WiFi Towers Now In Yellowstone National Park
Ah, the great outdoors. How lovely it is to stretch your legs, walk amongst the animals, be one with nature…and check your email? Now, visitors to Yellowstone National Park can do just that, but at what cost?
Around 500 new WiFi antennas have been placed throughout the iconic wildlife preserve in popular areas including Mammoth Hot Springs, Lake Village, Old Faithful, Grant Village and Canyon Village. To give the park its hi-fi makeover without detracting from the “park experience,” most of these antennas have been hidden under eaves, in attics, and painted over alongside houses and on rooftops.
What this means is that along with all the at-risk wildlife in the park, employees and residents of these buildings are also at risk of absorbing dangerous levels of radiation into their bodies.
An Invisible Threat
While they may have done a commendable job hiding the antennas, it doesn’t stop the invisible blasts of WiFi radiation from affecting everything – and everyone – in the park. Insects, birds and plants are most prone to be affected by the disruptive nature and harmful side effects of wireless radiation.
Wireless frequencies can also disrupt the migration of animals as they navigate via the earth’s magnetic field. The frequencies from cordless phones, cell phones and Wi-Fi give birds and other migrating animals conflicting navigational data, making it difficult and sometimes even impossible for them to migrate.
Birds and other wildlife that stay in the area may also find the blasts of RF waves to be very disturbing and choose to leave the area altogether.
Bees are another species already endangered as they are greatly affected by WiFi frequencies. In one study, scientists placed cordless phone bases next to beehives and found that the signals caused the bees to move strangely, Queens laid far fewer eggs, and bees become less likely to return to the hive after leaving – potentially becoming disorientated from the RF and losing their way home.
What’s the Point?
Yellowstone National Parks and pretty much any other park or wildlife preserve you visit already have emergency services and protocols set in place. Millions of people visit these parks each year with no trouble or great inconvenience caused by low cell service, so why bother setting up wireless towers and disrupting all of the plants and animals that call these beautiful areas home?
Around the world, wired fiber-optic cable systems are being developed and put in specific fixed locations in parks. The idea is to provide connection to employee housing or other fixed points where humans gather without exposing the surrounding nature and wildlife to wireless radiation. Other benefits of employing such a system include faster speeds and more secure access than WiFi can offer.
With so many options and such advancements in technology being made each and every day, why is it necessary to expose plants and animals to wireless RF frequencies? Are we really in such dire need to stay tethered to our devices at all times, even in places where we should be appreciating the beauty of nature? What will our wireless obsession ultimately cost us?
Only time will tell.