VIDEO https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2026/10/16/Finnish_forest_cleared_for_data_centre_development--1c3e7792-e894-46ac-98a2-2a1fdd46e51e-2.0_720h_q8.mp4#t=0.001
Posted on 10/23/2026 10:00:48 PM PDT by UMCRevMom@aol.com
Behind a wire fence lies a vast gaping wound of earth. Before Google’s arrival a few months ago, an estimated quarter of a million trees occupied the 330 hectares (815 acres) of forest near the town of Muhos in rural northern Finland. Now they are all gone.
After the tech company illegally stripped the entire area to build a datacentre – taking even the top soil with it – all that remains is a vast expanse of mud indented with the trail marks of machinery, puddles and mounds of earth, roots and branches. Residents say that brown water flowing off the site is going into a stream that feeds the Oulujoki River.
“It doesn’t end. It goes on and on,” says Mari Annala, an ecologist from the Finnish Association for Nature Conservation(SLL), [SEE VIDEO BELOW]
With 145 new datacentres at various stages of planning, Finland has found itself at the forefront of the tech companies’ latest push. As well as its relative geopolitical and geological stability and abundance of land, the cool climate makes it especially attractive for saving on energy costs.
Earlier this month, Google was ordered by the Finnish Licensing and Supervision Authority (LVV) to temporarily STOP work after it failed to complete the necessary environmental impact assessments before clearcutting the land. The news has prompted widespread outcry and a national reckoning over what role, if any, the country should play in the global rush to build datacentres to keep up with rapid AI development.
“Really, for Finland, there are no benefits,” he said. “They are international companies serving international customers. Very little corporate taxes go to Finland. Datacentres ultimately have very little benefit for others except the datacentre operator.”
With legislation still playing catchup, there is a rush to get projects under way as fast as possible.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
VIDEO https://uploads.guim.co.uk/2026/10/16/Finnish_forest_cleared_for_data_centre_development--1c3e7792-e894-46ac-98a2-2a1fdd46e51e-2.0_720h_q8.mp4#t=0.001
That’s the answer to the question about why are the data centers annoyingly placed right next to family neighborhoods and schools instead of wilderness.
By the way, few mention in the cliche clips: residents complain about the increased water and the higher cost and the brownouts of power-—and the noise. The “noise” includes the low frequency sounds which are not being measured currently in the controversies.
These low frequency sounds cause physical and psychological problems and insomnia. Sometimes perceived by some humans more than others.
High pitched sounds bother the ears, cause irritability and
may be linked to various physical ailments. Before sound deadening ear protection was common, some factory and other workers were exposed to it. Now AI data centers produced these.
Ok, Google, lecture us more about the environment.
Photo....
Courtesy of Ancient Aliens, a UFO image sent by space aliens.
“Our work is progressing nicely. First we clear the forests then we clear the land of humans.” 🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸🛸
The subtext is ——
now you did it, data centers, you’ve angered Greta.
I think it is a valid criticism to ask why data centres are not being environmentally self-sufficient.
However, all this anger is going to lead to China having all the data centres and all of the information and they will track everyone of us.
At least, if we have them, we can control them.
Google is evil. Worst of the worst mega-data gathering whores.
I hope that they’re going to at least mill the lumber.
Probably can't, because it was "cut illegally".
I'm in general pro-datacenter, for that among other reasons. If we want to continue to have an internet, there's no other choice. Destroy the single most important communication system on Earth at the same time you're being overrun by barbarians? Doesn't sound like a good plan. "Do you want the collapse of Western Civilization? Because that's how you get the collapse of Western Civilization."
> At least, if we have them, we can control them.
Insofar as anyone can control them.
Oh, I suspect China is doing more than Google. And Facebook/Meta is right up there too.
But in this case, Google really stepped in a big pile of poo.
A developer built a subdivision near us in suburbia. He was supposed to leave a bunch of the second-growth fir trees (4 feet in diameter - 100”(?) tall. He cut them all down. The work got halted and he got fined.
I was walking by after they had been shut down and some guy was loading the 50+ foot logs onto trailers. I told him what a shame it was. He agreed, but said “Yeah, but they fined him $14,000. Each of these trees will probably fetch $10,000 and he’ll have the site graded and utility installation paid for.”
I have no idea if those prices were correct, but I wouldn’t doubt it. My old man was a developer and he wanted as many trees as possible remaining on the property - it added to the value of the home. Of course it made construction a bit more difficult.
He was a pretty mild-mannered guy. So it caught me by surprise the first time I saw him confront a burly dozer operator (dad was 6’ and 160 lbs) that had nicked one of the trees that he had marked. He wasn’t yelling at him exactly, but he let it be known if he did it again he would be off the site.
Behind the masthead lies a big gaping wound on what the truth actually is.
Thanks Guardian.
You have way too much trust in our government.
Chicago’s newest flak tower -
Remembering the Jackson Park Trees: A Photo Essay
https://southsideweekly.com/remembering-the-jackson-park-trees-a-photo-essay/
It isnt that. However bad Western govern might be, China is magnitudes worse and makes no attempt to hide it.
“If we want to continue to have an internet, there’s no other choice.”
I’ve had Internet for many years, as did most of you.
The new data centers make ever larger pages load slower.
I avoid CNN because its pages caused my computer to overheat and shut down. A newspaper webpage is often too much for my PC.
Cloudflare typically wastes about 15 minutes of my day.
Google says I do too many searches, so I use Bing.
Wiktionary blocks me.
Yandex uses Cloudflare.
“they will track everyone of us”
They’ve tracked us for years quite successfully.
I think the data centers are looking for guns under federal contracts.
The camera and microphone on this PC are taped over.
It’s probably too late for most of you to do likewise.
Why exactly do these things have to be so big? They using Univacs for this thing? What is all this “data” tbey absolutely need to put in there?
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