Are Data Centers Essential or Essentially a Utopian Nightmare?
I recently heard the current technology situation described as “Braver New World.” This is a reference to the Aldous Huxley book Brave New World where the reality is cold and emotionless and people are constantly drugged to withstand it. Oddly enough, I read this book in the fall of 2019 and with the major changes in the world since then, I feel like I was given Cliff’s Notes on what was to come. Our world is so different than the world most of us grew up in. We are seeing new technology that we never could have imagined as children. We watched shows like The Jetson’s and thought the epitome of technology would be a flying vehicle but we are quickly seeing a world where data and computers govern how we live our lives and artificial intelligence is becoming more mainstream.
When we think about our personal part in this, we tend to think about the hundreds or thousands of pictures and emails we have on various electronic devices. We want to be able to access these important files, pictures, and documents whenever we want and have become accustomed to the instant gratification of having access to them at our fingertips. All of this data had me thinking, where does all of this information go? We think of “the cloud” as this imaginary place up in the heavens, like it’s stored on a satellite up in the sky. In reality, giant servers are located all around the country that physically store data for us.
I have been on Facebook for about 17 years now and have never paid for their service or to have my information stored. I’m not paying for it, but someone does. We all know that these social media companies are tremendously wealthy. Right now, Meta, who owns Facebook, is worth an estimated $1.89 Trillion. Alphabet, who owns Google is worth $2.83 Trillion. Apple has a net worth of a whopping $3.56 Trillion. (Please keep in mind that one trillion is one million, one million times.) Even companies like Walmart have a net worth over $800 Billion. All of these corporations have data centers to store information for themselves and their customers. Some data has to do with things like receipts but others involve Artificial Intelligence/AI to predict what a customer might want to buy or influence them in some way. Please note that these are incredibly wealthy companies who can afford the cost of business, in fact, they claim to welcome it.
When I first started researching data centers, all I could think about was how I was contributing to the problem with my 20,000 unread emails and the tens of thousands of pictures/videos stored on my phone. Then I started to research more and found that the damages of data centers are a far bigger problem than my neglected email accounts and screenshots of recipes. They are impacting our environment, our utility bills, our livelihoods, as well as our sovereignty.
We sometimes feel guilt and shame about how much digital data we have hoarded on our devices. But when I started looking at what was actually being stored in data centers, I realized that this is a drop in the bucket when compared to information data centers actually hold. As of 2025, roughly 1/3 of data center storage in the United States is used to power artificial intelligence. We are using AI more and more to help us gain instant access to articles, information, and answers to questions we have. We no longer have to go to a book or even sort through a search engine results for the answer. Most of the energy is used to train AI models, but I would argue that AI is also training us to be lazy. The storage of AI is going to become more and more of a problem as it is projected to reach around 70% of all stored data globally in just the next five years, this is more than double what it is today in 2025. A big concern is also the amount of data used for surveillance. We have doorbells that collect data and monitor our homes, our doctor records, our test results and other personal information, we do a search online and that information is stored and used to persuade and show us other things we may like. AI is used all over and we don’t even know it. Right now, we are in the wild west of AI where companies are sharing our private data without our knowledge or permission.
I haven’t even touched on the environmental impacts of storing all of this information. A large data center can use upwards of 5 million gallons of water a day which is roughly the amount of water used in a town of about 10,000-50,000 people. Online you can find videos of families who no longer have safe water to drink because their water supply has been hijacked by data centers in their area which leave them with low water flow and large amounts of sediment coming out of the tap. Of course, these large companies pay for private assessments that show they are not responsible. I believe it is because they don’t want to set the precedent that they will make right the damages caused by their data centers. Water is a basic human right and some of these large companies are literally stealing water from the wells of those who live nearby. Why would a data center need water you might ask? Data centers use processor chips that get very hot. A constant supply of water is used to cool them. Some data centers are out in rural areas and take water from local aquifers yet others are taking water from rivers which are also used to supply water for people in the area. What happens when residents run out of water because it is all being used for a data center? And if these companies return water to rivers, how do we know that the water coming out is safe? Water tested near some data centers have shown to contain flocculants which can create sludge. Flocculants are elements that can come out of a suspension, such as water, and create a sediment.
