Southern Bookman

Atlanta area's wildnerness imperiled by data centers

Waiting for my doctor to arrive in the examination room, I marveled at the view through the window.

Atlanta's tree canopy stretched for miles toward the South. I felt a rush of pride that we really are a city in a forest.

While the city of Atlanta strives to protect its trees with stringent laws, the metro area's explosive growth has led to much loss of wilderness.

Throughout the country, the destruction of habitat threatens a range of animal species with extinction.

In undeveloped areas of metro Atlanta and Georgia, the spread of data centers is disrupting communities.

Data centers, which house computer servers for corporations, occupy vast amounts of land, consuming massive amounts of power and groundwater. Along with storing online data, the computer warehouses power technologies like artificial intelligence.

A Microsoft data center in south Fulton County will sprawl over 2.1 million square feet with a capacity of 324 megawatts of energy, ranking among the largest such projects in the Southeast, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article Thursday.

The details of the project in Union City were outlined in a Development of Regional Impact filing on Tuesday, the AJC's incisive reporter Zachary Hansen disclosed.

Data center construction in metro Atlanta has increased by 211 percent since 2003, Hansen reported. That makes the Atlanta metro area the fastest growing data center market in the country, according to the real estate services firm CBRE.

Microsoft has targeted Atlanta's southside for data center development, Hansen said, with expenditures of at least $171 million this year to acquire more than 480 acres in the area, including the Union City site.

Joni Mitchell in a song lamented "they paved paradise, put up a parking lot."

Now paradise is disappearing to the constant hum of computers' electric brains.

 

 

Atlanta area's wildnerness imperiled by data centers

Waiting for my doctor to arrive in the examination room, I marveled at the view through the window.

Atlanta's tree canopy stretched for miles toward the South. I felt a rush of pride that we really are a city in a forest.

While the city of Atlanta strives to protect its trees with stringent laws, the metro area's explosive growth has led to much loss of wilderness.

Throughout the country, the loss of habitat threatens a range of animal species with extinction.

In undeveloped areas of metro Atlanta and Georgia, the spread of data centers is disrupting communities.

Data centers, which house computer servers for corporations, occupy vast amounts of land, consuming  massive amounts of power and groundwater. Along with storing online data, the computer warehouses power technologies like artificial intelligence.

A Microsoft data center in south Fulton County will sprawl over 2.1 million square feet with a capacity of 324 megawatts of energy, ranking among the largest such projects in the Southeast, according to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article Thursday.

The details of the project in Union City were outlined in a Development of Regional Impact filing on Tuesday, the AJC's incisive reporter Zachary Hansen disclosed.

Data center construction in metro Atlanta has increased by 211 percent since 2003, Hansen reported. That makes the Atlanta metro area the fastest growing data center market in the country, according to the real estate services firm CBRE.

Microsoft has targeted Atlanta's southside for data center development, Hansen said, with expenditures of at least $171 million this year to acquire more than 480 acres in the area, including the Union City site.

Joni Mitchell in a song lamented "they paved paradise, put up a parking lot."

Now paradise is disappearing to the constant hum of computers' electric brains.

 

 

Extreme heat sounds alarm on climate change

Another nuclear summer has arrived.

A high of 99 degrees is predicted for Atlanta Wednesday, once a rare occurrence even in July or August.

As Saporta Report columnist Tom Baxter pointed out this week, this is a more intense heat than in the past.

Each morning, I'm amazed at so many temperatures above 100 in The New York Times' listing of weather forecasts for cities across the nation.

Phoenix and Las Vegas don't yet reach the highs of Mideast cities like Baghdad or Tehran, where readings often break the once unimagined threshold of 120 degrees. Our American desert and Southern cities will get there in a few years if current patterns continue.

Soaring heat killed recently killed hundreds of Muslims making their Hajj pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia. Elite pilgrims had access to air conditioned tents and water stations. Those not so privileged died in the heat.

