Kim Goldberg is an award-winning journalist, author, and poet living in Nanaimo, British Columbia. She has reported extensively on environmental issues for newspapers and magazines in Canada and abroad. She is the author of eight books and more than 2,000 articles.
Kim holds a degree in Biology from University of Oregon and is an avid birdwatcher, nature lover and field naturalist. Read more about Kim here.
Kim’s two other websites are:
Pig Squash Press (books, writing, and other news)
Ride Backwards on Dragon (Martial Arts, Liuhebafa, Taoism)
Follow Kim on Twitter at @KimPigSquash
Send her an email at goldberg@ncf.ca
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I j ust listened to Dr. Havas,Live Blood Analysis where they discussed the detrimental effects of the Earthing p\Products. I had used the earthing sheet for 3 days during which time my sleep and terrible itching were alleviated, BUT following that my health plummeted once again. I emailed one of the authors of the Earthing Book who explained if one has severe EMS, which i do , then one should very gradually increase the time using the earthing products. For some reason i didn’t want to chance using it again so lent it to a friend whose sleep was better only for ONE NIGHT then returned to having poor & even worse sleep once again! I will now tell her to STOP using the grounding sheet and will call the company plus email one of the authors i’d contacted previously and discuss this. Thank you so very much for all of the work being done by all of you to educate us. I will pass the word to everyone possible.
Hi Rustic. I think one needs to be very careful with these earthing pads. Some people definitely experience a worsening of symptoms. Since most people ground their earthing pads via the ground wire on their household wiring, that can be a problem. In many homes, even if the outlets are correctly wired, the ground wire is not clean – it has frequencies riding it, which then have a straight path into your body courtesy of the earthing pad. And apart from that, if you are able to successfully ground yourself using an earthing pad (which is the concept), then you have just turned yourself into a giant antenna for all stray electromagnetic radiation in the vicinity. All stray electricity wants to go to ground. And if you convert yourself to a ground path by touching your body to a grounded earthing pad, then you will substantially increase the EMR flowing into and through your body and tissues. The fact that your body voltage may drop to zero is irrelevant. The EMR flowing into you is what matters. And that can be much higher as a result of an earthing pad. I have experienced this personally and also watched a building biologist measure someone touching a grounded earthing pad, and then not.
This is why the general advice is to NEVER using earthing pads in a high EMF environment like a computer room (despite the fact that some of the earthing products are sold for that very purpose – to place under keyboard or mouse). I tried an earthing pad for about one hour in my computer room – first resting my mouse and hand on it, then my keyboard and wrists, and then my bare feet on the pad on the floor. The pad was properly grounded to my properly wired outlet. My body’s adverse reaction to all the additional EMR flowing through me when I grounded myself with the earthing pad was phenomenal and rapid! My fingers became puffy and stiff after just a few minutes when my hand touched the pad. And the same happened to my ankles and feet when I tried it that way. I put it back in the box and have never used it again.
Hi Kim; I live in a high EMF area of suburban London; does the grounding by touching my garden grass has the same problem of drawing surrounding EMR to my body?
Do EMR in the air flow to any nearby grass /earth by themselves? Does it means any direct contact with grass/earth in EMF built up area are bad idea?
I have grounding pad & bed sheet but I am too afraid to use them
thank you for your info
Hi May. There is a lot of controversy and differing opinions about whether grounding pads/bed sheets are good or bad, and even whether grounding your bare feet on grass or earth is always a good idea. Bottom Line: Let your own body be your guide in any of these situations. You are not going to damage yourself from a single trial of anything. And if your grounding method is creating ill effects for you, you will likely know it after one use. I felt it within minutes.
I would not use a grounding (“earthing”) pad or bed sheet that is grounded to a wall outlet. Even if your house and outlet are correctly wired, there can still be dirty electricity coursing throughout your home wiring. I have tried an earthing pad in my computer room (very bad idea!) and had a rapid bad reaction no matter how/where I deployed the pad (under my mouse, under my keyboard and wrists, under my bare feet on floor). And yes, my house is correctly wired. If I were to try an earthing product again – out of curiosity – I would ground it with a wire out a window to a metal stake in the ground, and only try it in a low-EMF room like a bedroom.
