More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?

As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.

By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025

Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.

"Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'

" 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.

"To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."

Read more:
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers

#Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
#DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
#NoDatacenters
#HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
#FightBack #DatacentersSuck
#AIResistance #AISucks
#AIDataCenters

Mystery #Humming Noise Heard Across US States

By Marni Rose McFall
Mar 25, 2026 at 01:21 PM EDT

"Americans across several states are reporting hearing a strange humming noise in their neighborhoods, and residents think they know the culprit: #DataCenters.

But these centers are especially resource hungry—particularly for electricity and water—which has led to concerns for residents.

According to a study from The Environmental and Energy Study Institute, data centers emit sounds 'from the humming of cooling systems, rumbling of diesel generators, and whirring of fans, which can be heard for hundreds of feet around them.'

What To Know

In Vineland, New Jersey, residents have said there is a persistent humming noise they believe is coming from a nearby data center."

Read more:
https://www.newsweek.com/data-centers-mystery-humming-noise-11735566

#AIDatacenters #DataCenterMoratorium
#NoisePollution #AISucks #SurveillanceState #NoDatacenters #HyperscaleDatacenters

Scientists have found an alarming #EnvironmentalImpact of vast #DataCenters

Story by Laura Paddison, March 30, 2026

Excerpt: "They found surface temperatures increased by an average of 3.6 degrees Fahrenheit after a data center started operations. In extreme cases, nearby temperatures increase by up to 16.4 degrees Fahrenheit.

"These increases were consistent across the globe, the researchers found. In #Mexico’s #Bajio region, for example, which has become a data center hub, the study found unexplained temperature rises of around 3.6 degrees over the last 20 years. A similar situation was seen in #AragonSpain, a European center for #hyperscale #AIDataenters, which recorded a temperature increase of 3.6 degrees which was not replicated in neighboring provinces.

"Strikingly, the impacts weren’t limited to a data center’s immediate surroundings; temperature increases affected areas up to 6.2 miles away, the research found, affecting more than 340 million people.

"The findings are particularly alarming, the scientists say, because AI data centers are set to boom over the next few years, and these temperature rises come as planet-warming pollution is already making #HeatWaves more extreme around the world."

Read more:
https://www.msn.com/en-us/weather/topstories/scientists-have-found-an-alarming-environmental-impact-of-vast-data-centers/ar-AA1ZL7P1

#HeatIslands #DataCenterMoratorium #GlobalWarming #NoisePollution #AISucks #SurveillanceState #NoDatacenters #HyperscaleDatacenters

"Hyperscale data centers are a social and ecological disaster and communities across the country are now organizing to stop their construction and operation. The costs are too high even if the large language models they are designed to support were socially beneficial. But that is not the case. These models are unreliable, socially dangerous, generally undermine rather than enhance worker capacities, rely on exploited labor for their training and operation, and are a technological dead-end. Moreover, as the New York Times reports, research by McKinsey & Company finds that “nearly eight in 10 companies have reported using generative AI, but just as many have reported ‘no significant bottom-line impact.’”

We need all-hands-on-deck to stop the high-tech assault on our lives and that includes publicizing the costs of these hyperscale data centers and supporting the community resistance movement."

https://economicfront.wordpress.com/2025/11/12/data-center-resistance-a-good-ground-game-can-help-stop-the-corporate-ai-offensive/

#AI #BigTech #Datacenters #GenerativeAI #HyperscaleDataCenters