for standing up.
Henry David Thoreau: THINK OF YOURSELF as an inhabitant of nature, rather than a member of society.
Would you buy me a cup of tea each month and upgrade to paid?
Excellent points. As someone who has been overexposed to RF, this bill is a terrifying additional step toward the end of any good health I've been able to recover by moving to a much less inhabited location more than 4 miles from the nearest cell tower. I live in Washington state with elected officials who care nothing about their communities or their constituents but I sent them my 2 cents anyway. I no longer use tact or careful wording. I tell them exactly like it is. They have earned nothing but DISRESPECT from me. They're going to do what they're going to do but I refuse to stay silent. I feel it's my moral obligation to speak up, not for me, for the entirety of nature itself. That's what's at stake.