反对数据中心扩张的活动人士计划于11月6日和7日在欧洲各地发起为期两天的协同行动，要求立即暂停新建大规模数据中心项目。在美国中期选举中，两大党候选人均将限制大规模AI服务器农场作为竞选重点，如今轮到欧洲采取行动。主办方表示，来自15个欧洲国家的100多个团体将在未来几天抗议“比特谷仓”建设热潮。
Campaigners against datacenter expansion are planning two days of coordinated action across Europe on November 6 and 7, demanding an immediate moratorium on new large-scale developments. Following the US midterm elections, where restrictions on massive AI server farms were prominent in the campaigns from candidates in both major parties, it's now Europe's turn. Over 100 groups across 15 European countries will protest the boom in bit barn building over the next couple of days.
除示威外，还将举办公开会议、摊位活动、请愿、步行游览、骑行、诗歌朗诵及其他创意行动。该联盟已上线网站——stopdirtydatacentres.eu——提供互动地图，方便公众查找活动信息及地点。
As well as demonstrations, there will be public meetings, stalls, petitions, walking tours, cycle rides, poetry readings and other creative actions, the organizers say. The coalition of groups has put up a website – stopdirtydatacentres.eu – with an interactive map allowing anyone to find information on the events taking place and where.
在英国，计划于11月6日上午8点在伦敦市中心白厅广场能源安全与净零部（DESNZ）门外举行拍照抗议；次日则在伦敦布里克巷举办社区行动日，该地拟在原楚门啤酒厂旧址建设数据中心。同样在11月7日，德文郡大托灵顿的圣米迦勒及诸天使教堂将举办“家庭活动”，以凸显当地计划在镇附近850英亩农田上建设1.5吉瓦数据园区及配套电池储能设施。
In the UK, there is a photocall planned at 8am on November 6 outside the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) in Whitehall Place in central London, but also a Community Day of Action the following day at London's Brick Lane, where a facility is planned on the site of the former Truman Brewery. Also on November 7, there will be a "family event" at St Michaels & All Angels Church in Great Torrington, Devon, to highlight the massive 1.5 GW data campus and on-site battery energy storage that is planned for 850 acres of farmland near the town.
这些计划中的行动是对日益增长担忧的回应，担忧新一波“算力棚”项目将对当地社区、公共基础设施、土地、水资源和能源使用、住房、就业及生活成本造成影响。近期事件加剧了此类担忧，例如据报道谷歌一子公司在芬兰为腾地建设服务器大厅，非法砍伐了25万棵树。
The planned actions are a response to growing concerns about the impact of the wave of new compute shed projects on local communities, public infrastructure, land, water and energy use, housing, jobs and the cost of living. Such concerns won't have been helped by recent events, such as a Google subsidiary reportedly felling 250,000 trees illegally in Finland to clear the ground for a server hall.
活动人士声称，各国政府、欧盟和科技巨头正在拿未来做赌注，在未对环境、民主和社会影响进行适当审查的情况下，竞相推进服务器农场建设。一份最新报告发现，企业和私营部门行业协会主导了与英国部长们讨论数据中心的会议，而环保团体未获邀参与。活动人士呼吁在整个欧洲立即暂停新的大规模项目，直到建立明确框架，以确定是否应建设新设施以及在何种条件下建设，并进行适当审查和有意义的公众参与。
The campaigners claim that governments, the European Union and the tech giants are gambling with the future by racing ahead with server farm developments without proper scrutiny of the environmental, democratic and social impacts they might have. A recent report found that businesses and private-sector trade associations dominated meetings with UK ministers to discuss datacenters, while environmental groups didn't get a look-in. Campaigners are calling for an immediate moratorium on new large-scale projects across Europe, until clear frameworks are in place to determine whether new facilities should be built and under what conditions, with proper scrutiny and meaningful public participation.
“英国和欧洲的数据中心开发商想要不惜一切代价从人工智能淘金热中捞一笔。但各地社区正在反击，看穿了大科技公司的公关话术，指出这正是硅谷亿万富翁大规模掠夺稀缺土地、水和电力资源的行为，”全球行动计划（英国）活动主管奥利弗·海耶斯在提供的声明中说。“在政府未能回答我们需要多少数据中心、用于何处、建在何地以及如何避免污染这些最基本问题的情况下，唯一合理的做法是立即暂停建设，”他说。
"Datacenter developers in the UK and Europe want to cash in on the AI goldrush whatever the consequences. But communities everywhere are fighting back, seeing through Big Tech's PR machine and calling this what it is – a massive grab of scarce land, water and power resources by Silicon Valley billionaires," said Oliver Hayes, Head of Campaigns at Global Action Plan (UK).
他们不太可能从英国政府那里获得多少同情，后者将经济增长的希望寄托在人工智能上，并希望建设更多“比特谷仓”来实现这一目标。政府已经动用权力，推翻了地方议会对服务器农场项目规划许可的拒绝决定。Omdia分析师艾伦·霍华德认为，数据中心在美国竞选期间也成为了一个方便的政治攻击靶子。“数据中心行业在美国中期选举中遭受重创，这令人失望，但并不令人惊讶，”霍华德告诉《The》。 “反数据中心的言论在12个月前加速，在过去六个月里急剧升温。
"With governments failing to answer very basic questions about how many datacenters we need, what for, where, and how pollution will be avoided, the only reasonable course of action is an immediate moratorium," he said in a supplied remark. They are unlikely to get much sympathy from the British government, which has pegged its hopes for economic growth on AI and wants more bit barns built to fulfil this. It has already used its powers to overturn rejections of planning permission for server farm projects by local councils. Omdia analyst Alan Howard argues that datacenters also became a convenient political target during the US campaigns. "The datacenter industry took a big hit in the US midterm elections which is quite disappointing, but not that surprising," Howard told The.
虽然有许多催化剂可供指责，但数据中心却成了一个投机的政治足球。直白地说，不乏愿意利用任何机会赢得选举的政客，而数据中心“问题”恰逢其时地出现在了这次选举中。欧洲各地计划采取的行动包括在爱尔兰、波兰、丹麦、芬兰、西班牙、荷兰、法国和英国举办活动。此外，前往爱丁堡苏格兰议会的游行也定在下周末，即11月14日举行。®
"The anti-datacenter rhetoric accelerated 12 months ago and in the last six months skyrocketed. While there have been many catalysts to point our fingers at, datacenters turned into an opportunistic political football. To be blunt, there is no shortage of politicians willing to exploit any opportunity to win an election and the datacenter 'problem' showed up just at the right time for this election." Planned actions across Europe include events in Ireland, Poland, Denmark, Finland, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and the UK. A march to the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh is also pegged for the following weekend, November 14. ®