Do cell phones contribute to global warming?

In the middle of our conversation, Kurt Wimer opens one of his five notebooks, shakes his head and says, “We are so doomed.”

A few years ago, Kurt, 52, wouldn't have thought that. He was busy hanging drywall or repairing roofs or even designing trash bins.

Then a fall laid up the Cedar Rapids native, and he had time to think. Time to revisit old college textbooks - math, science, physics. Time to develop his own theories.

This dilemma called “global warming” concerned him. Did it contribute to the flooding of the Cedar River in June 2008? Is it a reason for all the snow we've had this winter? Are we doing enough to stem the tide to save the earth?

Too many questions and not enough answers.

Sure, we can talk all we want about burning less fuel, harnessing wind power, conserving our forests so trees help absorb carbon dioxide.

But, as Kurt looked around and added up two plus two, he came to another possible cause - electromagnetic fields - and solution.

“Everybody needs to turn off their cell phones,” he says. “I know cell phones really pound out the disturbance. They're building more towers. They're stronger towers. That's why we're getting more and more into trouble.”

I wanted to laugh but resisted. Nobody's going to turn off their cell phones, I told Kurt. Not even Al Gore. Companies aren't going to quit building towers. The problem, no matter how dire a situation becomes, is that we wait until the last second.

Kurt agrees.

“With your cell phones,” he adds, “when you're not using them or when you're out of minutes, turn them off.”

OK. A compromise.

“I want everybody to be just as concerned as I am about it,” he says.

Which is why I agreed to listen; why I've given Kurt some ink; why others have the same theory.

Scientists have spent decades studying global warming. They haven't come up with all the answers. Who's to say Kurt doesn't have something?

EMFs are produced by radio waves, television waves, cell phones ... the cause and effect is that our use of wireless devices has grown in concert with our concern about global warning.

In his notebooks Kurt has drawn diagrams, used proven formulas, discussed increasing velocities of charged atmospheric particles and the interaction of carbon and hydrogen.

“I'm just concerned about public awareness,” Kurt says. “Maybe somebody else can come up with another solution.”

Right or wrong, who knows? But Kurt's concern is genuine.