Nashville Zoo becomes center of data center debate
by Halimat Olunlade, Social Media Manager
Photo Credit: Klub Boks
As data centers powering AI and cloud computing continue to pop up around the country, so does the question of how these facilities will affect neighboring communities. The Nashville Zoo has recently earned the privilege of becoming the next-door neighbor to one such proposed data center and the first accredited zoo in the country to face this dilemma. Zoo staff fear that the loud noise and vibrations from the proposed center will hurt the zoo’s 3,000 animals, especially the endangered clouded leopard whose housing sits closest to the proposed center. But the project is not yet a done deal. A petition has already been started with the support of more than 500,000 signatures including Nashville’s mayor and members of the city council.
Data centers cause harm to the communities they border by bombarding them with noise and light pollution and placing a burden on local water and electric resources. Despite plans to mitigate these harms from DC BLOX , the Atlanta based digital infrastructure company responsible for the facility’s construction, zoo officials told CNN that too little is known about the effects of constant noise, light, and pollution on these already sensitive animals and for that reason the center should be blocked. While the company says there is no evidence its project would have negative impacts on the zoo’s population.
“No one has shared studies or environmental impact assessments. Just their word. That’s why the Nashville Zoo is asking the community to join in vehemently opposing the proposed data center being built adjacent to the Zoo,” reads the petition.
Heather Kostick, associate director of the Penn Center for Science, Sustainability, and the Media, told CNN there is evidence that the low humming noise created by data centers is usually felt by animals and is known to alter their behavior and impede their ability to communicate.
The work done at the zoo to naturalize an already artificial environment is complex and requires enormous skill and commitment. The clouded leopards rely on their human care givers to meticulously hand-raise them and socialize them to ensure their healthy growth into adulthood. They are the only zoo in the country that was able to successfully breed the species last year.
Time will still tell if the data center will be built, as there have been no updates on plans for construction or even permits approved for this proposal, but for the sake of those cloud leopard cubs, we hope it's a fight they’ll win.