Daily weather conditions increasingly indicate long-term patterns of climate change, as Baxter pointed out.

The South's punishing summers will drive many to Northern states, whose climates will turn moderate.

Southern governors like Florida's Ron DeSantis deny that climate change exists, as extreme weather imperils the region's future.

If action is not taken soon, rising sea levels and soaring sea levels will make much of the South and the Southwest uninhabitable.

As life-threatening weather becomes an every-day reality, the GOP wants to increase petroleum production, spewing more CO2 and methane emissions into the already overloaded atmosphere.

A Trump victory in the presidential election will place the nation on a path of no return. Biden's re-election will offer the possibility of shifting from a petroleum-based economy to alternative sources of power.

The election will decide the future of humanity.

 

 

Columnist Dick Yarbrough's solitary campaign to protect the Okefenokee Swamp

Popular columnist Dick Yarbrough's battle to save the Okefenokee Swamp from a potentially devastating mining operation contrasts with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution's recent silence on the issue.

Yarbrough, whose column appears in the Neighbor newspapers in Atlanta and elsewhere across the state, recently published a passionate open letter to Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp imploring him to stop the Twin Pines Minerals corporation's proposed mining operation on Trail Ridge near the swamp.

Environmentalists fear the mining operation would seriously damage the Okefenokee's water levels and wildlife. Yarbrough emphasized that the mine could ruin a proposed UNESCO World Heritage Site for the extraction of a material commonly used in consumer products.

The former Olympics public relations executive skewered the Georgia Legislature for not taking action to halt the Alabama company's plan to mine titanium dioxide, a whitening substance used in toothpaste, paint and other products.

Georgia's Environmental Protection Division has issued draft permits for  the Twin Pines' project.

Yarbrough expressed his ire at Senate Majority Leader Steve Gooch, who opposed legislation to halt the mining operation.

"Those are decisions that shouldn't be made by political entities," Gooch lamely asserted, to Yarbrough's consternation.

As Yarbrough battles Twin Pines, the mining proposal has disappeared from the AJC, which thoroughly covered the issue during the legislative session, including Gooch's controversial statement.

No AJC updates have appeared on the status of the EPD permits, or  investigative reports on the company's contributions to Georgia political leaders.

Unlike Yarbrough, AJC columnists haven't spoken out in support of the Okefenokee. Nor has the newspaper taken any new editorial stands against the mine.

Yarbrough stands alone in seeking to save the Okefenokee.

February now heralds spring's arrival

A single crocus, or daffodil, has appeared in our front yard.

For years, dreary winter days made February seem to last forever, despite the month's brevity.

With the arrival of climate change, the transition to spring comes early.

We've experienced mostly mild and sunny days, with brief spells of cold and rain. Birds sing their love songs, and walkers fill the streets.

The changing climate no doubt will bring extreme weather in the future. For now, we're intoxicated by blue skies and sunshine.

 

 

 

Greenland's ice disappearing at alarming rate

The disturbing news that Greenland's ice is rapidly melting away received little attention this week.

Greenland loses 30 million tons of ice an hour, according to a report in the Guardian. The ice loss is 20 percent higher than previously thought.

The flow of fresh water rushing into the Atlantic might bring a collapse of ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation, causing severe weather disruptions, scientists fear. Rising ocean levels will swamp coastal cities.

Along with the destruction of the Amazon rain forest, the massive retreat of Greenland's glaciers sounds the alarm that time is running out to take action against climate change.

The Washington Post this week conceded that the world has already lost the battle to stop temperatures from rising to 2 degrees Celsius above averages in the pre-industrial era. That threshold was reached in the 2023, the hottest year on record.

In an editorial, the Post called for urgent action to reduce global emissions, which keep rising.

Greenland's ice is not waiting.

 

 

Emperor penguins disappearing as Antarctic ice melts

The Antarctic's beloved emperor penguins no longer survive across their ancient home.

