Data Centers, AI, and Extraction (Recording)

Resources from WebinAAR:

“Religions in Extractive Zones: Methods, Imaginaries, Solidarities” by Rowe, Zenner, and Sideris: https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2650017/

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The full issue with stellar essays from scholars from the Energy, Extraction, and Religion seminar and around the world can be found at:
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions/special_issues/449442J4H8

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One of the most recent polls about Americans’ dislike of data centers, from the Pew Research Organization:
https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2026/09/22/americans-views-of-data-centers-have-turned-more-negative/

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The People’s Justice Council: https://www.thepeoplesjusticecouncil.org/ 

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Article on Microsoft being a “good neighbor”: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/09/microsoft-goes-quiet-after-church-groups-ask-for-1-of-data-center-costs/

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Dr. Sideris’s recent article in ZYGON:
https://www.zygonjournal.org/article/id/27275/

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Nick Bowlin’s article for The Drift on the battery metals mining boom:
https://www.thedriftmag.com/a-good-prospect/

Panelists

Lisa Sideris, PhD, is Professor of Environmental Studies and Religion at UC Santa Barbara and the author of many books and articles, including her influential text, Consecrating Science: Wonder, Knowledge, and the Natural World (2017). Her current work on theological-technological illiberalisms can be found here. Sideris is a founding steering committee member of the AAR’s Energy, Extraction, and Religion Seminar.

 

Clayton Tucker is a Texas farmer/rancher whose concern about data centers is rooted in water conservation, community-empowered decision-making and theological values that inform his current campaign for Texas Agricultural Commissioner.  https://www.claytontuckertx.com

 

Lindsay Harper, MBA, is Deputy Director of The People’s Justice Council and leads the PJC’s MinusAI Campaign. Harper has also served executive director of Georgia WAND Education Fund Inc., a grassroots, women-led, multiracial organization bridging the rural/urban divide, advancing environmental and climate justice.

 

Michael Malcom, MDiv, MBA, is Executive Director of The People’s Justice Council, a nonprofit organization focused on environmental and climate justice. An ordained United Church of Christ Minister, Rev. Malcom serves as the Environmental Justice Minister for the Southeast Conference of the United Church of Christ and is co-author (with rev. dr. abby mohaupt) of Climate Justice, Climate Hope (2025).

Malini Suchak, PhD, is Dean of the School of Environmental Sustainability at Loyola University Chicago. Previously she was professor and chair of the Animal Behavior, Ecology, and Conservation department at Canisius University in Buffalo, NY, where she was also a community organizer around food justice.

 

Nick Bowlin is a journalist who covers extraction in Oklahoma and Texas for ProPublica and The Frontier. Previously he was contributing editor for High Country News. His bylines include Harper’s, The Guardian, Politico, The Drift, and more. Bowlin’s 2024 story on the battery metals mining boom for The Drift received several awards of recognition.

 

Ryan Juskus, PhD, is Assistant Professor of the Practice and faculty director of NDBridge at the Institute for Social Concerns at the University of Notre Dame. A member of the EER seminar, Juskus is active in the multifaith organization We Make Indiana, which aims to establish fairer agreements between data center owner-operators and local communities.

 

Moderator

Christiana Zenner, PhD, is currently the Teilhard de Chardin Visiting Associate Professor at Loyola University Chicago. She is a founding steering committee member of the EER seminar and the author, most recently, of Beyond Laudato Si’: Ecotheology, Equitable Futures, and the Papal Turn to the Earth (2026) as well as the forthcoming book, Water for All: Building a Moral Economy (Nov. 2026).