CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

The Dark Side of the Data Center Boom

Photograph Source: Christopher Bowns – CC BY-SA 2.0

Across the country, resistance to data centers is rising even as plans are steadily being made to build new ones.

According to the Pew Research Center, a majority of new data centers — 67 percent — are being built in rural areas. And three-quarters of those are in Midwestern and Southern towns.

The negative effects do not go unnoticed in these communities. A new data center in Southaven, Mississippi, for example, is reportedly terrorizing the community with high levels of noise and air pollution, and residents are now regretting its existence.

But it’s not just the pollution, the depletion of water systems, and the increased energy costs to consumers that should lead communities to resist data centers. When you dig a little deeper, you begin to see how data centers are built on exploitation that goes far beyond small-town USA.

Data centers are both products and producers of wars that kill people and destroy the planet on a global scale. The rapid expansion of these data centers requires raw materials, especially fossil........

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