The New Republic | What Bernie and AOC Get Wrong About Data Centers by David R. Tillman

Grassroots rebellions against AI data centers are sweeping the country. The backlash cuts across partisan lines, and the political class is scrambling to catch up. As politicians rush to stake out positions, though, they risk obliterating a crucial component of the movement’s strength. These local coalitions’ holds aren’t succeeding because they’re progressive or conservative. They’re succeeding because they draw on a political grammar that predates and exceeds the progressive tradition. And progressives might do well not to squander this rare opportunity by branding it.

Last week, Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez formally introduced the AI Data Center Moratorium Act. The bill would halt new data center construction until Congress enacts federal protections for workers, consumers, and the environment. The impulse is sound, and the national attention is welcome. But the legislative language leans heavily on wealth redistribution, labor displacement, and climate justice.

While that’s one way to argue for a pause, it’s not the argument that’s actually winning in the places where data centers get built. The bill frames the moratorium in terms of national priorities, including worker protections, environmental safeguards, and distributive fairness. Local opponents usually frame it more plainly, focusing on water, land, electricity, and control. The contrast is not ideological but procedural; less a dispute about values than about who gets to decide.

Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/208392/data-centers-aoc-sanders

#alexandriaocasio-cortez #climatepolitics #data-centers #aidatacentermoratoriumact

The New Republic | Blue Governors Are Tacking Rightward on Fossil Fuels by Will Peischel

Last week, Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey held a press conference to address concerns around spiking utility bills. She touted growing wind and solar industries as crucial solutions to the affordability crisis, but also importing more fracked gas from out of state.

“We have gas pipeline expansion on the Algonquin—that’s good!” she said from her podium, referencing a $300 million project to beef up natural gas infrastructure in the state via Enbridge’s Algonquin Gas Transmission Pipeline. “We need to continue to find more ways to bring energy in, and anything around gas pipelines that works out well with the ratepayers and is consistent with our regulations we’ll welcome.”

Not long ago, this cozying up to fossil fuel in the state would have bewildered constituents of most political shades. After all, it was Republican Governor Charlie Baker who signed the 2021 law directing Massachusetts to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050, pivoting away from fossil fuels. One year later, Healey, then the state’s attorney general, bragged about sinking proposed pipeline expansion plans. “Remember,” she reminded her audience, “I stopped two gas pipelines from coming into this state.” (Governor Healey’s office didn’t respond to a list of questions sent over email.)

Read more: https://newrepublic.com/article/207632/healey-hochul-lamont-gas-climate

#climatepolitics #naturalgas #bluegovernors

The Flamethrower Strategy: How America Plans to Win Climate Change

READ NOW 👉 https://alimcforever.substack.com/p/the-flamethrower-strategy-how-america

New from @alimcforever: how Alberta, Alaska and Greenland fit into America’s plan to win climate change – not stop it. Fossil power, Arctic maps, separatists, and short‑term extractive greed.

#alberta #albertaseparatism #canadapolitics #climatepolitics #arcticpolitics

How a Small Group of Wealthy People Shapes What You Think.
Senate hearing exposes how mining billionaire Gina Rinehart's $4.5 million funded the IPA think tank, revealing Australia's billionaire propaganda network that shapes public opinion on climate, energy, and policy.

#auspol #mediawatch #billionairepower #thinktanks #politicalinfluence #propaganda #climatepolitics #energytransition #fossilfuels #corporatepower #democracy #publicinterest #ipa #mininglobby #wealthandpower

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yFKNtpBkv8

‘A shift no country can ignore’: where global emissions stand, 10 years after the Paris climate agreement

The watershed summit in 2015 was far from perfect, but its impact so far has been significant and measurable

#Renewable #energy smashed records last year, growing by 15% and accounting for more than 90% of all new power generation capacity. Investment in #CleanEnergy topped $2tn, outstripping that into #FossilFuels by two to one.

Electric vehicles now account for about a fifth of new #cars sold around the world. Low-#carbon power makes up more than half of the generation capacity of #China and #India, with China’s emissions now flattening, and most developed countries on a downward trend.

For Laurence Tubiana, a former French diplomat who was one of the main architects of the #Paris accord and is now chief executive of the European #Climate Foundation, this is a remarkable achievement. “The #ParisAgreement has set in motion a shift towards clean energy that no country can now ignore,” she said.

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/dec/13/a-shift-no-country-can-ignore-where-global-emissions-stand-10-years-after-the-paris-climate-agreement

#ClimateCrisis
#ClimatePolitics

RE: https://mstdn.ca/@thetyee/115662027117434987

A critical literary analysis of a political document as an entry in the genre of "science fantasy", in which the stated goals ignore the existence of objective reality. Well played, Tyee. Well played. #canada #climatepolitics

The end of the climate cult

Finally, thankfully, the global warming craze is dying out. To paraphrase Monty Python, the climate parrot may still…
#NewsBeep #News #Headlines #Climatechange #climatepolitics #environmentalpolicy #greenenergy #MattRidley #World
https://www.newsbeep.com/285414/

Another Cop wrecked by fossil fuel interests and our leaders’ cowardice – but there is another way | Genevieve Guenther - #ClimateCrisis | #TheGuardian

"One bright spot of #Cop30 is that #Colombia and the #Netherlands, backed by 22 nations, will independently advance a roadmap to #fossilfuelphaseout, beginning with a conference in April 2026. This conference could be a gamechanger. #UN rules require all Cop decision texts to be approved unanimously, giving the #petrostates veto power over global #climatepolitics. The creation of a fossil-fuel roadmap outside the Cop process may establish a trading bloc that could begin to sanction nations – and banks – that refuse to wind down #fossilfuels."

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/nov/24/cop30-wrecked-fossil-fuels-russia-saudi-arabia-brazil

#EndFossilFuelsNow #DelayIsTheNewDenial