Environmental social science

The Hidden Cost of AI: How Data Centers Are Straining Water, Power, and Communities

Editor’s Note: This is the second of two Dispatches on AI data centers; read the previous article, by Alefiya Presswala, here. The residents of Saline Township, Michigan, are upset. Soon, construction will begin on a 2.2 million-square-foot data center located just outside the small rural town, which will ultimately serve two Big Tech companies: Oracle […]

Febbraio 6, 2026
The Measure of Our Plans

Human achievement is often celebrated as personal success, but its true value lies in its impact on the world around us. Fourteen years ago, I asked whether our accomplishments serve more than our own ambition. Today, that question is unavoidable. Every degree earned, every promotion secured, every innovation celebrated shapes the world we share — […]

Gennaio 21, 2026
Crossing the Borderline — from Paseo del Norte to Protecting Jaguars and Ecological Integrity

No More Deaths is about stopping the Sacrifice Zones of La Frontera On my radio show, Nov. 20, 6 pm. An early gift for Paulo Kirk Subscribers. Pesos and gold teeth welcomed for this Substack! Erick Meza, borderlands coordinator for the Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter, discovered that one of the sections slated for the upcoming border […]

Ottobre 12, 2025
It’s Revolution or Death

Just in time for the COP29 summit, where a group of self-congratulatory world leaders will meet in Baku, Azerbaijan for photo-ops, catered meals, and of course discussion of climate goals that they don’t intend to meet, subMedia, in collaboration with Peter Gelderloos, is pleased to release part one of a three part series: It’s Revolution […]

Novembre 14, 2024
The Military-Industrial Complex Is Fueling Climate Catastrophe

As we write, New York City is an unsettling 70 degrees in November. Meanwhile, a cohort of war profiteers, their pockets lined by the very industries destroying our climate, are flying to COP, the annual U.N. climate summit hosted by a petrostate, no less. They’re gathering to “discuss climate solutions”—but one of the world’s biggest […]

Novembre 12, 2024
How Patriarchal Pronatalism Dominates the Conversation about the Human Future

“Global Population Growth Is Slowing Down. Here’s One Reason Why,” Scientific American Governments worldwide are in a race to see which one can encourage the most women to have the most babies. Hungary is slashing income tax for women with four or more children. Russia is offering women with 10 or more children a “Mother-Heroine” award. Greece, Italy, and South Korea are […]

Giugno 11, 2024
The State of Capitalism’s Climate System

Three years ago, 15,000 scientists declared a climate emergency by signing onto a State of the Climate Report. That signing led to annual updates, for example, the most recent version: The 2023 State of the Climate Report: Entering Uncharted Territory, Bioscience, vol. 73, issue 12, December 2023, Oxford Academic (aka: “The Report”). The initial paragraph […]

Gennaio 13, 2024
The Illusion of Green Capitalism

Adapted from Dying for Capitalism: How Big Money Fuels Extinction and What We Can Do About It Many Americans – even those who recognize capitalism’s destructive impacts – find the idea of discarding capitalism for a more just system unimaginable. Yes, capitalism is part of the problem. But, they think, realistically, the world is not […]

Ottobre 14, 2023
Climate Change Litigation: The Montana Precedent

Climate change litigation is falling into pressing fashion. In Australia, the 2021 case of Sharma, despite eventually failing before three judges in the Federal Court in 2022, suggested that ministers had been put on notice regarding a potential duty of care regarding the consequences of approving fossil fuel projects. The lower court decision had shaken […]

Agosto 21, 2023
Water Wars: Cooling the Data Centres

Water. Data centres. The continuous, pressing need to cool the latter, which houses servers to store and process data, with the former, which is becoming ever more precious in the climate crisis. Hardly a good comingling of factors. Like planting cotton in drought-stricken areas, decisions to place data hubs in various locations across the globe […]

Agosto 6, 2023

Tag: Environmental social science