Artificial intelligence is increasingly present in our lives. Churning out ready-made essays, misleading "journalism", ersatz images, and deepfake videos while analyzing our personal data from shopping habits to physical appearance, it seeks to replace human creativity and effort in many realms, and there are issues with
accuracy and ethics. And beyond all that, to run it requires vast data centers, which are popping up all over the globe -- especially where there is energy and water to be had -- with little apparent consideration given to the environmental, health, economic, and climate impacts of the
data centers and
upstream suppliers, from semiconductors to methane. Fossil energy companies are seeing a bonanza, as industry demand for their products ramps up, while families are seeing energy bills soar and jobs vanish.
For the 166th Sustainability Salon, we'll learn from regions where data centers have had massive impacts on health, quality of life, environment, and economy -- and see how some of those impacts can be (and occasionally are) mitigated.
Chris Tandy, president of the
Loudoun Climate Project, will share the situation in Virginia-- they've been in the midst of a
data center explosion for years now.
Loudoun currently has over 200 data centers with another 100+ in the development pipeline. Chris will discuss the relationship between air pollution, new build-out of fossil fuel infrastructure, and Virginia's data centers.
Sean O'Leary is a founder and senior researcher at the
Ohio River Valley Institute, a not-for-profit public policy think tank that focuses on economic development and shared prosperity for northern Appalachia and the greater Ohio River Valley. He recently published a
paper on the economic impacts of data center expansion in Pennsylvania, reporting that increases in Pennsylvanians' utility bills are greater than the tax revenues paid by data centers and that job creation is minimal, resulting in little if any net economic gain.
Also focusing on Pennsylvania will be
Lauren Posey, environmental policy advocate for
ProtectPT and a leader in our local data center response. ProtectPT has been working with residents in Springdale Borough, where a planned data center seems to be moving forward -- so far. Lauren will illuminate why Pennsylvania is a target, and give us a handle on regional and statewide organizing, proposed legislation, and the PA Public Utilities Commission's recently-released tentative model tariff.
This isn't the only approach to this kind of technology, though. A groundbreaking new Fossil Free Digital Product Standard has been developed by the
Leave it in the Ground Initiative (
LINGO), which is presenting at the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil. It's not just a pipe dream, either; they're sharing examples of green data centers in the real world. LINGO's
Galen Brown will join us from Scotland.
December's salon will be on our traditional topic of Consumption, with some innovative local businesses.
Another salon about data centers is in the works (date TBA); there's just so much to talk about for this industry! At that session, we'll talk about about
data centre impacts in Ireland, where a global data centre hub has been growing for decades and the country's ambitious climate goals are being undone (sound familiar, Pittsburgh?) with
Hannah Daly, a professor at University College Cork who examined that issue, and a couple of nonprofits (
Friends of the Earth Ireland and
Not Here Not Anywhere) who are advocating for health and climate on the Emerald Isle. And again on the "a better way is possible" front (for at least some of the issues) we'll hear from sustainable business strategist and clean energy adviser
Kevin Hagen, who has led the Clean Energy Buyers Association (
CEBA) and was VP of Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) Strategy at
Iron Mountain (a leading global data center operator that powers its data centers with renewables) as well as head of Corporate Social Responsibility at
REI Co-op. And perhaps others.
Please check out the list below for other important events happening in our region (and online).
This salon will be both in-person and on Zoom. The program (and Zoom access) will start around 3 p.m. -- in-person folks will be able to enjoy snacks and drinks, as well as a potluck supper after the talks. We'll have the talks inside (it'll be a bit too chilly to sit for hours in the shade out back), but food and drink outside (I still try to make salons a safe environment for medically-vulnerable people). As always, join us for whatever time works for you! If you're not already on my salon email list, please email me (maren dot cooke at gmail dot com) with "salon" in the Subject line to be added -- and let me know how you heard about salons! If you RSVP via Eventbrite, you'll receive the Zoom registration link right away. Along about Saturday night/Sunday morning, I'll send it out again, with other information, to all who have RSVP'd. If you're new to Zoom, you may find my Zoom Reference Guide helpful.
Note that starting last month, I shifted salons an hour EARLIER, at least for this fall and winter, and maybe beyond --the program will start around 3 p.m. Eastern. Why? During our sabbatical in Ireland this last year, I connected with many new friends and enviro-colleagues, some of whom have or will speak at salons, and others who are interested in attending. And there's generally a five-hour time difference (sometimes 4 or 6 hours because our savings-time shifts are on different dates). Also, logistics have evolved with in-person salons since 2021, so earlier should also work better here at our Pittsburgh site.
Other events and whatnot (times are U.S. Eastern):
• Nov 18: Join PennFuture and the League of Conservation Voters at the Allegheny County Council meeting to encourage them to vote YES to improve our air quality. Before the Council meeting, PennFuture will host a reception at their office to share resources, refreshments, and signmaking. Reception at 3:30 p.m., Council meeting at 5. More details and registration here.
• Dec 4-6: Join Food & Water Watch for a three-day organizing skills training. You'll be equipped with the knowledge and skills to win campaigns against fracking, data centers, and more. Free; breakfast, lunch, and snacks will be provided. More info and registration here.
• Feb 21: 28th annual Pittsburgh Racial Justice Summit creates opportunities to learn, connect, and act on behalf of racial justice. This year's theme: Building Community for Lasting Democracy and Racial Equity.9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the CCAC Allegheny campus. Sliding scale registration; more information and registration here.
• I encourage local folks to sign up for the Indivisible Grassroots Pittsburgh email list, which will bring you lots more listings, more frequently -- email Debra.