As for grounding the natural way – outside barefoot on earth, rock, lawn, concrete, sand, water… I am a BIG fan of this, have always derived benefit and never had a problem. I would, tho, be cautious about doing it in a neighbourhood with underground electrical service (i.e., neighbourhood with no phone poles).
Once again, let your body be your guide.
hello Brevard Rustic, I hope you are doing well now. Alison
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Hello,
My daughter and myself just vacated the Snowflake EI community. We were there for 5 months. We stayed on the property of an EI that is minimally on grid. The first Uh-Oh! was our 2 service dogs and 2 cats refused to drink the well water, even risking dehydration (they have never behaved this way before.) We were told the water was fine to drink. Then we tried to enter the EI’s home and was so overwhelmed with mold that caused us anaphylactic shock, dizziness, and nausea. I myself have never entered into one of these closer EI homes again. The overwhelming mold smell permeates out of their homes when they open their door. In the 5 month stay, The air pollution consisted of approx. 90% smoke (day and night) i.e…. forest fires, controlled & permit burns, EI neighbor grilling, burning rubber coming from town and a neighboring pig farm. And dirty electric all which cause very bad health reactions. The saddest thing for us is it took 3 years to arrive here. My daughter and I had to work very hard to get out of wheel chairs from an auto accident, Saved our money and even made this trip with a little apprehension from our Dr.’s and moved into a 100sq foot Cargo trailer. We really relied on the detailed information of the articles and communications with fellow EI’s. We thought of this as our final resting place ( hoping to buy land ). A place to begin to heal and have a better quality of life, maybe eventually get off disability and be productive members of society again. However what we got was broken hearted, broken dreams, financially broken and a whole lot sicker. We just want to warn others BEWARE! if you are extra sensitive. Also to forewarn, that the government programs and medical systems in Arizona are very disability UN-FRIENDLY! I’m sorry to hurt anyone’s feelings ( we’ve meet so many wonderful fellow EI’s in the community ) We just don’t want others to get their hopes up,sell off or spend all they own just to have their dreams shattered and Pack up what little they have left and once again drive off into uncertainties.
Thank you for sharing your experience in the Snowflake EI community. It sounds awful in terms of poor conditions! I am surprised by the extent of the mold problem there in Snowflake, Az. I though it was very dry there. Also, are you electrosensitive as well? Could you tell whether there were any significant problems with electrosmog in Snowflake (i.e., from cell towers, WiFi, etc.)? Are there wireless smart meters in Snowflake?
Snowflake does have Monsoon season which floods homes in low lying ares, in late Summer, but, more so than that, the issues are within the EI specially built homes; three of us outsider EIs (mold sensitive) have noticed mold within certain areas of these homes and have reacted to it. There are also pollen and ragweed allergies to be aware of for those with cross-over sensitivities.
I’m mildly EHS and just 2 months ago found out Mom has EHS issues as well.
There is electosmog in the area. There are NOT Smart meters… yet. There are WIFI signals that cross through there; we were able to find upwards of 20 right in front of one EIs door (being portable we use a “WIFI repeater” on the outside of the trailer that picks up WIFI signals in the area and carries them by Ethernet into the trailer (we recently learned is bad for EHS people so we will be making adjustments soon) ; we can view even the pasword-protected signals through computer access though we cannot use them). Some EIs are being severely affected by 2 cell towers in the area- even in the off-grid EI homes. A country road or two North of the EI on-grid community has a whole line of metal electrical towers and lines (not the wooden poles) and in times of higher usage some EI’s are affected by those as well.
There is also Fracking going on at St. John’s (about 44 miles East of Snowflake) and there has been rumor that the water sources around the Snowflake area are being affected by it (maybe that’s why our animals refused to drink the water and were dehydrating; that has never happened before). Also there is a Pot Ash mine 7 miles East of Holbrook (about 27 miles North of Snowflake). These are also important to consider before moving there.
We left Snowflake 13 days ago and though we are parked in another unsafe area (again looking for a safe zone), both Mom and I have improved noticably healthwise.
The post I read last night on GreenBank, WV was extremely helpful; we were seriously considering that area to try thinking we could eliminate one senitivity issue and hoping the rest might heal. That post was very helpful in making the decision not to go before spending finances and precious energy getting there. We’re hoping this post will bring the same awareness.
