Has anyone thought of 5G effects on the bird, and bees, and us?
You mean 5G cell phone towers? I don’t know much about them or the expected effect.
Here’s something on it, re birds: https://www.audubon.org/news/no-5g-radio-waves-do-not-kill-birds
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The main news of bird deaths due to technology seem to focus on wind turbines and solar farms.
https://www.fws.gov/birds/bird-enthusiasts/threats-to-birds/collisions/wind-turbines.php
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/solar-farms-threaten-birds/
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5G towers and other similar structures emit electromagnetic (EM) radiation in the radio-wave frequency range. The famous photoelectric effect tells us that the energy of a photon (which can be seen as a quantum of EM radiation) is proportional to its frequency and hence inversely proportional to its wavelength. Since radio waves are long wavelength (ie. short frequency) radiation, the energy they carry is not significant at all so it is extremely unlikely that any biological system would be damaged by standing near sources of radio-wave emitters (eg. mobile phone towers, radio stations etc.). On the other hand, high frequency radiation such as x-rays are able to modify the structure of an atom by ionising the inner shell electrons and hence has the ability to damage biological structures such as cells and DNA.
So via basic physics I expect that the radiation 5G towers (and other similar structures) emit is perfectly safe for birds, bees, us humans (and other animals). On the other hand, the physical structures themselves may pose certain questions from an ecological point of view, eg. roosting and nesting location preferences, adaption to the urban ecosystem etc.
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5G also is not causing covid or other weird stuff that media loves to claim on it. :)
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Total non issue.
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4G did not, is not killing the bees; 5G is not killing the bees; and just to throw it out before the media jumps on it 8-10 years from now, 6G will also not kill the bees.
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We’re seeing a large number of migratory bird deaths in the Southwestern US, such as here in New Mexico, since late August. I doubt 5G has anything to do with it. Impacts from wildfires? The unseasonable cold front that hit around September 7-8? Don’t know.
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I love this website
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Someone created a profile in inaturalist just to post this question and erased it afterwards. He really does not seem very worried about those birds and bees in the end.
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I wonder how come that i don’t see the “this is the first time…” forums notification for this particular user who joined and made their first post about three hours ago.
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Someone made a project for that: https://www.inaturalist.org/projects/southwest-avian-mortality-project
And they were on the news: https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/growing-number-of-dead-birds-in-southern-new-mexico-raise-alarm-for-wildlife-experts/5861193/
A few users have emailed help@inat with reports, so the word is getting out. I had to direct them to post directly to iNat, but it shows interest.
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Wow… usually, we are rather non-political here, which I value very much. Well, at least the discussion gave us the opening to look at the scientific evidence
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Yes… thanks for noting that. Combined with carber’s post, it seems this may be a case of trolling.
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What are their food sources? A severe prolonged drought here in Auckland resulted in many forest fruits not ripening, instead drying and falling.
Tree canopy was thinned by leaf shrinkage and loss. (Most of our native trees are evergreen.).
Streams dried up, and the ground was bone dry for months, no dew, no moisture under leaf litter, no rotting of vegetation to produce food for worms etc, so I expect insect populations were reducecd.
I don’t know if any migratory birds were affected as I dont know birds well, but I am sure wildlife generally was stressed, at least.
I certainly was:)
After 3 long years of drought, Cape Town dams are about to overflow. This is a spectacular year for our spring flowers (and I guess for insects and birds)
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So many dead owls too.
Great to hear Diana, it gives me hope as we appear to be entering another dry Spring…although the effects here in Auckland are not as radical I expect.
But being told the city may run out of drinking water through bad planning, banning rainwater collection for outdoor use in recent years, is!
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Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that. Otherwise microwaves and stoves would be useless. The amount of radiation at a given frequency is also a factor.
That said, 5G towers are not anymore of a threat than any other tall structure. Yep lots of birds and bats fly into them. Cats are a much bigger cause of death.
The only plausible issue than I’ve heard of for 5G is remote sensing or astronomy related. The 5G signal swamps out natural sources in those frequencies. https://weather.com/news/news/2019-04-30-5g-networks-interfere-with-weather-forecasts
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