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Lauren E Bridges

@laurenebridges.bsky.social
874 followers 808 following 26 posts

Assistant Prof in Media Studies at UVA |Faculty Associate @BKCHarvard | Affiliate @UNC_CITAP | PhD from @AnnenbergPenn | environmental politics of the cloud + digital labor + surveillance infrastructures

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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
🎁FREE ACCESS to my new pub "The Environmental Impacts of AI" in the new Oxford Research Encyclopedia of STS. Beyond the hype, AI is an extractive force reliant on minerals, water, & energy. This entry introduces a 4-Scope framework to map AI's full lifecycle impacts. doi.org/10.1093/9780...
doi.org
Environmental Impacts of AI
Summary. The global proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) is accompanied by significant debate regarding its net environmental consequences. AI is
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Tech Policy Press @techpolicypress.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
The DIGS Lab at the University of Virginia reviewed 700+ federal, state & local policies related to data centers. Project lead Dr. Lauren E. Bridges writes that while the era of unchecked growth fueled by tax breaks is waning, the new regulatory regime is fragmented, reactive, and heavily contested.
buff.ly
The State of Data Center Policy in the United States
The DIGS Lab at the University of Virginia reviewed more than 700 federal, state, and local policies related to data centers, writes Dr. Lauren E. Bridges.
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
My latest in @techpolicypress.bsky.social on data center policy trends. “While the era of unchecked growth fueled by tax breaks is waning, the new regulatory regime is fragmented, reactive, and heavily contested.” www.techpolicy.press/the-state-of...
techpolicy.press
The State of Data Center Policy in the United States
The DIGS Lab at the University of Virginia reviewed more than 700 federal, state, and local policies related to data centers, writes Dr. Lauren E. Bridges.
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 21/05/2026
the kids are alright… Knights of Molino, middle-school punk band’s new single “Take back control” The first line: “I won’t be a slave to AI” knightsofmolino.bandcamp.com/track/take-b...
knightsofmolino.bandcamp.com
Take Back Control, by Knights of Molino
track by Knights of Molino
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
Years ago a mentor described my research on the community impacts of data centers as akin to the anti-nuclear movement. Today I learned more Americans now oppose AI data centers in their area (71%) than a Nuclear Power Plant (53%) news.gallup.com/poll/709772/...
news.gallup.com
Americans Oppose AI Data Centers in Their Area
Seven in 10 Americans oppose the construction of an AI data center in their local area, including 48% strongly opposed.
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 06/05/2026
Amazon just launched its Supply Chain Services - opening up its logistics business to all customers (not just the ones who sell on Amazon’s platform) My prediction: hold tight for job cuts in its new customers base, this is about finding new “efficiencies” www.supplychaindive.com/news/amazon-...
supplychaindive.com
Amazon opens logistics network to all businesses
Amazon Supply Chain Services covers freight, distribution, fulfillment and parcel delivery, including for non-Amazon sellers, with 3M and Lands' End among its users.
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Zack Polanski @zackpolanski.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
On Earth Day, celebrating a real victory: Warren Farm. Years of tireless campaigning. A community that refused to give up. Nature protected. Greed defeated. This is what people power looks like. 🌍
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
The results are in for the 1st mandatory reporting cycle under the EU Energy Efficiency Directive: “Europe set out to measure the environmental impact of data centers. Instead, it uncovered a sector operating without a clear view of its own footprint.” www.datacenterknowledge.com/compliance/e...
datacenterknowledge.com
Europe Forced Data Centers to Show Their Numbers. Most Couldn’t.
The EU’s first reporting cycle exposed gaps between sustainability metrics and available data, according to a researcher linked to the study.
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
New study from PEC “Finds On-Site Power at Virginia Data Center Could Result in $53 Million–$99 Million in Annual Health Damages” www.pecva.org/resources/pr...
pecva.org
Press Release: New Study Finds On-Site Power at Virginia Data Center Could Result in $53 Million–$99 Million in Annual Health Damages - The Piedmont Environmental Council
