There are more than 5,400 data centers in the United States, which is almost half of the number of data centers worldwide. In the past four years, there has been a surge in data center construction, particularly in poor communities in the South. Clearing the FOG speaks with Jai Dulani of Media Justice, who authored a new report: The People Say No: Resisting Data Centers in the South, and Kali Akuno of Cooperation Jackson, about the harms that these centers are causing in local communities, particularly in their enormous consumption of water and energy, and the risk they pose to the US economy. Akuno also addresses the bigger picture of the deleterious impact of artificial intelligence on our lives.
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As Senior Research Specialist at MediaJustice, Jai Dulani writes analysis and develops research projects focused on the media and tech industry. Dulani comes to MediaJustice with over twenty years of experience working in movements for racial and gender justice. Dulani grew up in Pittsburgh, PA and Chandigarh, India. He has worked in various leadership roles as an educator, fundraiser, facilitator, and consultant at community based organizations in New York City. Previously, Dulani was Director of Institutional Giving at Race Forward, Co-Director of FIERCE, and Media Educator at Global Action Project. Dulani is also an artist and writer. He is co-editor of the anthology The Revolution Starts At Home: Confronting Intimate Violence in Activist Communities. Dulani is based in Greenfield, MA.
Kali Akuno is a co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson. Kali served as the Director of Special Projects and External Funding in the Mayoral Administration of the late Chokwe Lumumba of Jackson, MS. His focus in this role was supporting cooperative development, the introduction of eco-friendly and carbon reduction methods of operation, and the promotion of human rights and international relations for the city. Kali also served as the Co-Director of the US Human Rights Network, the Executive Director of the Peoples’ Hurricane Relief Fund (PHRF) based in New Orleans, Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina. And was a co-founder of the School of Social Justice and Community Development (SSJCD), a public school serving the academic needs of low-income African American and Latino communities in Oakland, California.
