A new season is almost here, and we're setting the stage with a deep dive from last season all about the how data centers are affecting the communities where they're being built. The Data Center Next Door.

This episode originally aired on June 4, 2026.

When data centers come to town, power bills go up, the water supply gets squeezed, and emissions start to rise. It's no wonder seven in ten Americans don't want one in their backyard. In the midst of this AI gold rush, many tech companies are taking advantage of communities, health, wealth, and safety for promises of a better future. But communities aren't taking the bait.

In this episode, we talk about the real-life effects of AI infrastructure and hear how it's affecting folks in our community. We get the stats on this booming industry and what's at stake. We hear from Abre' Conner, the civil rights attorney leading the NAACP's lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI — a data center that's now running 59 methane gas turbines in a Mississippi community, breaking a law that's been on the books since the 1970s.

And we ask the uncomfortable question: could all this energy hunger actually accelerate the renewable transition? Is the AI revolution happening to us or for us? And what can we do about it?

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🌎 Find citations and further reading in the full show notes.

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Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Artie Sadahiro, Birdie Peelman, Amanda Doughty
• Research: Makenna McBrierty
• Editing and engineering: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

Production is underway on a new season! We're starting off strong with deep dives on how the AI boom is impacting our money. As a primer on the environmental impact of data centers, we thought it was the perfect time to revisit the episode: We Need to Talk About AI.

This episode originally aired on May 25, 2025.

When you ask ChatGPT to write a cover letter, make your grocery list, or edit an image, what's actually happening in the real world? As AI gets bigger by the day, it's requiring more and more energy, water, and land in communities around the world.

Tech companies are investing billions of dollars in data centers and technologies to power AI, but are they also investing in sustainable and equitable resources to keep it going?

Today, we’re going to take a step back from the chatbots to understand the true impact of AI, how we’re tracking and regulating that impact, and we’ll find out what it will take to build a sustainable future for AI with Shalolei Ren — associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California Riverside whose work focuses on AI for good.

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📞 Want to submit to the show? We'd love to hear from you!

Episode Credits

• Listener contributions: Kylie Kovatch, Artie Sadahiro, Nicole Collins, Parisa Golchoubian, Brian Stancheski
• Episode expert: Shaolei Ren
• Editing and engineer: Evan Goodchild‍
• Hosting and production: Katelan Cunningham

• (00:00) - Introduction
• (02:50) - GPT is search on steroids
• (07:07) - Our complicated relationship with AI
• (14:46) - Is AI taking all our water and power?
• (22:47) - Regulating the industry
• (31:23) - What's next?

We’re working on a new season of the Second Nature podcast, and we’re doing things a little bit differently this time around — More episodes on each topic. Deeper dives. Easier submission process. First up this season, we're tackling the question: How is AI Impacting Our Money?

For the best shot at getting on an episode, please send in your submissions before November 8. Submitting is easy!

1. Head to the submission form to see the questions and submit your audio.
2. Record your audio and attach it to the form, then hit send!

That's it! We'll let you know if we've featured your submission on the show.

📱 Want to make your money count? Download the Commons app .

📷 Follow Second Nature on Instagram.

• (00:00) - Marker 1