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Precautionary Principle – an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
This document is a ScienceDirect overview of the precautionary principle. It traces the concept from 1970s German origins through international treaties like the 1992 Rio Declaration and the Cartagena Protocol. It also covers France's 2005 constitutional adoption and risk-cost-benefit debates over enforcement in the EU, Canada and the United States.
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Associations between light at night and mental health: A systematic review and meta-analysis – ScienceDirect
A systematic review and meta-analysis of 19 studies finds light at night raises depression odds by 18 percent and bipolar disorder prevalence, pooling data from over 556,000 people across Asia, Europe and the Americas. Indoor light exposure, measured via bedside or wrist sensors, showed stronger effects than outdoor satellite-based measures.
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The Hidden Water Geography of U.S. Hyperscale Data Centers in the AI Era
U.S. hyperscale data centers consume about 300 billion litres of water each year across 472 facilities, with electricity generation responsible for three-quarters of that total. Cooling-water burdens concentrate in stressed basins across the western and south-central U.S., while electricity-related water clusters in fossil-heavy grid regions like Ohio and Virginia.
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Discharge from AI Data Centers and How to Mitigate Contamination
140,000 metric tons of CO2 emissions are projected annually by 2028 from wastewater treatment tied to AI data center cooling. Rising contaminant loads include biocides, corrosion inhibitors, heavy metals and dissolved solids. Real-time water quality monitoring tracks nitrates, pH and conductivity in facility discharge.
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A Comprehensive Review of Auditory and Non-Auditory Effects of Noise on Human Health
Noise-induced hearing loss affects more than 450 million people worldwide. A review of 44 studies links occupational and traffic noise to tinnitus, sleep disruption and cardiovascular disease. Findings span mining, transportation and construction settings, plus mitigation strategies such as noise barriers and hearing protection.
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Data Centers: Straining The Grid and Your Wallet – The State Energy & Environmental Impact Center
Data center electricity demand is straining local power grids and pushing new costs onto household utility bills. Expanding computing infrastructure raises questions about grid capacity and utility rate design. Residential ratepayers increasingly absorb costs that industrial power users avoid paying directly.
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From Sugarcane to Data Centers: Building Solidarities Across Infrastructures
Louisiana's sugarcane, lumber and oil booms shaped the land now eyed for a $10 billion Meta data center in Richland Parish. Entergy plans three new gas plants to power it, while fenceline communities from St. James Parish to Norco carry a history of organizing against petrochemical plants, tax breaks and pollution.
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The Cloud is Dead, Deadly, and Haunted – Data & Society
Google's greenhouse gas emissions rose 48 percent from 2019 to 2023 as AI-driven data center growth accelerates. Data & Society researcher Tamara Kneese links this growth to e-waste, water use and historic environmental racism in Loudoun County, Michigan and Arizona. She also traces tech worker organizing and firings at Amazon, Google and Microsoft over climate…
Exposing AI Data Center Threats and Harms