League of Women Voters Speaker Series – Online Only
The 11th season of the Hertz/Rader LWV program series, in partnership with Kellogg-Hubbard Library will consider “Where Do We Go from Here?”
The Environmental Dangers of Data Centers
Lenny Siegel will discuss the environmental impacts of data centers, with a focus on the use and environmental release of PFAS forever chemicals. Working with Chips Communities United, he will suggest that there is still time to prevent data centers from using PFAS coolants. He will also explain why all data center proposals should be subject to complete environmental reviews.
Lenny Siegel is the executive director of the Center for Public Environmental Oversight, an organization that promotes and facilitates public participation in the oversight of environmental activities such as remediation of federal facilities, Superfund sites, and Brownfields. Lenny has worked for decades on environmental issues surrounding the tech industry and has served on numerous regional and national environmental advisory groups, including committees of the the National Academies of Sciences. One of his many publications include, The High Cost of High Tech: The Dark Side of the Chip (1985). He served as mayor of Mountain View, California, the birthplace of the semiconductor industry, in Silicon Valley.
In the face of recent policies, legal decisions and technical developmentss, several of our institutions seem to be in flux. This series hopes to shed some light, and raise awareness of what the potential changes might mean for us as citizens. Beginning in November, the series will look at some of them:
November 18 – AI/Data Centers – Lenny Siegel, Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
December 9 – Unitary Executive – Peter Teachout, Professor at Vermont Law & Graduate School
January 13 – Supreme Court Reform
February 10 – US ownership and stewardship of foreign and domestic resources
