IT News on November 9th: According to a report by "The Wire" ( WIRED ), last Wednesday afternoon, Jamie Robbins ( Jamie Robins ) visited Google's headquarters in King's Cross, London, UK. He held a letter in his hand that contained a petition signed by nearly 55,000 people, requesting Google to abandon its plan to build a large data center in Seroke ( Thurrock ), which is about 24 kilometers east of London.
Robbins is a staff member of the wildlife conservation organization Buglife. This organization has currently formed an unusual alliance with several groups from diverse backgrounds to jointly oppose Google's data center project.
Buglife and local wildlife conservation groups are concerned that the construction of the project will destroy the habitats of endangered plants, rare large bees, and other invertebrates. The non-profit organization Foxglove believes that the data center will generate excessive pollution. The local Throckhammers Motorcycle Club (Thurrock Hammers) hopes to regain this site to resume motorcycle races.
Last Wednesday, members of these groups came together with Robbins to protest outside Google's headquarters, holding up placards demanding that Google find another location for its data center construction.
IT has noticed that in various parts of the UK, companies such as Google are preparing to build large-scale data centers to meet the growing computational demands of artificial intelligence models and other digital services. The UK government is also actively encouraging such projects, hoping to gain a share of the billions of dollars in investment in the AI industry, while reducing its dependence on foreign partners for computing power.
But similar to the situation in the United States, residents living around the proposed data centers in the UK have also begun to publicly express their opposition, attempting to stop the advancement of these projects.
Google stated that its Serroco project will give priority to biodiversity protection and reducing carbon emissions. Adam Elman, Google's Director of Sustainable Development for Europe, Middle East, and Africa ( Adam Elman ), said: "We understand the concerns of organizations such as Buglife and also share their expectations for the sustainable development of the project."
However, Seroke's situation also highlights that data center developers are facing an increasingly wide range of obstacles. As public attitudes towards data centers seem to be cooling down, the opposition faced by developers is also growing.
Although the scale of the protest outside Google's headquarters was not large, it was just part of a series of anti-data center protests that took place across Europe last week. In Amsterdam, protesters even climbed onto cranes at the construction site of a Microsoft data center and hung banners that read "Fuck AI" ( fuck AI ).
Robbins stated, "Every week, new local groups emerge to oppose data centers. People are dissatisfied with data centers being built in their backyards, they are also unhappy that these projects ignore the opinions of local residents, and they are even more concerned about the impact they have on wildlife."
Nearly a thousand objections, with only one in support of the project
The data center that Google plans to build is located next to a gas station in Thurrock, an area where a major road in London intersects with the highways surrounding the city. On the project site, the ruins of an abandoned Arena Essex motorcycle race track are adjacent to a grassy field, which still retains some old paths, and there is also a lake nearby.
In 2023, Google acquired this land through one of its subsidiaries and submitted an application last May, hoping to build a data center park there.
Upon learning of this plan, local residents quickly contacted national wildlife protection organizations and environmental groups to jointly launch opposition efforts.
According to statistics, the public submitted approximately 1,000 opinions to the local planning department, of which only one supported the project. The Selrok Local Council stated that a considerable portion of these opinions came from residents outside the area.
Opposition groups argue that Google's plan does not fully consider the negative impacts of data center construction, including the disappearance of the existing motorcycle racing track as a sports facility, the destruction of habitats for rare animals and plants, and the potential annual emissions of up to 570,000 tons.
Foxglove believes that such a level of emissions cannot be included in the UK government's carbon emission budget.
Mark Sexton ( Mark Sexton ), the person in charge of the Throckhammers Motorcycle Club, stated: "We are a rather special group of opponents, and our reasons for opposition differ from those of other groups. I believe that this is also why we can be helpful to the entire movement. This unusual alliance has already attracted some attention."
Google, on the other hand, believes that the opposition from outside is based on a misunderstanding of the project plan.
The company claims that it will achieve a net increase in biodiversity in the project area by preserving existing habitats and transplanting endangered plants to other locations. At the same time, Google plans to offset the emissions generated by its data centers by funding new renewable energy projects, with the goal of achieving carbon neutrality by 2030.
Regarding the issue of the motorcycle track being demolished, Google believes that this does not mean that the local community will lose an irreplaceable facility, as this track has been idle for many years.
Ermann stated, "We hope to be good neighbors. We recognize the ecological value of these sites, and our goal is to minimize the impact of the project as much as possible."
However, these explanations did not dispel the doubts of the protesters. They stated that they would continue to prevent the construction of the project in various ways, and although each protest is limited in scale, it can gradually build up influence over time.
Rob Bonner, the founder of the non-profit organization Protect The Wild that participated in the protest last Wednesday, said, "How big do I think our chances of success are now? To be honest, not very optimistic at the moment. But this is still a small piece of ice that has been chiseled off that huge iceberg."
The anti-data center movement has begun to achieve some results.
Some signs indicate that the grassroots anti-data center movement has begun to push for concessions in relevant policies.
In the United States, some states have implemented measures to freeze or suspend the approval of data center construction. During this week's mid-term elections, candidates who supported data center construction also faced significant setbacks.
In the UK, Foxglove has also recently made progress through legal litigation, forcing the government to revoke a planning permit for a data center construction project located west of London.
The Serok Local Council stated that they expect to make a decision on Google's preliminary planning application by the beginning of next year. Even if approved, Google will still need to develop a more detailed site development plan and go through another lengthy review process.
Protest groups stated that they intend to create obstacles for Google at every stage of the project's progress.
Robbins said, "This kind of resistance over planning approvals could last for several years. It's a war of attrition."
