#airpollutants — Public Fediverse posts
Live and recent posts from across the Fediverse tagged #airpollutants, aggregated by home.social.
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More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?
As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.
By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025
Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.
"Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'
" 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.
"To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."
Read more:
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers#Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
#DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
#NoDatacenters
#HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
#FightBack #DatacentersSuck
#AIResistance #AISucks
#AIDataCenters -
More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?
As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.
By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025
Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.
"Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'
" 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.
"To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."
Read more:
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers#Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
#DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
#NoDatacenters
#HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
#FightBack #DatacentersSuck
#AIResistance #AISucks
#AIDataCenters -
More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?
As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.
By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025
Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.
"Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'
" 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.
"To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."
Read more:
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers#Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
#DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
#NoDatacenters
#HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
#FightBack #DatacentersSuck
#AIResistance #AISucks
#AIDataCenters -
More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?
As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.
By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025
Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.
"Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'
" 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.
"To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."
Read more:
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers#Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
#DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
#NoDatacenters
#HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
#FightBack #DatacentersSuck
#AIResistance #AISucks
#AIDataCenters -
More #DataCenters, more #environmental problems?
As #AI’s reach grows, the need for data centers multiplies. So, too, could the #EcologicalImpacts without hands-on mitigation.
By Ambika Kandasamy, Sep 24, 2025
Excerpt: "A December 2024 preprint of a study from researchers at the University of California, Riverside, and California Institute of Technology outlined the toll of AI-related #AirPollution. 'AI contributes substantially to air quality degradation and public health costs through the emission of various criteria #AirPollutants,' the authors wrote.
"Other forms of #pollution, such as light and noise, also could be problematic. Neil Carter, an associate professor at the University of Michigan’s School for Environment and Sustainability, has studied the links between #SensoryPollution and conservation. While he hasn’t researched #AIDatacenters’ impact on #wildlife specifically, he says AI data centers potentially could be '#SensoryDangerZones.'
" 'Sensory danger zones are basically where we have reason to believe that the amount of light and the amount of noise is exceeding thresholds by which you can imagine there being a fitness consequence for species,' Carter says. 'And they may not be able to carry out the necessary functions that they normally would.' Research by Carter and his colleagues has explored how #LightPollution, for example, could disrupt the dynamics between predator and prey species, such as #cougars and #MuleDeer. Their research also has looked into how #AnthropogenicSounds could affect reproduction in #birds including the #NorthernCardinal, #OakTitmouse and #BarnSwallow.
"To address some of these issues, experts recommend adopting sustainable strategies when building and operating AI data centers and when using AI. The decisions 'we make today will be having an impact on the public health for many years to come, due to the long life span for data center projects,' says Shaolei Ren, associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California, Riverside, and an author of the #AirPollution study."
Read more:
https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2025/Fall/Conservation/AI-Data-Centers#Datacenters #EnvironmentalImpact #NoisePollution #EndangeredSpecies
#DataCenterMoratorium #AISucks
#NoDatacenters
#HyperscaleDatacenters #ResistDatacenters #Resistance
#FightBack #DatacentersSuck
#AIResistance #AISucks
#AIDataCenters -
#OilAndGas emissions in #Utah a threat to public health, report says
#Pollutants released into the atmosphere with excess #NaturalGas create smog and endanger public health, especially in #Duschesne and #Uintah counties.
by Anastasia Hufham, Oct. 21, 2023
"When natural gas producers waste gas and emit #methane in Utah, it’s not only the economy that suffers, according to a report. Air quality, public health and the environment lose out, too.
"'It’s not just methane,' Ashley Miller, executive director of Breathe Utah, told The Salt Lake Tribune. 'It’s other hazardous #AirPollutants that we really care about for public health. When you have a real serious air quality problem in these areas, there’s people living in these areas, and we want to protect human health as much as we can.'
"In 2016, the report says, air pollution from the oil and gas industry led to eight deaths per million, as well as 1,040 asthma exacerbations per million among #children.
"Oil and gas production sites emit what are called volatile organic compounds, or #VOCs, according to the report, when companies release natural gas into the atmosphere through #flaring, #venting and #leaking.
"Volatile organic compounds create ground-level #ozone, better known as #smog, which is a major public health concern in Utah. The report notes that volatile organic compounds in smog can worsen respiratory conditions, like #asthma, and even cause #HeartDisease. Also, #benzene, another pollutant released during oil and gas production, has been proven to cause #cancer.
The report was published by Synapse Energy Economics, Inc., a research and consulting firm; the Environmental Defense Fund, a nonprofit focused on finding solutions to environmental pollution; and Taxpayers for Common Sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group that advocates for the responsible use of taxpayer dollars.
"The report states that Utah’s #FossilFuel producers released 16 billion cubic feet of natural gas in 2019, and 87% was lost from wells leaking natural gas due to faulty equipment.
"Duschesne and Uintah counties — where 85% of oil and gas wells are concentrated in the state — received F grades from the American Lung Association’s State of the Air report this year. Those two counties cover the Uinta Basin, where the #Uintah and #Ouray Indian Reservation is also located.
"'We really understand the importance and value of the fossil fuel industry in Utah, especially to those communities where it’s really the only source of revenue and jobs,' Miller said.
"Petroleum production in the Uinta Basin isn’t slowing down. The oil industry is booming in Duschesne and Uintah counties, and statewide oil and gas employment grew by 16% between 2021 and 2022.
"Emissions from oil and gas production also have concerning environmental impacts. Oil and gas production is a large emitter of methane, a #GreenhouseGas more powerful than carbon dioxide, which is the largest component of natural gas.
"The Environmental Protection Agency has issued a proposal to reduce methane emissions by ensuring that wells are checked frequently for leaks using monitoring equipment. The proposal would also require companies to continue monitoring wells for emissions until they are plugged after production."
https://www.sltrib.com/news/environment/2023/10/21/oil-gas-emissions-utah-threat/