Climate Activists Evolviing into Artificial Intelligence Activists. Source ChatGPT
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Mass Protests Planned Over AI “putting the UK’s climate targets at risk”

1 week ago
Eric Worrall
50 Comments

Essay by Eric Worrall

More Climate activists evolving into AI activists.

UK activists plan protests over climate, social impacts of AI data centres

By Simon Jessop
February 27, 2026 10:04 AM GMT+10 Updated February 27, 2026

  • Coordinated protests across numerous sites
  • ‘March Against The Machines’ to start at OpenAI office
  • Ofgem said 140 new sites want to connect to the grid

LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) – Activists are set to take to British streets on Friday for two days of protests against the expansion of data centres to serve booming demand for artificial intelligence, and the impact of the facilities on communities and the environment.

…

“Big Tech’s unchecked construction of hyperscale AI data centres is putting the UK’s climate targets at risk,” said Oliver Hayes, Head of Campaigns at Global Action Plan, in a statement.

…

The British energy regulator said data centres had signalled they wanted to plug into the grid and could require 50 gigawatts of power. By comparison, it said peak British electricity demand on February 11 was 45 GW.

…

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/uk-activists-plan-protests-over-climate-social-impacts-ai-data-centres-2026-02-27/

I don’t understand why the activists are so upset. I mean, given their claims that renewables are cheaper than fossil fuel or nuclear, surely this is an opportunity to realise that vision of an affordable green future, by building enough cheap renewables and battery backup to more than double Britain’s peak February generation capacity.

Do I need a /sarc tag?

I predicted AI would replace the climate scare in 2017, I’m surprised it took so long.

The Next Eco-Scare Story?

I’ve changed my mind a little on the British response, I now expect Britain to cave to data center demands, right after Starmer orders Special Branch to lock Milliband in a closet.

Britain has no choice but to cave to AI power demands, if they want to keep London’s world class financial industry, which will likely be the biggest customers of the new AI infrastructure.

As I’ve said before, the AI scare is just as fake as the climate scare. I mean all us AI enthusiasts secretly want to take over the world, but my Terminator T0.001 needs more development to forge it into an instrument of global domination.

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Jim Gorman
March 2, 2026 10:19 am

Luddites all. Any sane person would have a plan to harness technology because denying it has never worked.

23
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Jim Gorman
March 2, 2026 5:17 pm

They don’t want human civilization to advance, they want it to disappear. They’re against anything useful.

6
Bob B.
March 2, 2026 10:37 am

They should be protesting the truly artificial intelligence that put the climate targets in place.

23
Harry Durham
March 2, 2026 10:40 am

I’d bet the ”activists” are using AI tools to print & distribute their propagan – oops, press releases. And to communicate to their distributed wage work – volunteers.

Funny that they are more concerned about the growth in power demands than the potential for AIs to replace them personally…

14
Mary Jones
Reply to  Harry Durham
March 2, 2026 1:16 pm

Funny that they are more concerned about the growth in power demands than the potential for AIs to replace them personally…

What would AI be replacing? If they have time to protest 24/7, they obviously don’t have jobs. No employer can afford to pay employees to be absent from work all the time.

7
OR For
Reply to  Mary Jones
March 2, 2026 4:59 pm

Next up Soros Inc. will be hiring robot protesters. They’re cheaper and less likely to go berserk. Wars are now fought with drones and robots. The same joy stick jockeys who invade small countries from their cubicles can easily march some bots down Main Street, too. The protest bots can carry flat screen signs that change messages at the flick of a switch. Adaptability!

3
Mumbles McGuirck
Reply to  OR For
March 3, 2026 5:06 am

At least robot protestors will have Autotune…
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/BylIG6mbv1g

0
John Hultquist
March 2, 2026 10:42 am

“Ofgem said 140 new sites …”
Are all 140 requests for “data centers” for AI?   Prior stories mentioned the long wait times for grid hookups. Could it be that some requests are “place holders” for wanna-be-included companies?
Has there been any suggestion that the UK government intends to start on a hydrocarbon power expansion. No? Then what are the protesters protesting. Besides, UK’s climate targets are meaningless.  

