"Environmentalism is the Modality in which Digital Refusal is Lived"

In the context of the global ‘AI race,’ anti-data centre activism is rising and well-justified. It is also rhetorically omnivorous, and may flirt with misinformation and eco-fascism. This provides a useful opportunity to study how narrowly scoped environmental and economic arguments are made useful to the undetermined affective life of anti-AI activists and their evolving political coalitions. I will argue that environmental experts have a parallel role to play in such conjunctures: both facilitating the circulation of socially-useful facts and attempting to discipline their potential misuse without claiming a singular prerogative on how to interpret or feel towards tech infrastructures.