The excessive use of water isn’t the only ecological impact of data centers. They are using tremendous amounts of energy. I spoke with someone locally who is helping to build data centers in our area. He told me that one campus, consisting of four data centers, would be using as much energy as a local college town of nearly 100,000 people. Let me say that again, one data center campus is going to be using as much energy as 100,000 people…every day, 24/7. This is only one of four data center campuses that are being built or proposed in our area. My question is, where are the environmentalists? The people I see protesting and objecting to data centers are people who don’t want to live near them, have their resources affected, and pay for the infrastructure. Environmentalists should be the first in line to object to these monstrosities. Some may be necessary, but do there need to be this many and at what cost to the consumer and planet are we willing to pay?
I came across an amazing video on YouTube called We Found the Hidden Cost of Data Centers. In it, a nonprofit called More Perfect Union talks about how consumers are paying for the costs associated with data centers through added fees on their energy bills and later being held responsible for upgrading the energy requirements. We are basically watching a subsidized wealth transfer that these mega corporations facilitate. These companies that are worth trillions of dollars yet typically only pay about half of the cost of building their own data centers due to deals they have cut with local politicians. Sometimes this amounts to energy users paying billions of dollars in superfluous fees. You can look at your own electric bill to see if there are any “supply charges” or infrastructure fees.
Most of the negotiations worked out between companies like Meta or Alphabet and lawmakers are kept secret so the public never knows what they will be expected to pay the difference. Not only that, but the sheer volume of energy needed to run these buildings will soon exceed the amount of energy the local power infrastructure can provide. What then happens is that consumers will be held responsible for upgrading the infrastructure needed to provide more energy to feed these hungry data centers. A recent proposal in Louisiana would have Meta paying about half of the cost of updating energy grids over 15 years while leaving the other half for residents to pay, which adds up to about $1.5 billion dollars to cover the cost. How do we not see this as stealing? It often ends up being those who can least afford the extra costs footing the bill in an already expensive era.
We need to be diligent about what our politicians are allowing and what extra costs we will end up paying. There needs to be transparency in this new arena which doesn’t seem to be well regulated at all. Politicians are double crossing their constituents with unknown benefit to themselves. The state of Maryland has recently passed a state bill that will put data centers in a separate customer class and require large companies to pay for the updated infrastructure needed to run their data centers. Those corporations building the data centers claim to be more than willing to pay for costs associated with their creation and energy usage, but their actions prove otherwise. Legislators in the state of Virginia received over $2 million from political action committees/PACs in 2024 which led to votes against regulation for data centers. Let’s call this what it really is, bribery. It’s obvious when you look at it, many politicians are selling out their constituents to benefit themselves. Why are we allowing this?
Even with this list of data center horrors, I haven’t even mentioned what I believe to be the worst part. Data is being stored at an incredible rate. Information about our personal lives, our preferences, and even our medical history is being gathered and used for predictive programing; our data harvested like a crop and then used to encourage purchases, manipulate how we think, and to provide an echo chamber to reinforce our beliefs. But we are ultimately training AI, we are training it to take over for humans…and in the meantime using millions of gallons of water and gigawatts of energy. My husband works in construction and talks about how they keep asking people to input what they do and how they do it into computer systems. It is not for the employee’s benefit; it is to teach AI to replace them. We are participating in a program with the goal to make us obsolete. What happens when a computer is capable of doing highly trained jobs that would take a human years of schooling and experience to become proficient at? I myself have been in school for years learning about health and how to help others find wellness. What happens when a computer can give the same expertise in seconds that took me years to learn?
I ask you these further questions: Data centers will exist, but at what cost to humanity? What happens when all of our highly paid jobs become obsolete? What will happen to the job market and how will that affect our economy? Why aren’t companies being held responsible for the damage they cause to the people who live nearby and the environmental impact? Does it all boil down to money? Why do the problems of data centers become the problems of citizens who live nearby?
