Page 65 - Carbon Capitalism and Communication Confronting Climate Crisis

4 DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT … 49

EMPLOYEE HEALTH
Related to the physical impact of digital technologies’ energy consumption
is the effect they have on personal health of those working in green
organizations (Grossman 2016). Like most contemporary organizations,
NGO offices are equipped with an array of ICTs and peripheral devices.
Photocopy machines emit clouds of particulate matter that can adversely
affect the health of office workers (Elango et al. 2013). Mobile devices have
been scientifically linked to biological harm: cases include cancer clusters
around cell towers and concerns over effects of long term exposure to
radiation emitted by mobile devices. By demonstrating how staff members’
occupational health and safety is monitored and cared for, environmental
NGOs can provide their supporters with a model for the digital workplace,
and also further demystify the clean-industry image of digital technology.
With the advent of manufactured, artificial electromagnetic fields
(EMFs) we have altered our electromagnetic environment on a scale that is
unprecedented in our evolutionary history. The consequences of this
intervention are only beginning to be understood by scientists. 10 But the
big brands that market mobile devices know that their radio frequency
emissions can cause harm. Researchers have studied the thermal effects of
this radiation in laboratory experiments, which measure the range of
radiation from a stationary device without taking into account the mod-
ulated bursts of radiation that happen every 900 ms when networked
devices report to adjacent cell towers. In that moment, whether or not
you’re using the phone or other gadget, the radiation reaches critical
11
levels.
It’s not surprising that environmental organizations tend to provide
little help to employees on these issues. There’s a widespread assumption
among consumers that mobile devices, and wireless transmission more
generally, are harmless. Even by conservative estimates, this is questionable.
The World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on
Cancer advised that the group of frequencies that includes cell phone
emissions “is possibly carcinogenic to humans”. The US National Cancer
Institute urges people to be cautious because additional research is needed
to analyze these rapidly changing technologies. The American Academy of
Pediatrics called on the US Federal Communications Commission and the
Food and Drug Administration to revise EMF standards to account for
different peoples’ vulnerability to cancer from cell phones, notably