It's bad enough to be imprisoned in a Zoo, but then to be exposed to #NoisePollution?! Not acceptable!
No One Likes #Datacenter Noise Pollution – The Zoo Animals Won’t Either
by Heather Kostick, June 22, 2026
"Recently, the #NashvilleZoo has made headlines for opposing the proposed data center that would be built near animal habitats. The zoo had planned to eventually buy part of the land for a future education and conservation center. In addition to concerns of other environmental impacts, the question of noise pollution from data centers and other impacts on the zoo animals has come up. But what does this research say? How loud are data centers? How are wildlife and zoo animals impacted by noise pollution?
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Often when noise pollution comes up in relation to wildlife, it is often whales and other marine mammals that are thought of since they can’t avoid noise produced by ships. It’s been found that noise pollution negatively impacts whale behavior, migration, and song since vessel noise can drown out or distort acoustic communication between animals (Croll et al. 2001; Rossi-Santos 2015; Wang et al. 2021; NOAA 2022; Johnston and Painter 2024). Or perhaps you have thought of the birds in urban environments? Although some bird species are more tolerant of noise due to adapting to urban environments, noise can impact reproductive success and community composition in birds (Francis et al. 2009; Perillo et al. 2017; Dooling et al. 2019; Morelli et al. 2023).
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Not only would a data center next to the Nashville Zoo create noise pollution and impact the resident zoo animals, but would potentially impact the important conservation work that they actively facilitate. With nearly 400,000 signatures on Change.org, it’s clear that many people do not support the building of this data center next to the Nashville Zoo. While the focus of this commentary has been impacts on the potential impacts to zoo animals, it’s important to remember the wildlife is out there already being impacted by existing and under construction data centers. Data centers currently largely exist in urban environments right now, but many of the new and planned data centers are targeted in rural communities. Some data center plans are also for more suburban areas – like the one proposed in #UpperMerionTownship, PA that would be nearly double the size of the King of Prussia Mall – the largest shopping mall in PA and fourth-largest in the U.S. "
#NoDatacenters #NoDatacentres #Pennsylvania #AIDatacenters #AirPollution #BigTech #USPol