Posts by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
(DIR) Post #B20cHIaWUnEGOFdE8W by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-06T10:33:14Z
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The cost of AI is being dumped on you"In Virginia, utility bills are expected to rise by as much as 25% due to data centers. This energy burden is matched by environmental concerns. Data centers require enormous amounts of electricity, often drawing power from fossil fuel plants that release hazardous pollutants linked to asthma, heart disease, brain harm and cancer."https://thehill.com/opinion/technology/5671747-big-tech-energy-burden-communities/
(DIR) Post #B29OSDZKWeWm7sLEKO by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-10T12:04:08Z
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URGENT: If you're Irish read this. Please spread the word "The government now wants to make it super expensive (>€100,000) for ordinary people to go to court to protect the environment.The Government is currently engaged in an extremely short consultation on proposed rules to cap legal costs when you go to court and hold the state to account for breaking environmental law.If you think this is wrong, make your views known by emailing aarhus@dcee.gov.ie by 15 January.
(DIR) Post #B2J49JQITpRLHJQJ72 by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-15T10:30:13Z
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"Men that do this enjoy violating women and taking their agency away," the post continued."Within hours of posting it she became a victim of the very thing she was trying to raise awareness of. Users on Grok digitally removed her clothing using photos of her and posted them in the comments of her posts."https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-01-15/grok-x-ai-chatbot-sexual-deepfake-images/106227360In writing my latest book, and exploring the history of science and technology, I kept coming across one thing again and again and again: toxic men
(DIR) Post #B2JFAbUJtqbb5h7hyq by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-15T10:27:33Z
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"Antisemitic conspiracy theories — particularly the long-standing trope of Jewish “greed” — are surging in the digital age, amplified by social media discourse and artificial intelligence (AI). What once circulated at the margins now appears openly, repackaged as humor, irony, or experimentation. Online platforms have become an efficient distribution channel for classical antisemitic libels, stripped of social restraint and reintroduced as entertainment."https://combatantisemitism.org/studies-reports/how-ai-is-mass-producing-the-oldest-antisemitic-lie/
(DIR) Post #B2NCPl8Gnmh87FBUx6 by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-17T10:30:24Z
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"U.S. energy systems were not designed for this form of load growth. Federal industrial policy, state environmental law, and utility regulation are evolving on timelines measured in decades, while AI infrastructure expands on timelines measured in months. This mismatch is creating mounting stresses on regional power grids, rising costs for ratepayers, permitting backlogs, and growing legal and political conflict over who should bear the costs of digital expansion."https://www.jdsupra.com/legalnews/ai-data-centers-and-the-looming-energy-3662206/
(DIR) Post #B2NCnjiphGtegxigFc by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-17T10:28:40Z
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"As artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure rapidly expands, a new white paper released today by Restore the Delta finds significant risks to water supplies, energy systems, ecosystems, and local communities as the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta emerges as a major hub for AI-driven data centers."https://mavensnotebook.com/2026/01/16/restore-the-delta-new-report-reveals-ai-data-center-boom-threatens-delta-communities-and-ecosystems/
(DIR) Post #B2ND1y5L5my7IB26me by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-17T10:26:25Z
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"AI data centers on the East Coast are gobbling up so much juice that nonprofit grid operator PJM may be forced to enact rolling blackouts on its customers during both heat waves and exceptionally cold weather just to protect the grid’s integrity. These blackouts would impact a staggering 67 million people in 13 states, which will no doubt fan more anger from customers and politicians who are already deeply ticked off about the mass construction of AI data centers."https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/ai-data-centers-electric-grid-meltdown
(DIR) Post #B2NDS57RYxdKdXT9Ky by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-17T10:13:18Z
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Copper use in turbines, wind, solarI came across these figures in a post. Does anyone know if they are correct?1 GW steam turbine plant uses 1,000 tonnes of copper1 GW wind farm uses 2,000 tonnes of copper1 GW solar farm uses 5,000 tonnes of copper
(DIR) Post #B2NGFx3G21ZY0GQ1S4 by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-17T10:41:27Z
