One more good bit advice from my chat the other day, after I was bemoaning my fears about those near to me aging with a huge amount of material goods as well as my very slow attempt making room in my own place.

Yes. That’s tough. I was v lucky with my mom. She had been conscientiously decluttering and downsizing for years. A couple years before she died she showed me where her will etc were, and told me her medical wishes and she said Not to care about her stuff when she was gone because any value she attributed to it would be gone the moment she died. She said to keep what had meaning for me, or that I could use, and with a clear conscience, just get rid of everything else.
That was so freeing because when she died I cleared out her apartment by myself and it was an honour. There was nothing superfluous or weird. There was a lot of stuff because she was very active and involved in a lot of things, but it all made sense. It took me 10  days and vast majority was donated. I was really grateful she gave me that little talk.

Went by the liquidation place yesterday and got 20 yellow bins for $20. Not a bad deal, and they should really help with the sorting of garage boxes into keep/donate/trash options. Really looking forward to being done with that particular chore. 

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I would have really been thrilled about this season of Taskmaster back in the day, before I found out Matt Lucas did blackface/ableist/transphobic stuff as recently as he did, or Ayoade’s endorsing Graham Linehan a year or two ago.

I watched the first episode and was pretty put off by them both, and that may have affected my enjoyment more than a little. A real shame, because I generally like the show. The pacing and the tasks seemed a bit meh, too. 

Other to stuff, the in-laws are enjoying Ted Lasso, and that is giving me time to catch up on my reading while the TV is on.

Current read is Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke for Monday’s book club.  BHK has already finished it, and has warned me that the first 80% is good, and the last bit falls apart. It is a lot better than I expected it to be, given the subject matter. (Tradwife/influencer “satire”)

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The True Cost of the Cloud: Why a Data Center is a Bad Deal for the Roanoke Valley

Living here in Salem, it is easy to appreciate the natural beauty and resources of the Roanoke Valley. But our local environment and our wallets are facing a massive new threat. You have probably heard the buzz about the proposed Google artificial intelligence data center campus in neighboring Botetourt County. While the promise of tech development sounds great on paper, a closer look reveals that this project is a terrible idea for our community.

Here is a breakdown of why this industrial expansion is a bad deal for Southwest Virginia.

Draining Carvins Cove

Our region relies heavily on Carvins Cove for drinking water. This proposed facility will require an astronomical amount of water for its cooling systems. According to reports from WSLS 10 News, the campus could consume between 2 million and 8 million gallons of drinking water every single day.

To put that in perspective, Cardinal News noted that if the facility reaches that 8 million gallon maximum, the Botetourt site would become the largest data center complex in the world by water usage for Google. The Sierra Club Virginia Chapter has warned that this extreme consumption poses a severe threat to our fresh water, especially as western Virginia continues to face worsening drought conditions.

Ratepayers Footing the Bill

Massive water consumption means our municipal infrastructure will age and reach capacity much faster than planned. Initially, the region was not expected to need a new water supply until the 2060s. This project could push that timeline up to the 2030s.

Cardinal News reported that Botetourt County’s agreement with the regional water authority could financially obligate the county for up to $400 million if the data center demands require a completely new reservoir. As local residents, we are the ratepayers. We have every right to worry that we will end up paying for infrastructure expansions that we never asked for.

Grid Overload and Rising Electric Costs

Artificial intelligence data centers require staggering amounts of electricity. Yes, Google agreed to buy 79 megawatts of wind energy from the upcoming Rocky Forge Wind farm in Botetourt County. However, the Sierra Club points out that this local renewable energy is completely insufficient for a facility of this immense scale.

The data center will inevitably pull massive amounts of power directly from the main electrical grid. This causes extreme grid strain and forces utility companies to expand power generation. Those massive infrastructure costs are ultimately passed down to Virginia residents through higher electric bills.

Air Pollution in Our Backyard

To ensure their servers never go offline during power dips, data centers rely heavily on backup diesel generators. The Sierra Club data center impact report highlights that these facilities often utilize cheap, highly polluting Tier 2 models.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality permits these backup generators to run for up to 500 hours per year. That introduces a significant amount of daily diesel exhaust and hazardous air pollution directly into our neighboring communities.

Backroom Deals Over Public Interest

Perhaps the most frustrating part of this entire situation is how it has been handled. Local advocacy groups like the Southwest Virginia Data Center Transparency Alliance have been protesting the secretive nature of the planning process.

Even the Botetourt County Government FAQ page acknowledges that Non-Disclosure Agreements were used to protect sensitive information during negotiations. Citizens have rightly spoken out at Western Virginia Water Authority meetings to protest these secret deals. The public deserves total transparency when a corporate entity threatens the municipal water supply and the Carvins Cove ecosystem.

We should not be forced to sacrifice our natural resources and pay higher utility rates just to subsidize global tech corporations. It is time we prioritize our community over server farms.