A new independent analysis finds that emissions from the Vantage Data Center’s permitted on-site power system in Loudoun County could result in $53 million–$99 million per year in health-related damag...
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Eric Booth @egbooth.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Important commentary here regarding water use of data centers. Data Centers Water Footprint: The Need for More Transparency - Privette - 2026 - AGU Advances - Wiley Online Library agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
Data Centers Water Footprint: The Need for More Transparency
Data centers can use a lot of water, especially for cooling and power generation, which can put serious stress on local water supplies There's limited transparency around how much water data cent...
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Hypervisible @hypervisible.blacksky.app · 28/01/2025
💀
gizmodo.com
Chevron Is Ready to Burn Gas to Power AI
The fossil fuel giant is building natural gas power plants specifically for data centers.
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Ketan Joshi @ketanjoshi.co · 14/11/2024
quite a big study here showing that actual emissions reductions for a bunch of different offsets types are significantly lower than how they're marketed This is exactly what you expect from a system that rewards maximum offset sales, not maximum climate action www.nature.com/articles/s41...
NET ZERO LAB ESTIMATED ACHIEVEMENT VARIES ACROSS PROJECTS HFC-23 destruction. Avoided deforestation SF6 destruction Cookstoves Improved forest mgmt Not significant Wind energy 68% 25% 16% 11% Not significant www.netzerolab.science →
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 14/11/2024
finally some news to celebrate
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 13/11/2024
stunning new report on Carceral AI “a growing class of algorithmic and data-driven practices designed to police, incarcerate, surveil, and control people” with recommendations for divesting, blocking, resisting, and abolishing this oppressive & violent tech www.carceral-ai.com/what-is-carc...
carceral-ai.com
what is carceral AI? | Carceral AI
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Zane Griffin Talley Cooper @zgtcooper.bsky.social · 08/11/2024
Haven’t been here in a bit so for Bsky folks who may not know, @laurenebridges.bsky.social, myself, and a wonderful research team published this really cool multimedia project on e-waste called Geographies of Digital Wasting and y’all should check it out! www.geographiesofdigitalwasting.com
geographiesofdigitalwasting.com
Geographies of Digital Wasting
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Lauren E Bridges @laurenebridges.bsky.social · 21/03/2024
Thrilled to share my new article on “competing digital capacities” & data center tradeoffs out today in Information, Communication & Society as part of a special issue on “Platform, Power, & Friction” by special editors @ppopiel.sky.social & Krishnan Vasudevan www.tandfonline.com/eprint/NHB4H...
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Nathan K. Hensley @nathankhensley.bsky.social · 12/12/2023
ICYMI, offsets are another arm of petrocapitalist business strategy, premised on enclosure & domination, and will not save anyone
Quote from article on blue carbon and enclosing “millions of hectares of land” in Kenya
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Sarah J. Jackson @sjjphd.bsky.social · 12/12/2023
One of the things I want folks to understand about the billionaires who forced the Penn pres to resign is they started all this before Oct 7 and among their complaints is that Penn “prioritizes DEI” is “too social justice focused” and is “unrecognizable” to what it looked like when they attended.
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Paris Marx @parismarx.com · 10/12/2023
This week in the Disconnect Roundup: The EU AI Act has been finalized, but it has some big holes including those put there by OpenAI lobbyists. Plus, plenty of recommended reads, labor updates, and other news you might have missed!
disconnect.blog
Roundup: The EU AI Act has some big holes
Read to the end for a heartwarming thread
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Labor Tech Research Network @labortechresearchnetwork.org · 26/11/2023
The Labor Tech Research Network endorses DAIR's statement calling for a #CeasefireNOW and #NoTechForApartheid. Read the full statement here: www.dair-institute.org/blog/palesti...
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Hyo Yoon Kang 강효윤 @hyoyoonkang.bsky.social · 10/12/2023
Forensic Architecture event gets cancelled by Technical University Aachen, one of Germany’s largest and most prestigious STEM universities, ffs
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