Snowflake must have been a very pristine land at one time, but man has a way of polluting everything he touches so the term pristine today has become relative or obscured all together. We’re both very sorry to break the news to the hopeful EIs out there who thought Snowflake would be their refuge. So very, very sorry!
Thank you Krysta – and your mom too – for providing all of this detailed information about the poor conditions in Snowflake , AZ these days for EHS and MCS. No longer the clean haven it was once touted as being. How sad. We are losing such places faster than we are gaining new ones!
Thank you so much for telling us about Snowflake and Arizona’s unfriendliness towards ES’ers. Very usable and helpful info. So sorry you went thru all that. I can relate!
DEAR MS GOLDBERG – MY NAME IS LIZ – I AM DESPERATELY TRYING TO HELP MY SISTER MARIA -WHO IS SUFFERING WITH EXTREME ES -AND PRACTICALLY SUICIDAL COS SHE HAS MOVED 10 TIMES IN THE PAST 4+ YRS LIVING IN NORTH CAROLINA – BEING NOW PRACTICALLY HOMELESS – LIVING OUT OF HER CAR AND A SMALL POP-UP CAMPER THAT DOESN’1T EVEN HAVE A BATHROOM IN IT ! CAN YOU PLEASE. PLEASE HELP HER? EMAIL ME AT ELIZY333@AOL.COM OR HER AT VIOLETROSE7@AOL.COM WITH ANY ADVICE AS TO WHERE SHE CAN GO TO FIND A WIFI FREE & CELL TOWER FREE (OR MINAMLY FREE) PLACE TO LIVE ! PLEASE – WE DON’T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO – AND SHE’S TRIED IT ALL- FROM MYLAR BAGS, TO PENDANTS, ETC. – SHE CAN’T SLEEP – HAS ALSO BECOME CHEMICALLY SENSITIVE – SO DOESN’T EAT MUCH – THROWS UP ALOT – FEELS LIKE SHE’S BURNING – OR AS SHE SZ – “FEELING GUTTED” FROM THE INSIDE OUT – PLEASE -PLEASE- I LOVE MY SISTER VERY MUCH – BUT I LIVE IN MIAMI, FLORIDA – WHERE SHE WAS LIVING BEFORE SHE MOVED AWAY THINKING SHE COULD FIND A SAFER PLACE TO LIVE. – THANK YOU IN ADVANCE FOR YOUR KIND AND HOPEFULLY PROMT ATTN TO MY PLEA FOR YOUR ASSISTANCE – GOD BLESS YOU – ALWAYS.
Dear Liz,
I am so sorry to hear about your sister’s severe EHS. Her story is far too common – which does not make it easier for her in the slightest. The are no established sanctuaries, but there are various informal sanctuaries here and there – usually wherever one or more EHS person has found a low-signal area and simply invites others to come join them. There ought to be a better answer for your sister and all the others like her. But there isn’t at this point.
Hello Kim my name is Brooke I have been suffering with this sickness for around 10 years now. I have had all kinds of tests and I have seen all kinds of doctors but, no one seems to be able to help me at all. I am struggling with severe pain in both ears that turns into a head ache in my temples then will run into my forehead after about 10 minutes of being around someone’s cell phone, smart watch or strong wiifi. I become anxious, I seem to become so tired that I have to take a nap just to keep moving. I used to be able to just remove my self from a place that bothers me but, now it is all over the place. I have such intense brain fog that I am having a hard time doing any thing at all any more. I use ear plugs to try and limit what I can. I am desperate to find help and people like me. I am at a loss of how to deal with this anymore. With Covid hitting every thing has been ramped up to the fullest and everyone expects you to carry a cell phone. I feel like I am being pushed out of my own life because I cant be around phones. I suffer when I use my computer and now days I can barely be outside due to the fact we have towers and sound everywhere. I still work but, due to the fact that my office just updated the wifi I fear that it will be not long until I cant take the pain any more.
So sorry to hear all that you are enduring, Brooke. It is, sadly, an all too common story. Signal density is increasing most places. The advent of 5G makes that much worse. There are mitigation strategies that can reduce a person’s exposure in their own home – various sorts of shielding strategies. But most people who are severely affected by wireless radiaton do find they need to relocate somehow to a place with less exposure. It’s such a challenge because no place is truly “safe”. But some locations have much lower signal density than others.