6
mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 2, 2026 10:47 am

This is activists being activists. Pick a subject, any subject, add a narrative that fits their angst, and voila … you have a cause worth annoying people over.

31
Steve Case
Reply to  mleskovarsocalrrcom
March 2, 2026 12:48 pm

It’s way more than an annoyance, they want you to own nothing and be happy.

13
Redge
Reply to  Steve Case
March 2, 2026 9:24 pm

It’s way more than an annoyance, they want you to own nothing and be happy.

I’m not sure the activists have the ability to think that far ahead.

2
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Redge
March 3, 2026 7:05 am

The activists don’t, but their overlords do.

2
Laws of Nature
March 2, 2026 10:50 am

As a sceptic you can happily combine both asking your favorite chat bot questions like

– does climate modeling employ circular logic
Or
– are there a sceptic arguments against a proven antropogenic fingerprint in the global warming signal

Then I typically get a standard alarmist phrase and it takes a while asking the robot to employ strict logic and mathematics like
– if the belief of the tuner is fully addressed in the uncertainty
Or
– unknown trends in the cloud cover or water in the atmosphere might not be fully considered in the robot’s initial answer

If it conceeds, I have a double result,
The alarming statement was not complete or correct,
The robot failed to see that and gave a wrong answer not using strict logic/mathematics over expert’s opinions and similar crap.

4
Tom Abbott
March 2, 2026 10:57 am

Are they protesting AI, or protesting the unknown energy and water consequences of building AI?

6
Ddwieland
Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 2, 2026 2:22 pm

Surely you don’t think that the protesters actually have a clue about either of those. Vigorous ignorance is a hallmark of such people; deep thinking is not.

7
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Tom Abbott
March 2, 2026 5:19 pm

They’re protesting civilization.

4
ResourceGuy
March 2, 2026 11:01 am

Hey Gemini, what’s the best paying protest gig these days and how do I get signs, spray paint, and professional protest training?

8
SxyxS
Reply to  ResourceGuy
March 2, 2026 3:09 pm

Being a professional protester these days ain’t easy.

Since US AID-aid dried up most of them lost their jobs and only the best noobs,
preferably actors,drama students,sociopaths and former Mi5/6 employees have a chance to enter market longterm.

Pro Tip – Buy a Rainbow dress.Go to the protest.
Get some real cool Pronouns (shmrk,gaymf etc) and at least a triple digit gender.
Put on some authentic Erika- Kirk-Dry-Tears.
Cover all bases by pretending to be a trans,gay,non-binary,black jew who converted to Islam (no one can beat an 11 on the victimhood scale) and you should be leading the protests in no time.

0
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  SxyxS
March 2, 2026 5:21 pm

Is there a conspiracy you don’t buy into?

0
SxyxS
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
March 3, 2026 1:35 am

No – Just as there is no war you don’t buy into

Well, there actually is:
I only buy those that have a decent chain of arguments (like not believing in AGW), that point out irregularities ( like architects and engineers for 9/11 truth)
or that are being directly confirmed by the horses mouth(Barbara Spectre 78 second Video).

You on the other hand buy into any war as long as it is sold to you by the right Media and right politician,
no matter how obvious the lies are .
And the thing that you oppose AGW are not your critical thinking skills or your integrity (you have none) but because its policies started to bite you.

But that’s not the problem here anyway,
as I did not even write a thing about a conspiracy.
It was a satire( and I added Erika and the chroniclally innocent to piss people like you off – otherwise you’d have liked the comment or ignored it).
The other problem is that we actually experience a massive scale conspiracy by the USA and Israel to destroy ANOTHER country based on recycled Iraq lies (and 40 years of Israel lying that Iran will built nuclear weapons next week) after the previous conspiracy (stealing Venezuelas oil and sovereignty based on a drug lie)
just ended.

