Getting into Fights with Data Centres: A conversation with Dr. Anne Pasek

As a wave of new data centres threatens to reshape the Canadian landscape, join us for a timely conversation with Dr. Anne Pasek. The Trent University professor’s work challenges common assumptions about the carbon footprint of the internet, and she is the author of the widely shared zine Getting Into Fights With Data Centers. Pasek draws our attention to the infrastructure that makes AI, but also much of the online infrastructure we use day to day, and its impacts on climate and water.As our energy systems struggle to transition away from fossil fuels, data centres are multiplying demands for electricity and water. This discussion, hosted by the Council of Canadians’ Dru Jay,  will offer new ways to think about digital systems and their environmental impact.About Anne:Dr. Anne Pasek is an interdisciplinary researcher working at the intersections of climate communication, the environmental humanities, and science and technology studies. She studies how carbon becomes communicable in different communities and media forms, to different political and material effects.She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Cultural Studies and the School of the Environment at Trent University, as well as the Canada Research Chair in Media, Culture and the Environment.