Notices by Gerry McGovern (gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green)

Water usage wasn’t the residents’ only concern.

“We know that the power grid is not sufficient to handle all the new developments of residential, commercial and industrial in our area right now,” Ginny Hines said.

“Data centers create noise and air pollution from the massive cooling systems and backup generators,” resident Ray Rafalowski said. “These disrupt nearby residents’ sleep and health. Data centers create very few jobs, basically low wage janitor and maintenance
https://thecurrentga.org/2025/12/16/port-wentworth-panel-advises-against-data-centers/

"Everyday people bear the costs of Big Tech’s hunger for profits. We pay it in rising energy bills, our worsening climate, our lack of access to safe water, increased noise pollution, and risks to our health and safety."

https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/ai-data-centers-gobble-electricity-raising-energy-costs-and-damaging-the-climate/

A book on AI ethics full of fake citations

You can't make this stuff up.

Publisher under fire after ‘fake’ citations found in AI ethics guide

A book published by Springer Nature includes dozens of questionable citations, including references to journals that do not exist

https://www.thetimes.com/article/8f7d14db-dfd3-4776-8538-f5ce0a5707b2?shareToken=405c6237994f00a2e6ac41636e4ce159

California "still has limited visibility into what data centers are doing. Attempts to require more transparency stalled this year amid tech industry opposition. The only measure that became law gives regulators the authority to determine whether data centers are driving up costs — but stops short of requiring environmental reporting."

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-13/data-centers-for-ai-could-nearly-triple-san-joses-energy-use-who-foots-bill

Stand with the Indigenous!
Protect the Indigenous!

"In the Peruvian Amazon, the defender continues her work. Each GPS coordinate is an act of resistance. Each documented violation is an assertion that this territory, these people, this forest matter. On this Human Rights Defenders Day, and for all the days that follow, her courage, and that of thousands like her across the globe, deserves to be seen, honoured and protected."

https://geographical.co.uk/news/the-courage-to-defend

"We are entering an age of mass deception in which we routinely lie to each other. In this post-truth hellscape, anyone can create a convincing false narrative and misrepresent, not just the future, but the present. If it carries on like this, we will surely lose faith in photojournalism. How to hold power to account if they can plausibly deny the photos are real?"

https://thedeveloper.live/opinion/faking-it-what-if-ai-clogs-up-the-system-and-slows-planning-down

"Renewable" energy is the new selling of indulgences

It's a license to keep on consuming once its "renewable"

There is no God and there is no "renewable" energy. You can't be a little bit pregnant or half a virgin.

"AI companies could be forced to invest in renewable energy amid warning tech will use 12% of Australia’s power"

There's no clean energy and there's no green energy.

All the embrace of "renewable" energy is doing is accelerating environmental collapse

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2025/dec/02/ai-companies-renewable-energy-australia-data-centres

"The irony was hard to miss: the same month our union received layoff threats, OpenAI’s education evangelists set up shop in the university library to recruit faculty into the gospel of automated learning. The math is brutal and the juxtaposition stark: millions for OpenAI while pink slips go out to longtime lecturers. The CSU isn’t investing in education—it’s outsourcing it, paying premium prices for a chatbot many students were already using for free."

https://www.currentaffairs.org/news/ai-is-destroying-the-university-and-learning-itself

Illegal mining starts to shift from the Amazon to the Cerrado, Brazilian ministry reports

After invaders were removed from the Yanomami, Kayapó, Munduruku, and other protected Indigenous lands in the Amazon, business groups are shifting their illegal operations further south, to the Sararé Indigenous Land in the state of Mato Grosso.

https://reporterbrasil.org.br/2025/12/illegal-mining-starts-to-shift-from-the-amazon-to-the-cerrado-brazilian-ministry-reports/

Rare Earth Recycling Rate at 0%... "Urgent Need to Foster Urban Mining to Secure Critical Minerals"

In Korea, "the recycling rates for rare earth metals like cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, and dysprosium remain at 0%."

https://www.asiae.co.kr/en/article/2025113010172456225

Every Sora AI video burns 1 Kilowatt hour and emits 466 grams of carbon. And for what, exactly?

