How to Schedule Smart Meter Talks
Scheduling a talk on smart meters for your city, neighborhood, or group is easy. We have a great deal of info on how to do this in the attached PDF or below.
Find a location such as a library, senior citizen center, church. Click on the PDF for contact information for someone who can guide you as to how to do this. Contact Linda Kurtz (who will give the talk) at SmartMeterEducationNetwork @ gmail. com to set up dates and times. We will get the word out via our newsletter, and you can get the word out via flyers. See the PDF for more information.
Location:
Find a location such as a library, senior citizen center, church. Somewhere free with lots of parking is best. Be sure they understand that the event is free and open to the public. If it is a library find out if a resident library card is necessary (usually is). Clear possible dates with Linda Kurtz before booking venue. Learn more about how to get a library from SueAnne, who wrote this how-to. Contact her at sueannedemers @gmail. com.
Equipment:
Chairs, 2 tables, screen, projector (libraries usually have all these things available).
Publicity:
We will advertise the talks on our website and in our newsletter, but it is important to also get the word out by flyering neighborhoods, businesses, and bulletin boards. We can help find people to do this. For a flyer to use, contact Linda at Smartmetereducationnetwork @ gmail. com.
You can put flyers on doorsteps or in screen doors. Alternatively, you can put flyers in newspaper boxes. You are not allowed to put flyers in mailboxes.
Most local papers require 2-3 weeks advance notice to post under community events. Check out the local cable station to see what their policy is.
Contact SMEN to find out which flyers and where to get them done. (1000 flyers for 25.00 plus 5.00 set up fee.) The more flyers, the better. We had 97 people at the Macomb Library meeting, partly because 2000 flyers were distributed.
Best time to distribute flyers by car is early Saturday or Sunday (best) morning. Quick and easy. No one cares you are driving through the sub on the wrong side of the road and people plan a leisurely morning reading the paper. They will read the flyer and perhaps research the website. (I highlighted words “affect your health, invades your privacy” and the date for maximum results. Does not take as long as you would think.)
If you are running low on flyers, pick the neighborhoods that have not been metered yet.
Most people that attend and are the most active are senior citizens. Do not overlook their neighborhoods and older subdivisions.
Newsletter, Facebook—Stay Up to Date
Stay up to date by subscribing to our newsletter (it comes out every 1 to 4 weeks). We constantly update our website, so check back often. You can find updates and time-sensitive actions to take under our “Alerts and Breaking News” box. We also use Facebook to send out quick news updates. (While we understand the privacy concerns with Facebook, at this point in time it is a useful tool for us, and is a great way to spread the word about smart meters. If you only wish to use Facebook for access to our updates, you can get an account without revealing personal information—it’s all in what you choose to share, and you can give them any name or birthdate you like.)
Our newsletter comes out every 1 to 4 weeks. It will keep you informed and tell you what actions you can take to fight smart meters. Note that most email programs will filter out our newsletter unless you adjust your email settings. Even though you may receive individual emails from us, when we send the newsletter out to a large group, the emails may be placed in a folder other than your inbox. This happened to us! We weren’t even getting our own newsletter.. Please make sure you look for emails from smartmetereducationnetwork@ gmail. com in your Promotions, Spam, Junk, or other folders. Please contact your email provider to learn how to adjust your settings, or search on the internet.
Terms to Know
Advanced meter: smart meter (term used by DTE to hide the fact it is a smart meter).
AMI meter and AMI program: another name for the smart meter and the smart meter program. AMI stands for advanced metering infrastructure.
Blood-brain barrier: EMFs can cause the blood-brain barrier to be breached, allowing toxins to enter the brain. Toxin entry is thought to be partially responsible for Alzheimer’s, dementia, and Parkinson’s.
Dirty electricity: spiky, pulsed electromagnetic field generated by smart meters that rides through building wiring and permeates the building’s rooms. Responsible for many of the health problems seen with smart and digital meters.
Electromagnetic fields (EMFs): consist of an electrical field and a magnetic field. Fields are created by the flow of electrical current through the wire, sunlight, etc.
Electromagnetic frequency: examples are 60 Hz electrical current of your home, RF of a cell phone. Often used interchangeably with electromagnetic field.
Electromagnetic hypersensitivity (EHS): sensitivity to electromagnetic fields. Symptoms are complex and involve all bodily systems
Hydrogen bonds: Electrostatic bonds that help hold the DNA double helix together. Breakage of hydrogen bonds may cause changes in DNA that can lead to cancer. RF and other EMFs may disrupt the Hydrogen bonds.
Meter upgrade: the installation of an advanced (smart) meter on your home by DTE.
Microwave radiation: the type of radiation emitted by smart meters. Known to cause biological harm.
Non-transmitting meter: another name for the DTE and Consumers opt-out meters.
Opt-out meter: this is a smart meter. The only thing that is different is the radio-transmitter is turned off. It still generates dirty electricity, it still retains the two antennas, and it is only incrementally less harmful to your health. It can still record detailed information about your electrical usage.
Radio-disabled meter: another name for the DTE opt-out meter.
Radio-off meter: another name for the DTE opt-out meter.
Radiofrequency (RF): high-frequency electromagnetic waves in the range of 10 MHz to 300 Ghz. All wireless devices, including smart meters, cell phones, and Wi-Fi emit RF.
Switched mode power supply: contained in all smart meters, it creates dirty electricity.
van der Waals bonds: an extremely weak electromagnetic force that helps hold the DNA double helix together. Breakage of the van der Waals bond may cause changes in DNA that can lead to cancer. RF and other EMFs can disrupt the van der Waals bonds.