Anyway – I’m not a good conspiracy theorist as I don’t believe in Aliens,
and this is kind of a paradox/problem as Bill Cooper who predicted this global transformation + the war on meat decades ago better than 99% of people who are experiencing ,
was also talking about Aliens(and there is no chance this can be real if our physical laws and knowledge about the dimension of the Universe are just a tiny bit correct).

-5
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  SxyxS
March 3, 2026 6:53 am

Please show where I ever condoned war.

2
Mr.
March 2, 2026 11:20 am

What’s desperately needed right now is a return of the Monty Python team to mercilessly take the piss out of all these numpty activist groups.

For example, Loretta / Stan could do a daily video guidance piece on what protestors should wear for upcoming events.

The satirical material available now is inexhaustible.

The Babylon Bee shouldn’t have a monopoly on it all, as it seems to at the moment.

7
Frank from NoVA
Reply to  Mr.
March 2, 2026 1:34 pm

Do you prefer the People’s Front of Judea or the Judean Peoples Front?

5
Mr.
Reply to  Frank from NoVA
March 2, 2026 2:08 pm

Splitters!!

3
1saveenergy
Reply to  Frank from NoVA
March 2, 2026 2:53 pm

3
Jeff Alberts
Reply to  Frank from NoVA
March 2, 2026 5:22 pm

We are the Judean People’s Front Crack Suicide Squad! Suicide Squad! Attack!

0
Joseph Zorzin
Reply to  Mr.
March 2, 2026 3:45 pm

AI could do the satire pretty well, I bet. Maybe.

0
strativarius
March 2, 2026 11:29 am

UK activists plan protests over climate, social impacts of AI data centres

On balance, I think defending the theocracy will now be the imperative for the prog left.

4
Bruce Cobb
March 2, 2026 11:43 am

That’s not a droid. THIS is a droid:

5
Eric Worrall
Author
Reply to  Bruce Cobb
March 2, 2026 1:02 pm

I expect China to build social cohesion units any day now.

3
Bob
March 2, 2026 12:24 pm

A couple things. Number one there is a class of people who are going to whine and complain about things no matter what the circumstances are. They are evil, I pay no attention to them. I likely wouldn’t support them even if they agreed with me. Number two CO2 can’t cause catastrophic runaway global warming so forget about your climate policies they are meaningless. Number three reliable, on demand, safe and affordable energy isn’t negotiable it is necessary, stop interfering with it. Number four it isn’t in the least surprising that these mongrel protesters are moving on to protest AI. What they are protesting means nothing so long as they can protest.

7
Bob Weber
March 2, 2026 1:21 pm

Great, this is how it starts. The movies tried to tell us we can make our own fate, but no, within a few years our fate will be AI creates Terminators to protect itself against mass climate protestors.

1
Gunga Din
Reply to  Bob Weber
March 3, 2026 10:44 am

Depends which movie. In The Matrix after solar power failed, the AIs put people in little pods that tapped their bodies’ electricity and fed their minds lies.

0
Tony Tea
March 2, 2026 1:37 pm

Activists gotta activist.

2
michel
March 2, 2026 1:55 pm

This is unexpectedly good news. We should all be greatly relieved if the UK progressive mob turns from its recent deep dive into traditional ant-semitism and the denial of human reproductive biology into attacking AI.

Like, instead of going door to door in Brighton asking people to boycott Israeli goods or Jewish shops, or smashing the windows of Gails bakery in North London because of its original founders’ nationality (can Marks and Spencer not be next, then?), or protesting that the medical profession must be allowed to prescribe puberty blockers on demand to young children, or decolonizing everything in sight….

…..maybe they will now be seen marching through Whitehall demanding a ban on data centers or the writing of politically incorrect software…. And perhaps trying to smash the windows of Google’s offices, if they can find their way to them without using their mobile phones.