• I'll be adding a raft of current petitions soon.
• Energy Transfer is suing Greenpeace for $300M because they supported the Indigenous-led protests at Standing Rock (claiming that Greenpeace orchestrated the protests). This is a classic SLAPP suit (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation), and itself worthy of protest. Greenpeace has a petition you can sign.
• Liquid and solid waste from gas and oil extraction (much of which is radioactive) is currently being stored in a building (part of a former steel mill, which was never cleaned up properly in the first place) near the municipal drinking water source for thousands of people in Martins Ferry, Ohio. The facility had a permit for 600 tons at a time, but held as much as 10,000 tons. It is in the floodplain of the Ohio River, and waters rose up to the front doors this spring. This petition, by Concerned Ohio River Residents, asks officials to halt waste processing there and keep it out of the Source Water Protection Area, clean up the site, and conduct environmental testing and monitoring. This practice is insane; we have to stop legitimizing dangerous extractive industries.
• Concerned Health Professionals of NY recently released the 9th Edition of the Compendium of Scientific, Medical, and Media Findings Demonstrating Risks and Harms of Fracking and Associated Gas & Oil Infrastructure. Check it out!
• We know that only a tiny fraction of plastic has ever been recycled. And yet, NPR has been airing sponsorship messages for the American Recycling Council, which is continuing to perpetrate the "recycling" hoax. Does that make your blood boil? The national group Beyond Plastics has a petition/sign-on letter to get them to stop -- please sign, for yourself or for an organization you represent!
• It's been well over two years now! You can support striking Post-Gazette workers here (and consider signing up for the alternative online publication, the Pittsburgh Union Progress -- and maybe even cancel your P-G subscription until they start treating workers fairly!). This strike has garnered national attention; one recent picket even made it into Teen Vogue.
• PRC continues to hold online workshops about composting, rainwater harvesting, and waste reduction. They have several Hard-to-Recycle events each year; upcoming events are listed here. For household chemicals, here's the link.
For the uninitiated, a Sustainability Salon is an educational forum; it's a mini-conference; it's a venue for discussion and debate about important environmental issues (and often health, and justice, and politics); it's a house party with an environmental theme. Each month we have featured speakers on various aspects of a particular topic, interspersed with stimulating conversation, lively debate, and (when in person) delectable potluck food and drink and music-making through the evening. Beginning in early 2012, salons were originally a potluck mini-conference; the event has been either on Zoom or outdoor/hybrid since March 2020. This event series was featured in the Pittsburgh Media Partnership's Pittsburgh Story project on Civic Catalysts -- here's a piece by The Allegheny Front. Past topics have included local environmental authors (Part I & Part II) honey forests & friends, air science into policy, air quality education and engagement, farming and succession, building with wood, food justice, Mutual Aid networks, activism in the coming years, COVID caution and community care, nature education/volunteer programs, air quality, stories that inspire, forest protection, a celebration of the 150th salon, a closer look at our quarter-acre, reducing single-use plastics, water campaigns, climate campaigns, consumerism, air quality campaigns, movement-building and sustained campaigns, abandoned oil and gas wells, hope (finding it, creating it, using it), addressing environmental causes of cancer, a development proposal for Frick Park, single-use plastic legislation, home energy efficiency (and legislation to help fund improvements), the UN's COP process for climate negotiations, alternatives to single-use packaging, our region's air (part I and part II), activist art and America's Energy Gamble, advocacy opportunities, social justice games, fixing Pennsylvania state government, climate action, forest restoration, the history of American consumerism, regional air quality, preserving Pittsburgh's forests, climate modeling, approaches to pipelines, pipeline hazards, the legacy of the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the judiciary and fair elections, consumption, pandemics and air, election law and activism, air quality and environmental justice, social investment, local economies, the economics of energy, mutual aid networks, ocean health, the rise of the radical right, the back end of consumption, approaches to activism on fracking & climate, air quality, technology, and citizen science, single-use plastics, election activism, election law, whether to preserve existing nuclear power plants, advanced nuclear technologies, passenger and freight trains, consumption, plastics, and pollution, air quality, solar power, youth activism, greening business, greenwashing, the petrochemical buildout in our region, climate/nature/people, fracking, health, & action, globalization, ecological ethics, community inclusion, air quality monitoring, informal gatherings that turn out to have lots of speakers, getting STEM into Congress, keeping Pittsburgh's water public, Shell's planned petrochemical plant, visualizing air quality, the City of Pittsburgh's sustainability initiatives, fossil energy infrastructure, getting money out of politics, community solar power and the Solarize Allegheny program, the Paris climate negotiations (before, during, and after), air quality (again, with news on the autism connection), reuse (of things and substances), neighborhood-scale food systems, other forms of green community revitalization, solar power, climate change, environmental art, environmental education (Part I & Part II), community mapping projects, environmental journalism, grassroots action, Marcellus shale development and community rights, green building, air quality, health care, more solar power, trees and park stewardship, alternative energy and climate policy, regional watershed issues, fantastic film screenings and discussions (often led by filmmakers) over the winter with films on Food Systems, Climate Adaptation and Mitigation, Plastic Paradise, Rachel Carson and the Power Of One Voice, Triple Divide on fracking, You've Been Trumped and A Dangerous Game, A Fierce Green Fire, Sustainability Pioneers, films on consumption, Living Downstream, Bidder 70, YERT, Gas Rush Stories, and food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, food, and more food (a recurrent theme; with California running out of water, we'd better gear up to produce a lot more of our own!).
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