About time. www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

Huge data centres for AI need:- - vast areas of farmland & nature - much of our scarce water supply - big increases in power supply & GHG emissions - huge reductions of employment levels But they would enrich tech billionaires & count as economic growth, so they're a good thing, right?

Pretty obvious really - we don't need economists to tell us The UK is especially at risk - almost half of food imported and the 3 worst harvests in the last 5 years - resulting in a loss of a year's worth of bread supply Don't rule out some rationing www.theguardian.com/business/202...

Council leaders have told ministers they should oppose proposals for a new city of 400,000 homes covering 45,000 acres of West Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. Government’s New Towns Taskforce have rejected the proposals known as Forest City 1. www.westsuffolk.gov.uk/news/pr20260...

"My car can't drive at 20 mph". FFS. Presumably you get it airlifted into car parks then?

Lesson here?

❗The UK isn't equipped for extreme heat - we need urgent action to protect the people & places we love. How do we build mass support for a safer, cooler future to drive faster change today, whilst cutting our emissions? 🗓️ Thurs 16 July 🕜 11am–12pm 👉 Register: climateoutreach.org/webinar-adap...

"A single AI data center can consume 5 million gallons of water a day — equal to the daily water usage of a U.S. town with 50,000 residents. Now, lawmakers in at least 14 states pushing to ban or halt new data centers over mounting environmental concerns ..." www.facebook.com/naturalfruit...

I'm delighted to be the 2026 guest speaker at the Lewis Mumford Lecture at the Spitzer School of Architecture, City College of New York. Lewis Mumford was a student there, and the beloved Jane Jacobs was the first guest speaker. 22 September | 6.00 pm Registration: www.eventbrite.com/e/from-crisi...

“Wisconsin residents sue Microsoft over noise caused by new data center *** Residents have also complained the area has become a ‘dust bowl’ due to construction” 7/4/26

@australianlabor.bsky.social @albomp.bsky.social Instead of sending billions to a rapist in America invest in Australia's future. Do this www.ecoportal.net/en/switzerla...

Coming your way soon?

Net zero emissions is the only scientifically-backed solution the world has to halt climate change Yet - as @gredmondking.bsky.social explains - one flawed argument against net zero just refuses to die: ‘but we’re only 1% of emissions’ eciu.net/insights/th...

Blatant lobbying, not for the sake of our country, but for the fossil fuel industry, in which almost all the ultrarich - including, in all likelihood, the proprietors of these newspapers - are heavily invested. These people are not and never will be your friends. www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-uk-...

The Netherlands has introduced a €49 monthly ticket for unlimited nationwide train travel—a bold political response to soaring energy costs. When prices at the pump rise, you can either double down on car dependency, or give people attractive alternatives. The Dutch are (again) choosing the latter.

This is remarkable.

China is eating our lunch in almost everything. (no sound needed) China builds solar parks over reservoirs. This design improves the efficiency of the panels by keeping them cooler and lowers water loss from evaporation

BLOG The media blitz unleashed by proposers of "Forest City 1", the mad one-million inhabitant city to be dumped on productive farmland in west Suffolk, goes on. It's a tribute to a full contacts book, but nothing to do with sustainable planning. tinyurl.com/43u3e2nb

Today (33°) I'm thinking of the people who: 🚫 Oppose more trees on their streets 🐦 Campaign to remove trees because birds poo on their car 💔 Vandalise saplings repeatedly Here are some we put in, in 2022, despite some very noisy opposition Here's to improving people's lives against their will 👍🏻

the air-conditioned train has arrived 🥰

This is why cities need trees. Hard surfaces and parked cars can reach extreme temperatures, while shaded grass and tree-covered areas stay dramatically cooler. This is the urban heat island effect in one image: hard surfaces absorb and radiate heat, while vegetation and shade reduce it.

Data centers are harming every environment they are placed in.

Our infrastructure can't even cope with the conditions that have already been unleashed Yet climate policy aims to keep making things worse till 2050, and many people argue we shouldn't even do that

“The world is not going to be saved by big electric SUVs,” says Renault’s chief design officer…”The world is going to be saved by small electric cars. We need them to become as popular as other cars.” More small electric cars, but also fewer cars overall, driven much less thanks to more choices.

