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Working for thoughtful legislation and action to protect environmental health, justice, and civil rights.

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  1. If you are using our info, please donate. It is costly, we don't make our expenses and overinvest our time.
  2. UPDATED PHONE NO.: 1 November (1 PM) Remote Meetings - Will discuss cell towers in communities, focusing on Holyoke, W. Spfld, as an organizing event. Information on how to join teleconference should be listed in local free papers - or email. We will be using a new phone no., if possible to get changed in the papers. Will update shortly.
  3. STOP 5G,  H. 383, & S.129 phone script (UPDATED). New phone script and lobbying tips neatly listed under MA legislation. H. 383 has advanced. Please call  – a phone call is important at this late date!
  4. 27 October NH 5G Investigation Zoom. Option to attend commission meeting for New Hampshire 5G investigation on Tues Oct 27th 1-3 pm. Keyboard shortcuts here. Or dial: +1 312 626 6799 (US Toll) and enter Meeting ID: 876 076 8986
  5. Medical Conference invitation. A sample invitation for a 27 January conference for medical professionals has been drafted and posted on the blog, and a PDF version can be downloaded. This can be shared with your doctor. This is an external event.
  6. Ordinances. Updated page - share with your local officials.
  7. Email. We continue to have trouble with our email and newsletter. To contact us, please use both emails. Ideally use a corresponding email service (protonmail for pm.me and tutanota for lasttreelaws.com):
    • lasttreelaws.com following action@
    • pm.me following lasttreelaws@
    • as last resort, try Facebook (Last Tree Laws) or @BeattyKirstin (Twitter)
  8. Differences of opinion. We're against both S. 129 and H. 383 as written - and by the way, feel similarly for the New Hampshire bill - here is a critique. S. 129 would likely be an industry-led wireless commission and H. 383 would be. Another group has been supporting S. 129. To explain, our main concern is that Governor Baker, who controls appointees, has historically appointed industry representatives and favored business interests (a few examples: Board of Education, cable monopoly, DPU). If Governor Baker follows his record in favor of big business, then the fight over the report findings would divert from other more useful activities.
  9. Ballot Measure Poll. Please take and share our poll with Massachusetts residents. This is to help our long-term goals.
  10. Collaboration. Help is welcome. Please contact - see contact information in footer below.
  11. Donations. We need donations. Kirstin, co-chair, has put in years of time and invested and her bank account is always about empty despite writing and submitting legislation and sharing freely to help. Every year, continuing and maintaining a presence online is dicey. Being online is costly. Please donate. Scroll up the main page (this one) for the donate button .
  12. Know what you are supporting & question what you are told.
    • Problem guidance. When signing onto shared testimony or using templates, be careful as some have failed to be critical of legislation that was directly connected to industry groups. Avoid signing on in favor of "great" bills that can be changed later anyway, behind closed doors, and stick instead to signing on in support of concrete ideas. See our blog post on bad bills for more.
    • Email waste. Signing onto shared testimony and speaking privately one-to-one with your personal legislators appears more helpful to being heard - we know first-hand some legislators do not read emails due to the number incoming!
    • Email or testimony distribution & privacy. Please only share what you can afford to be public when sending testimony, and stick to sending testimony to legislators because:
      • The wrong people, such as connected to industry, may get and forward sensitive information about your situation, including email address, name, disability, bank or legal problems, unpublished research, or other private information.
      • Strangers are strangers. Even legislators may side with industry against your interests.
    • Dismissal of good legislation. Dr. Tim Schoechle, a telecommunications policy expert, has commended our legislative proposals. We've gotten sponsorship of some good bills. Yet, another group's spokesperson has prefaced introductions of our legislation with negativity, and denied sponsorship of our bills exists.
    • Co-opting voices and advocacy. If a spokesperson speaks on behalf of the group behind closed doors, what is being said? Does the spokesperson represent you or him/herself, i.e. using the group to advance sales, donations, different aims, control, etc.?
    • Collaboration failure. We have shared events of other groups and stopped for now due to lack of (a) time, and (b) for some, lack of fair, sincere quid pro quo and support. We believe in team work, but not at our expense or that of others. Many people work on this issue for free and work hard - failure to provide generous recognition and support increases the pain of doing so and pushes away volunteers.