Generating high definition video is one of the most energy intensive things you can do with AI.

https://reclaimedsystems.substack.com/p/every-sora-ai-video-burns-1-kilowatt

Poisonous forever chemicals are essential for data centers, "renewable" energy and semi-conductors, which can't exist without them. Modern tech cannot exist without destroying life on earth.

The Trump Administration’s Data Center Push Could Open the Door for New Forever Chemicals
https://www.wired.com/story/the-trump-administrations-data-center-push-could-open-the-door-for-new-forever-chemicals/

Forever chemicals: Critical to Renewable Energy
https://www.americanchemistry.com/chemistry-in-america/chemistries/fluorotechnology-per-and-polyfluoroalkyl-substances-pfas/pfas-critical-to-renewable-energy

Forever Chemicals Are Essential to Semiconductor Manufacturing and Innovation
https://semi.org/en/blogs/semi-news/fluorinated-chemicals-are-essential-to-semiconductor-manufacturing-and-innovation

All over the world, the data centers are coming for our water

‘The Precedent Is Flint’: How Oregon’s Data Center Boom Is Supercharging a Water Crisis

Amazon has come to the state’s eastern farmland, worsening a water pollution problem that’s been linked to cancer and miscarriages

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/data-center-water-pollution-amazon-oregon-1235466613/

"So, when we arrived here at COP30, we were abandoned. We didn’t have access to water. We had a hard time finding meals. It was very difficult for our people, who had traveled for so long to get here. And the people wanted to be heard. We came in a large delegation, and we wanted to speak, and we wanted to be heard. But we were blocked."

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/24/full_interview_indigenous_amazon_defender_alessandra

"So, we live in the Amazon forest. We know what the river is going through. We need the river. We live with the river. Today, the river, the Tapajós River, is dry. There are days in which the river disappears. There are so many forest fires. So, why is it that we cannot have the power to decide here at COP? Why is it that they only speak about us, but that we cannot decide?"

https://www.democracynow.org/2025/11/24/full_interview_indigenous_amazon_defender_alessandra

"They do require an insane amount of energy," Savage said. "They also take up a lot of water to cool the data centers."

"I don't know that there's transparency or awareness within the community around 'what is this going to do to our energy bills? What is this going to do to our already degraded air quality and water quality within these areas?'" McCoy said.

https://www.denver7.com/money/science-and-tech/ai-data-center-could-use-more-power-than-dia-leaving-neighbors-worried-about-power-and-water-bills

"The hypocrisy is staggering. Indigenous peoples protect 80% of the world’s remaining biodiversity, yet they receive less than 1% of global climate finance. Wealthy nations promise billions, deliver crumbs, and then congratulate themselves for their generosity. Climate finance boards are filled with economists, diplomats, and consultants—everyone except the people who actually know how to keep forests alive."

https://www.myjoyonline.com/cop30-in-belem-if-indigenous-people-dont-rewrite-climate-governance-we-are-finished/

"Degrowth offers a counter-narrative. By deliberately reducing consumption, scaling back wasteful production, and prioritizing sufficiency over excess, societies can redistribute resources more fairly. Degrowth is not about poverty or stagnation; it is about shifting priorities. Luxury consumption, speculative finance, and high-emission production are curtailed, while public services, social welfare, and environmental protection are expanded."

https://dailyasianage.com/news/344847/the-equality-hidden-in-degrowth

Google Strives To Keep Data Center Water Use Secret After Judge Orders Records Released

A Roanoke judge has ordered the Western Virginia Water Authority to release information related to a potential Google data center.

https://www.roanokerambler.com/google-strives-keep-data-center-botetourt-county-water-use-secret-judge-orders-records-released/

All over the world, Google tries to keep secret its water use

The white male supremacist elite of the Global North "have abandoned global cooperation on the climate, biodiversity & human rights & committed themselves to the vicious & insane vision of maintaining their imperialist, white supremacist domination at all cost instead.”

https://maxwilbert.substack.com/p/climate-collapse-imperialism-and

It is what it is. Great white men will burn everything to the ground to be the last man standing. We must resist.