🚨 New research by us! 📣 Most British drivers don't know how dangerous SUVs are to other road users, but adding information to SUV marketing materials seems to do almost nothing to change people's plans to buy SUVs Here's a 🧵 on why harder action is going to be needed 1/10

Ever heard of astroturfing? If you have, you probably associate it with social media, climate deniers or Russian bots. A hundred years ago it flourished in the letters columns of newspapers. And as revealed in my new book it brought the British tram to the brink of extinction. tinyurl.com/astrotrams

So, are any UK municipalities considering a moratorium on further data centres?

Strike the word "British" and this will be more accurate:

If you use Waymo driverless car services, you are aiding and abetting fascism. Waymo helps I.C.E. agents locate people to terrorize and abduct. The company willingly shares all facial recognition, license plate and GPS data with I.C.E. and other law enforcement agencies—no subpoena required.

Keep watching this...

Surprised - anyone? Emergency First Responders Say Waymos Are Getting Worse “I believe the technology was deployed too quickly in too vast amounts, with hundreds of vehicles, when it wasn’t really ready,” one police official told federal regulators last month. www.wired.com/story/emerge...

Any chance of the UK data centres springing up everywhere and threatening water and electricity supplies doing anything similar?

"France passed a single law and instantly unlocked 11 gigawatts of #solarenergy — without using new land. In 2023, France's government mandated solar canopies over all car parks larger than 80 spaces. The scale was enormous: There are 400,000 parking areas across France #ActOnClimate #Renewables

What a waste of everybody's time. Sadly we now have to dust off and revive the very effective opposition to the #OxCamArc which threatens to destroy much of England's bread basket. Maybe, @matthewpennycookmp.bsky.social, you could look at some alternatives? tinyurl.com/2j5hvsfh

Why does no-one stop to ask whether technology will move on and leave these vast energy and water-greedy monsters as huge white elephants 10 years hence? #datacentres

More than half a century later, the urgently needed electrification of Britain's rail network has been shunted into a siding by the Treasury.

Monterey Park,California, Has Voted To Ban Data Centers.......🎶

By Jim Benton

REMINDER: Pls plan to tune in this Fri, June 5th, at 2 pm Eastern for my conversation with Professor of Health Promotion @sflkirk.bsky.social, from Dalhousie University in Halifax, Nova Scotia, about reversing car culture and promoting healthy cities for all ages and abilities. youtu.be/vNk7d4mW6RE

"Induced demand" was NOT on my Top Gear bingo card! "The M25 was doomed from the drawing board. It hasn’t become unfit for purpose over the 40 years since its 1986 opening. It was obsolete from the get-go." "Spectacular failure to grasp a concept transport planners now call ‘induced demand’. "

"Cambridge now ranked first in Europe in the Global Innovation Index this year, second globally. Oxford is second in Europe, fifth globally.  " www.gov.uk/government/s... Sadl neither has a light rail and neither is run by a council empowered to tax excess/speculative wealth generated there

Today's reminder that, if we narrow our environmental focus to air & water, it ignores the vital role #soil plays in our #FoodSecurity and #WaterSecurity. tinyurl.com/37axp4rn

"Erin Brockovich took on a corporation poisoning a town's water supply and won. Now she's turning her attention to the infrastructure powering artificial intelligence. She's launched Brockovich Data Center Reporting — a project designed to ma ..." www.facebook.com/permalink.ph... via Rate the Audits

Free expert help this #BetterTransportWeek! Community groups, campaigns & charities could get pro-bono support around designing for sustainable travel. @cityinfinity.bsky.social may be able to help with: • Design ideas • A talk • A workshop • A site walkabout ...And other possibilities

During my visit to Bariloche, I was pleased to see how the vision of proximity urbanism is inspiring new ways of planning cities.

You can either have democracy, or you can have billionaires calling the shots; YOU CANNOT HAVE BOTH. Thread substack.com/@europeanpow...

As I constantly say eBike share are transformative. Also here is the contrast from no bike lane to a separated one.

No matter how many excellent alternatives to cars a city provides, if a city allocates too much space for driving and parking, its public space will still be ruined. #CarsRuinCities

"Forest City 1" reveals its plans for a "forest" would be fragmented strips surrounded by high-rise city & a central business district, thus maximizing the air, noise & light pollution + disturbance. Maybe "urban parks" would describe it better. tinyurl.com/u7wprcrc