  1. Starlink satellites are now transmitting in our area.
  2. Boston opposes 5G. The City of Boston has submitted to the FCC a call to "refresh" its outdated exposure guidelines and discusses small wireless facilities (SWFs) as being health concerns. Boston adds that it believes the concerns of the public are real.
  3. Electromagnetic sensitivity: Shelburne Falls
  4. Senator Markey. Markey keeps supporting 5G rollouts.
  5. Federal Representatives Neal and McGovern (Western MA) signed onto bills to reverse FCC decisions against local control (see politician scorecards).
  6. Stop5G ordinance changes: Burlington, Bedford, Lincoln, Southborough, Wayland, Pittsfield, Cambridge (more recent), etc.
  7. Western MA wireless rollout. Senator Hinds and Comerford inserted an amendment for a few million to support wireless in rural western Massachusetts. This is because areas like Monterey complained about Verizon service.
  8. Cell tower opposition: Centerville, Needham, North Andover, Franklin, Leominster,  Dover-Sherborn Regional School, Peabody, Pittsfield, Mashpee, Monterey, Chappaquiddick/ Edgartown (lawsuit before AGO)
  9. Smart meters
    1. Patricia Burke recent commentary Natural Blaze
    2. Greenfield Recorder co-chair Kirstin Beatty recent commentary
    3. Worcester
    4. Concord

  1. New Hampshire 5G/Wireless Investigation proceeding well.
  2. Stop5G Resolutions have been passed by Hawaii County, Easton (CT),  and Farragut (TN) - Trump's Mar-A-Lago is excluded from 5G.
    • For more examples, please see the Environmental Health Trust > Key Issues > 5G
  3. Congress divided on 5G Upgrade Order. The extraordinary 5G Upgrade Order, to preempt local permitting authority, received a letter of opposition and a letter of support from members of Congress. See our politician scorecard for more.

  1. Satellites:
    1. Starlink SpaceX satellites are transmitting for service in N. USA and southern CAN from 44.9 - 51.8. (about Minneapolis to Saskatoon) - the Oct. 6, 2020, launch assured enough transmitting power for consumer beta testing, in contrast to previous employee testing.
    2. Satellite densification:
      1. There were 2 satellites in the 1970s, 3 in the 80s, 215 in the 90s per this graphic: http://graphics.thomsonreuters.com/14/satellites/index.html
      2. Union for Concerned Scientists maintains a list of total operational satellites. https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/satellite-database - another list including nonoperational is here: https://www.pixalytics.com/satellites-orbiting-earth-2019/
    3. Starlink reports "extraordinary demand" August 2020 with nearly 700K requesting service (or are these new subscribers?), leading to a request to double user terminals. The U.S. Army also signed a contract.
    4. Sept. 2020 WA firefighters used Starlink SpaceX satellite transmissions (Nat'l Post, Thomas Seal, 8 Oct 2020).
  2. Verizon Digital Promise Innovative Learning Schools - provides technology with high frequency 28 GHz 5G, primarily to poor schools - see timeline.

I taught 6-12 English until becoming very ill and sensitive to wireless. After, I researched, prepared educational materials, lobbied, strategized, & wrote legislation – like original, first-in-the-nation legislation on screens in schools or attention to wireless and medical care. I've helped many other advocates and organizations, but financially this has been tenuous and remains difficult. So while donations to LTL support LTL, for my benefit I have a new blog, Beatty.fyi, to provide a) my political and educational articles and other resources, b) an option to financially support continuing work, and c) a store of teaching materials and other items. My Twitter tag is @BeattyKirstin.

Tatiana works on housing safety, mold awareness, asthma, the Springfield biomass facility, and other equity issues. Tatiana has been working on increasing wireless awareness in Springfield. She works closely with Arise for Social Justice and Science for the People.

Anon is a freelancer volunteering to assist Last Tree Laws with web page design – she is very busy, however, with other work. She is concerned about poor electromagnetic regulation and protections. She respectfully requests anonymity.

We are still working on legislation for a new ballot measure. We have 2 options:

    1. Direct regulation of environmental toxins.
    2. Systematic overhaul of environmental health regulations (requires more time to draft and edit: a long-term goal).

Please take our poll to check popular support for various proposed solutions.

