I went through old posts and found hints of an increase in data centers, at least in the early 2000s. One company tried to tell a story of why we need them and created a mural project; they also bought a 1960s power plant.

In 2010, Greenpeace posted a warning and petition re:

The Internet is how we connect, learn new things, and share what we love. But right now, much of our Internet is also dirty, no matter how we use it.

Data centers are where Internet companies store our photos, messages, and music, and many are powered by coal and dirty energy sources that pollute our environment and harm our climate.

What’s worse — the Internet’s demand for energy is only growing. If the Internet were a country, its electricity use would already rank sixth in the world.

Source: Greenpeace petition

I use the Internet daily for research and other purposes, like blogging or sharing information that might help someone. It’s truly embarrassing to realize that warnings about Data Centers were in the news some time ago! However, they were not given enough airtime or a proper platform to inform the public. Now, it is 2026; some parts of our country are suffering from droughts, while others have seen their land devastated not only by historic floods, but also by the fact that building data centers requires not only a lot of land but also an enormous amount of energy and water.

~ Nativegrly77