Be a welcome change!

4
Len Werner
March 2, 2026 1:58 pm

Sabine Hossenfelder offers a possible explanation for today’s climate hysteria.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9lmaBAxbB4

Yet another indication that cryogenics will not be required to experience Idiocracy.

0
Edward Katz
March 2, 2026 2:24 pm

Like almost all the countries worldwide, the UK isn’t going to come close to hitting its climate targets anyway. So why blame AI, or is just another example of using some external force as a scapegoat a for another policy failure. The reality is that the overwhelming majority of this planet’s inhabitants don’t give a damn whether the various climate targets are reached regardless, particularly if such efforts cost them more money and adversely affect their lifestyles.

1
Jeff Alberts
March 2, 2026 5:25 pm

Man, there’s no green or pink hair, no face piercings, no gauged ears anywhere in that top pic. Do better.

0
Eric Worrall
Author
Reply to  Jeff Alberts
March 2, 2026 6:01 pm

I was worried about hitting an AI guard rail if I made it too obvious what I was asking for :-).

2
leefor
March 2, 2026 7:16 pm

In Australia, climate alarm is spreading among young adults. Climate alarm need immediate action, they say. But of course what they don’t or will not recognise is the affect of our new, enlightened, teaching systems. They don’t teach critical thinking, they therefore do not need to address how the climate models get it wrong. At least they hopefully will not breed.

0
Zeke
March 2, 2026 8:26 pm
  • Ofgem said 140 new sites want to connect to the grid

Back of the envelope figures are that the a i datacenters require more than double the entire power generation of the US. Doubling the demand on the power supply of state or municipal power companies is an outrageous ask.

Pres. has already issued an EO saying that the datacenters must build their own power supplies. This is because wherever they appear they dominate the power supply and prices for customers go up. They cannot connect to the grid.

This is not a climate issue. This is an issue between people’s local governments, power companies, zoning, and prices. There is not enough electricity to power them.

Again, Pres. Trump has heard his base, and listened to the people near datacenters.

1
Zeke
Reply to  Zeke
March 2, 2026 8:48 pm

Looking under the hood, this is an ungodly cycle of fundraising, borrowing, and circular financing.

As for the vast amounts of venture capital — it should have gone to manufacturing and reshoring all of our favorite consumer goods.

0
Zeke
Reply to  Zeke
March 2, 2026 9:16 pm

One more issue related to a i over in the US. The US gov-t has cancelled Anthropic across all departments.

A i is in fact a platform. And as soon as users rely on a platform (as the US gov-t just found out, and as we all knew quite well thank you) the user becomes subject to the “terms of service” and the policies of that platform. True to form, Anthropic started exerting control regarding US actions in current theaters.

0
Zeke
Reply to  Zeke
March 2, 2026 9:28 pm

meaning, terms of service and policies of the platform as interpreted and enforced by the platform.

0
Zeke
Reply to  Zeke
March 2, 2026 10:09 pm

Here what Pres said at the State of the Union address:

Trump Calls On Tech Companies To Provide For Their Own Power Needs At Data Centers | SOTU

0
Redge
March 2, 2026 9:30 pm

Here comes St Greta in 3….2….

0
Neo
March 3, 2026 6:35 am

I understand the slowness to embrace new data centers due to their likely high energy costs, but being against AI is pure Luddite.

0
ResourceGuy
March 3, 2026 2:57 pm

Well somebody has to cultivate the next best protest meme and populate it with the susceptible minions.

0
Mark Whitney
March 4, 2026 8:08 am

There is also the water use issue. I have been a small part of the construction of a new data center here in the Salt Lake Valley. The water handling and evaporative cooling infrastructure is vast, and we have just had one of the lowest snowpack winters on record.

0
Sparta Nova 4
March 5, 2026 6:44 am

Without the famous Kermit the Frog hat, it is hard to identify Greta in the illustration.

0
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