No chicks lived last year in four out of five of the noble species' colonies near the Bellingshausen Sea in the western part of the continent, according to a report published Thursday in the journal Nature Communities Earth & Environment.

Thousands of young penguins died in the four colonies, the report said. The Antarctic's 62 penguin colonies have suffered losses of 30 percent since 2018, scientists estimate.

As sea ice disappears, the little birds are thrust in into the sea before they can develop mature, life-sustaining feathers.

Imagine the emptiness of the vast, once frozen landscape. The silence.

As the melting escalates, more than 90 percent of the emperor penguins are threatened with "quasi-extinction" by 2100, scientists say.

Emperor penguins will be gone from the world, along with polar bears, elephants and other species.

Artificial intelligence will likely kill humans off too. The computers will beep along in their lifeless, virtual world.

 

 

100 degree days now the norm in Southern Louisiana

Summer days were hot and humid when I was growing up in Baton Rouge.

After a brief rain every afternoon, the hot asphalt smoldered. The thick, moist air was like a steam bath.

Yet the temperature rarely rose above 90 degrees. Humidity was the worst part of summer.

But this year, temperatures in Baton Rouge rise above 100 degrees every day, according to The New York Times' daily list of weather forecasts for American cities. New Orleans and Shreveport also regularly break the century barrier, along with Texas cities Austin, Houston, San Antonio and Dallas.

Readings of nearly 120 degrees are recorded each day in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Tuscon.

I wonder how my family members in Louisiana cope with such high heat. The LSU Tigers' football practices must risk the players' health.

When I was growing up, I played golf and endured two-a-day high school football practices in the summer heat and humidity.

Yet the temperature never broke the 100-degree mark. Now, that's the norm in the old Mississippi River town.

 

A power outage on a hot afternoon

I had just entered the checkout line when the supermarket plunged into darkness.

Near-100 degree heat had knocked out power across North Buckhead. The cash registers not working, the manager asked everyone to exit the store, leaving their groceries behind.

Some customers stood outside on the sidewalk, hoping normal operations would return soon and they could complete their dinner purchases. But the darkness lingered.

Driving home, I wondered if the outage was a forewarning of super-hot summers to come. Perhaps the blackout would last for hours.

The power was out at my house as well. Without air conditioning, the living room already felt stuffy. Trying to make the best of the situation, I started to read by the natural light coming through the windows.

But this was not a real emergency. After about an hour, all of our beloved appliances were back. Georgia Power's rates keep rising to alarming heights, but the company does respond quickly to outages.

We're not Texas, by god. The air conditioning worked at full capacity, and a night of television awaited.

 

 

 

"Oppenheimer" shows need for urgent global action against climate change

The world's relentless heat adds urgency to the apocalyptic message of Christopher Nolan's film "Oppenheimer."

Atlanta's heat was relatively mild Sunday afternoon when we saw the three-hour film at the reopened Tara Theater.  The temperature will rise this week to the mid-90s, with the heat index above 100.

In Nolan's film about the conflicted physicist who led America's development of the atomic bomb in World War II, much is made of the scientists believing that the test firing of the weapon in the Nevada desert could ignite the world's atmosphere.

The movie ends with Oppenheimer, hauntingly portrayed by Cillian Murphy, telling Albert Einstein that the advent of nuclear weapons did imperil the world.

With Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the threat of nuclear warfare rises even higher. As the United States and NATO escalate military support for Ukraine and Russian troops suffer continued losses, fears increase that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will use atomic weapons. Ukrainian nuclear power plants have been damaged, raising concerns about a nuclear disaster.

The soaring temperatures, flooding and wildfires make clear that climate change is advancing beyond human control.

A massive global campaign like Oppenheimer's Manhattan project is needed to save humanity from the worst ravages of climate change. The world must act now to cut emissions and end the reliance on fossil fuels.

Like the Los Alamos clock ticking down to the first nuclear explosion, the world is running out of time. The atmosphere is igniting, as Oppenheimer's scienctists/warriors feared.