“The Data Center Frontier,” a roundtable on the environmental and social costs of the AI data center boom. Drawing lessons from Indigenous-led fights against pipelines, mining projects, and other forms of extractive infrastructure—as well as successful campaigns to block data centers—speakers share insights from the frontlines of the data center frontier and explore how movements across sites and issues can build durable solidarities in the face of a rapidly expanding digital-industrial regime.
SPEAKERS
* Jordan B. Kinder (Métis), Red Natural History Fellow and author of “Petroturfing: Refining Canadian Oil through Social Media” (2024)
* Krystal Two Bulls (Oglala Lakota/Northern Cheyenne), Executive Director of Honor the Earth, organizing at the intersection of Indigenous sovereignty, anti-militarism, and environmental justice
* Thea Riofrancos, scholar and author of “Extraction: The Frontiers of Green Capitalism” (2025)
* Vivek Bharathan, technologist and organizer with the No Desert Data Center Coalition in Arizona, and a Data Center Fellow with MediaJustice