You can see from our other legislation (MA legislation) that we are serious, but our ballot measure work is still being analyzed and edited and reconsidered.

We are also working on and crafting legislation around electromagnetic pollution such as wireless. We are uncertain whether public sentiment supports electromagnetic regulation so far as to make a ballot measure feasible, but are work on legislation development in this area and promotion of public understanding on this topic for future measures or in case public support exists.

Please consider donating in support!

Our fight for technology regulations isn't just about the environment or technology, but social justice. A lot of legislation out there provides special favors and business opportunities for a few - instead, we favor legislation that helps everyone and avoids promotion of products, individuals, or businesses. Addressing environmental problems should not be an exclusive business opportunity or require payment for knowledge or safety.

Locally, technology needs to be regulated in areas such as:

      • developing safer, accessible technologies;
      • limiting toxic chemicals & managing waste;
      • limits on digital marketing & excess screen time;
      • protecting digital privacy;
      • protecting public education & curriculum;
      • alternatives, such as eco-friendly jobs and entertainment;
      • reducing electromagnetic emissions (wireless and electric exposures);
      • acknowledge hubris and ignorance (e.g. genetic and nano engineering outcomes)
      • limiting resource consumption (mining, scarcity);
      • limits on automation (education, jobs, life);
      • protecting quality of life and democracy in Massachusetts and globally;
      • preventing monopoly, and
      • preventing poverty.

For more information on some of these issues, please see our web pages "Why?" and "Local."

We continue to work on developing and improving legislation. Right now we are solidifying environmental and social justice legislation for 2021. We've been first to draft some legislative solutions, including but not limited to:

      • registration of cell tower ownership;
      • eliminating mandate on screen time in K-12 public schools;
      • K-12 privacy protections;
      • funding hard-wired education (new);
      • requiring state invest only in hard-wired communications.

Additional work includes:

    • Preparing a ballot measure poll, which you can take here;
    • Researching, synthesizing, creating, and sharing information & materials;
    • Working on an ordinance to restrict 5G infrastructure specific to MA; (contact us if you would like to share ours with your town);
    • Ordinance development;
    • Providing in-depth, original analysis of Massachusetts ALEC-funded bills and identification of industry groups;
    • Analyzing some FCC rules and regulations;
    • Working on a ballot measure and ballot measure legislation;
    • Organizing educational events.

Before continuing, would you please consider chipping in to help continue our legislative work and keep our online presence. We need funds!

Please help Last Tree Laws pay our bills to maintain the website and email services. Donations to Last Tree Laws go towards covering those bills but fail to cover all of the costs, and fail to support the time needed for legislative work. We need patrons!

To donate, see the donation button at the top of the page, or scroll down to read instructions for mailing a check.

Due to lesser financial resources, dealing with issues, needs, and outreach is hampered and cash-strapped. This is a huge imbalance in comparison to the resources available to corporations, who have a pattern of spreading lies about ideas contrary to the bottom line, including ballot measures and science.

If you cannot provide financial support to us or anyone else, time and moral support is also very welcome.

Please  join us - even just send an email! Collaboration and support from other organizations is also welcome.

DONATING BY U.S. POST:

To donate to Last Tree Laws by mail, address, stamp, and send an envelope as follows:

  • Include check addressed to Last Tree Laws
  • Include note that includes (as required by the state accounting requirements):
    • Full name
    • Full mailing address
    • Phone number (not for state reporting, but used in case of payment issues)
    • Occupation
    • Employer
  • Address stamped envelope:
    Last Tree Laws,
    c/o K. Beatty
    149 Central Pk Dr
    Holyoke, MA 01040

Important Notes: Political donations are not tax-deductible. Donations and accompanying data listed above, minus phone number, are public record and are submitted to the Massachusetts Secretary of State, along with all expenditures as required by state law.

Because co-chair Kirstin Beatty has a website, Beatty.fyi, that accepts donations to support her research and educational work, a check addressed to Kirstin would be construed as supporting that website and Kirstin's personal finances, instead of Last Tree Laws. Address to Last Tree Laws if donating to Last Tree Laws.

Please see our "Why?" page for general concerns and our "Local" page for helpful materials. Please let us know if you have any trouble downloading any materials.

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