What can we do to help stop data centers from affecting us economically, environmentally, and personally? We can talk with our local and state politicians to encourage them to put data centers in a specific class so that those building them will be required to pay for their construction and to pay for any infrastructure necessary to sustain and maintain their buildings. That cost should never go to the residents of the area. These politicians should also do what they can to protect your personal information and not pass bills that would allow companies to mine data from your devices or health records. You can contact the governing board for your local water supply to ensure they are aware of the dangers of data centers. And certainly, if you want to, you can go through and delete old emails and superfluous pictures.
Key points to remember:
· Citizens are paying additional energy fees to cover the cost to have data centers built, paying upwards of half and sometimes as much as $2 BILLION.
· Citizens are paying extra taxes to cover the infrastructure needed to build new power facilities because large corporations are getting tax breaks.
· Millions of gallons of water are being used by data centers and some people are left with no water or water that is of poor quality.
· While businesses claim that data centers create jobs, most of the jobs are gone once the project is complete. Only a few dozen permanent jobs are created.
· Data centers are used to collect and store our private information that others have no right to share.
· AI is using data centers in a way to eventually replace many highly trained jobs.
Sources:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y8KoXL55T0I
https://dgtlinfra.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-data-center/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YN6BEUA4jNU
https://substack.perfectunion.us/p/how-data-centers-are-driving-up-your
https://www.eesi.org/articles/view/data-centers-and-water-consumption
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cy8gy7lv448o
The Dangers of Forever Chemicals
When we think of 3M, we tend to think of sticky notes to jot down reminders, Command strips to hang pictures without damaging walls, and Teflon pans which allow a nonstick surface for cooking. The manufacturing company 3M started out in Minnesota in the early 1900s as a mining company. They started to produce items such as sandpaper but quickly expanded their products, some of which are well known today. These products include things like Teflon and Scotchgard, which prevents textiles from staining as well as plenty other products we will never know about. We look at these things and think they are great innovations; who wants their food to stick to the pan or their new couch look old and dingy? The average person tends to use these products without hesitation, but there is a hidden side of these plastic coatings and sprays that we really need to be paying attention to.
There is a class of chemicals known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances or PFAS. These are formed from a highly reactive bond of Carbon and Fluorine chains and have been in production since the late 1930s. Imagine having such a good friend that nothing could come between you; you’ve made it the past five years with different opinions on health and politics and you still love each other. That is the type of bond used to form these chemicals. These chemical bonds are so strong and difficult to degrade that people often refer to them as “forever chemicals” because they are so hard to break down. Many of these compounds will be around longer than you or I will. They are water soluble substances so they combine easily with water and are hard to contain or detect once they are out of the lab and into products or the environment. Just think about it this way, if you have a chemical that mixes with water and you can’t see, taste, smell, or otherwise know it is there, how would you even know where it is present?
The company 3M has long used these chemicals claiming they are present but not dangerous. They make upwards of 16,000 products that use some form of PFAS and include Scotchgard and compounds in Teflon as well as other things such as semiconductor components, ski wax, brake fluid, dental floss, hand sanitizer, makeup, batteries, guitar strings, cleaners, and a waxy coating that prevents takeout containers from leaking. These Fluorine chemicals are pervasive and just about everywhere we look.
I took a class with physician Dr. David Brownstein a few years back. He has written several books on the thyroid, hormones, and iodine. The most important thing I learned from him is that molecules in the same column on the periodic table compete with each other for receptors in our body. Fluorine is in the same column as Iodine. What happens when our bodies are bombarded with Fluoride from our water and Fluorine from PFAS? The receptors are taken up and Iodine cannot do its job in our bodies, supporting our thyroid and associated hormones. (Also note that Bromine is in the same column as Fluorine and Iodine. Bromine is added to many bread products to make them shelf stable and Bromide is present in foam products such as couch cushions and mattresses.)