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“With this proposed Ring of Fire, with these minerals being extracted, we are concerned how it affects us as Indigenous people; our rights are being violated,” Koostachin said during a Jan. 13 webinar hosted by Above Ground and MiningWatch Canada.“So also our land, the environment, it's going to be destroyed. So anything where there's going to be destruction is going to be devastation within the Treaty 9 area where the proposed Ring of Fire is.”https://www.northernontariobusiness.com/regional-news/far-north-ring-of-fire/were-protectors-indigenous-groups-call-for-mining-safeguards-11750950
(DIR) Post #B2NGQ1w6j2DW34sdZw by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-17T10:40:18Z
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"During past century, resource extraction has doubled every 20 years or so. Indeed, humanity reached a grim milestone in 2021, when the global quantity of human-made mass — that is, the total weight of all things our species manufactured or constructed — surpassed the total weight of all living plant, animal, and microbial biomass on this planet. And worse yet, that mass of human-made stuff continues to grow, year by year, even as the natural world diminishes further."https://scheerpost.com/2026/01/15/were-racing-down-the-highway-to-a-mad-max-world/
(DIR) Post #B2PGMY1Xs2sSizgPVQ by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-18T10:18:26Z
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"Most components of damaged gadgets that could no longer be repaired and recycled, would usually end up in landfills, with many people unaware that these components could release toxic substances."https://www.theborneopost.com/2026/01/18/toxic-legacy-of-dumped-electronics/
(DIR) Post #B2PGdVjrcVoWYnV904 by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-18T10:14:24Z
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Approval of the Saline Data Center Threatens Clean Energy Plans"The lack of transparency from the redacted submission and the absence of public input raise growing concerns that this will be a spreading trend in Michigan.'https://www.sierraclub.org/michigan/blog/2026/01/approval-saline-data-center-threatens-clean-energy-plans
(DIR) Post #B2PH7GRZ3GRVoK857w by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-18T10:10:26Z
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"A proposed data center campus will rise above Business Route 6 in Archbald while pumping in up to 3.3 million gallons of water per day and using more electricity than the region’s largest natural gas power plant can produce."https://www.thetimes-tribune.com/2026/01/18/wildcat-ridge-data-center-in-archbald-to-use-huge-amounts-of-power-water/
(DIR) Post #B2fpIfOmYPYyPutLfM by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-26T10:08:43Z
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"The ecological disaster in Sumatra (not a natural disaster that only includes earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and tsunamis) in December 2025 is a tangible proof of the failure of the capitalist developmentalist ideology with the primary target of high economic growth. For several decades, some countries around the world have been hypnotized by the myth of high growth to address various social problems in order to ensure the welfare of humanity."https://www.kompas.id/artikel/en-bencana-ekologis-sumatra-dan-mitos-pertumbuhan-tinggi
(DIR) Post #B2fqludF61Q80wAH5s by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-26T10:31:01Z
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@aral Thank you so much, Aral, and I very much look forward to meeting you at the Dublin launch
(DIR) Post #B2gxjeYGnwqaOsfVtQ by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-26T19:46:00Z
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“Data centers do not bring high-paying tech jobs to local communities.” A recent analysis from Food & Water Watch, a nonprofit tracking corporate overreach, found that in Virginia, the investment required to create a permanent data center job was nearly 100 times higher than what was required to create comparable jobs in other industries. https://grist.org/energy/data-centers-are-facing-an-image-problem-the-tech-industry-is-spending-millions-to-rebrand-them/
(DIR) Post #B2haRc3HFzDveAYovQ by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-26T20:19:29Z
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@GhostOnTheHalfShell thanks! Much appreciated. 😀
(DIR) Post #B2haRf2K9zFAu58bM8 by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-27T05:46:02Z
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@GhostOnTheHalfShell Both. The extraction is generally in proportion to the refined material. It's terrible isn't it. It's a huge front loading of harm by these so-called green and clean machines. No wonder we're in the middle of a devastating global mining boom.
(DIR) Post #B2i22bAwAxpCPD0K6C by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-27T10:45:50Z
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"Meta aims to be 'water positive' with $1B Beaver Dam data center"What is that?Is "water positive" like "net zero" or "carbon neutral"?What a total joke.Big Tech takes us for a total joke.
(DIR) Post #B2js4ouXT4z2MKfsKO by gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
2026-01-28T09:04:27Z
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@aral So sorry to see this has happened to you, Aral, and thanks for the wonderful and kind work you do.