Vulnerable People and Places Blog

    When Big Tech companies first arrived in Oregon, they came for our cheap, clean hydroelectric power and generous enterprise zone tax breaks. But as the artificial intelligence boom sends server energy demands into the stratosphere, a new crisis is quietly brewing. Tech giants can buy all the advanced AI microchips they want, but they cannot easily buy gigawatts. With Oregon's electrical grid facing unprecedented strain, data center developers are pivoting to a new strategy: bypassing the public utility grid entirely and building their own private, "behind-the-meter" power plants. Worse yet, a wave of recent federal executive actions is clearing the runway for them to do it, leaving state lawmakers and organizations like 1,000 Friends of Oregon as the final line of defense for our natural resources. Under the current administration’s Executive Order 14318 ("Accelerating Federal Permitting of Data Center Infrastructure"), the federal landscape shifte...

                                                                                 Photo by Intoo website Do you want society to advance? It is a genuine question, because for some people it is an easier question than for others. Most people would say, obviously, we should grow, and society needs to flourish with better ideas all the time. The idea of Artificial Intelligence is the future, and most people are skeptical. AI has been around for decades, but the main wave of it becoming mainstream has only surfaced in the 2020’s. Its access has become easy for anyone to get their hands on. New platforms are pumping out their version of AI; each claim is a better rendition. The big question is that rumors are spreading more and more about AI advancemen...

  You’ve probably already heard promises from technology companies about the jobs they’ll create. When companies announce new data center projects, this is their biggest selling point, and supporters of these projects describe these facilities as economic opportunities that will bring employment, investment, and long-term growth. For communities in Oregon and across the country, this promise can sound appealing; however, they are misleading to say the least. Data centers do create jobs, especially during the construction of data centers, which require electricians, contractors, engineers, fiber installers, and utility workers. According to research from Brookings, countries that receive their first large data center see construction employment increase by about 11% over the course of several years. Information-centered jobs such as telecommunications, IT services, and software support can also expand in “hyperscale” facilities such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft. However, the pro...

Photo by Patrick Hart Written by Patrick Hart I find it funny in a sardonic manner to think back to my childhood in this capital AI future that my father never got to see. He was a science fiction nerd, and as a result of his enthusiasm for sci-fi, I too came to love it from an early age. Science fiction has existed as an outlet for writers to flex that philosophical muscle and explore the big questions about the human condition in a way that, even as a kid, had me completely engaged. I bring this up because all of those stories in science fiction that deal in AI often deal in the romantic notion of AI gaining sentience and often becoming our worst enemy. Enter the 2020s in the real world and we’re not so much playing god by bringing new life into the world to recognize us as the ultimate threat, we’re creating a replacement for those already struggling to survive in an economy that isn’t set up to support such a drastic change. We won’t burn out fast due to the robot uprising, swathes...

  The internet has become a staple of everyone’s life; this seemingly invisible connection is essential for work, entertainment, file storage, communication, and even education. How does it function? Is the internet magic? Far from it. Most people do not understand how these digital tasks depend on enormous physical buildings called data centers that make tasks like streaming, social media, and even asking artificial intelligence questions feel instant and effortless. These facilities store and process data that powers today's technology-driven society. Data centers are the pillars that support everything people use on a daily basis. Schools rely on them for learning, hospitals use them to manage medical records, businesses depend on cloud storage and online video meetings, and artificial intelligence systems that provide answers to questions on a whim are incapable of functioning without them. As technology develops alongside AI, the need for larger and more powerful data centers ...

 When people think about social change, they usually think about protests, political movements, or major events happening around the world. While those things are important, communication is often the real foundation behind change. The way information is shared can influence how people think, feel, and respond to important issues. A message that is clear, emotional, and relatable will always connect with more people than a message that only throws facts at them. Research in communication studies shows that people respond differently depending on how information is presented. Howard Gardner’s ideas about multiple intelligences explain that not everyone learns or understands information in the same way. Some people connect more with visuals and videos, while others prefer written stories, statistics, or direct examples. This is why blogs, websites, and social media pages that use different forms of communication are usually more effective at reaching larger audiences. If content only...

Society has rapidly progressed into a new era of technology. Billions of people use the internet, search engines, and artificial intelligence every single day. Yet most people are only concerned with the digital input and output, unaware that every click, scroll, and AI prompt also carries a physical cost. The systems powering our online world do not exist in some invisible space. They exist in massive physical facilities known as data centers, consuming enormous amounts of land, water, and energy. While the benefits of these technologies are experienced globally, their impacts are often felt most heavily at the local level. Although data centers existed long before the rise of artificial intelligence, the rapid expansion of AI and large language models has significantly accelerated their growth. Data centers have become the backbone of modern technology, powering everything from cloud storage and social media platforms to search engines and AI systems. Without them, many of the techno...