PFOS or perflurooctanesulfonic acid(let’s break it down-Per-Fluoro-Octane-Sulfonic Acid) are one class of PFAS. They are found in cookware, carpets, varnishes, paints, leather goods, furniture wax, and upholstered furniture. A lengthy 2024 article titled Toxic Gaslighting: How 3M Executives Convinced a Scientist the Forever Chemicals She Found in Human Blood Were Safe tells of how a young chemist named Kris Hansen found these PFOS chemicals in blood of 3M workers back in the mid-1990s. She started testing blood from around the world and they all contained PFOS. Then she looked at banked blood from the 1960s and still found PFOS present. She was told by someone several ranks above her that these chemicals were harmless. She watched one of her bosses retire early after she presented her findings. She eventually switched over to a different department, not worrying too much about these chemicals as she was told they were present but safe. Decades later she found out that 3M had known about the presence of these forever chemicals as well as the fact that they were causing physical damage to people. One coworker, who set out to humiliate her, sent in blood from his horses which also tested positive for PFOS. The company hid data for decades allowing the entire world to be flooded with these fluorine-based chemicals. It is estimated that damages done by both PFOS and PFAS through disability, health-care costs, and disease amount to $62 Billion per year. I truly believe this is one of the biggest causes of illness and toxic burden in humans today.
When we are around forever chemicals, they can do many dangerous things to our bodies. As I have stated above, they can affect thyroid function in your body but they can also cause low birth weight in babies, raise the risk of certain types of cancers such as liver cancer, increase liver damage in adults, raising both LDL and total cholesterol and blood pressure, and per the EPA, some PFAS have even been shown to reduce the response of certain vaccines such as Tetanus, Diphtheria, and Rubella in certain ages of children. These all seem like ailments many people face today.
It's hard to tell where we come into the most contact with these chemicals. I have already mentioned things like carpets, cookware, fabrics in our cars and couches, and cosmetics. One unlikely place we might not think to look for these chemicals is in our food and water. More than 45% of the tap water in the United States has at least one forever chemical in it. This means that around half of the water we drink and half of the food products made using water are exposing us to forever chemicals. Products such as Scotchban are added to food packaging to prevent greasy, acidic, and salty foods from leaking. Testing done on foods such as McDonald’s french fries, McNuggets, Big Mac, and cookies have shown the presence of PFAS as part of a class action lawsuit. Basically, we cannot sit on a carpet or couch, eat food or drink water, eat foods cooked in certain pans, put on makeup, floss our teeth, or use a battery without coming in contact with these chemicals…chemicals that will pretty much stay in our environment unless we make some major changes. 3M has claimed that they are removing PFAS from over 16,000 of their products by the end of 2025…I’m not holding my breath as there is no penalty if they do not follow through.
So, these things are everywhere, but what can we do about them? We can start by supporting our bodies with nutritious, organic food and supplementing as needed. Some research has been done on what is called “micoremediation” which is when mushrooms are used to clean up toxins and toxic compounds by breaking them down. Some are already using this to help with things such as oil spills and mopping up heavy metals with other forms of bacteria, fungi, and plants in a process called bioremediation. More research needs to be done to see what other modalities can help fix this overwhelming problem. Whoever tackles this problem definitely has their work cut out for them, but I have confidence that a solution will be found.
In the meantime, I have a plea for those in charge of the EPA, our public officials, as well as our governing bodies, please hold people accountable when ecological and physically damage like this are done. Companies like 3M have known for almost 50 years that PFAS are present in products they make and that they cause harm. Why are fines enough? Companies have no incentive to do better when they can keep doing bad things with only a slap on the wrist. CEOs of drug manufacturers used to be held responsible when their products caused harm to users of those products. In the United States, these giants are above the law. Do something horrible to humanity and pay a fee. No person is ever held accountable. Please start holding the actual humans who are responsible for the damage accountable and we will quickly see change.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perfluorooctanesulfonic_acid
https://wildspore.farm/blogs/news/can-mushrooms-help-remove-forever-chemicals
https://www.propublica.org/article/3m-forever-chemicals-pfas-pfos-inside-story
https://www.familyhandyman.com/article/pfoa-vs-pfas/
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/05/190529084838.htm
https://news.3m.com/2022-12-20-3M-to-Exit-PFAS-Manufacturing-by-the-End-of-2025