Howdy!
It will be a busy end of July! Find reminders, a few new events, updates, and actions below.
After experiencing ANOTHER heat wave in NC, around much of the country, and in many places around the world, plus the many wildfires, please join us for this timely program Wednesday night! Happy to be working with Carolina Advocates for Climate, Health, and Equity for the first time on this program!
July 22, How Climate Change Impacts our Health and our Healthcare Systems
7-8 pm, online
Hosted by 350 Triangle and Carolina Advocates for Climate, Health, and Equity (CACHE). Join us to learn practical strategies to protect our health and advocate for sustainable and resilient health systems in this era of climate change. Register to join us here.
July 23, Hands Off the Endangered Species Act: How We’ll Fight to Save It
1 pm, online
For more than 50 years the Endangered Species Act has safeguarded forests, rivers, wetlands, deserts, and other wild places where threatened species can feed, breed, migrate, and recover. Now Trump has thrown that protection away. Join Center for Biological Diversity Executive Director Kierán Suckling as he talks about what this means for the Act and how we’ll turn back this reckless attack. Register here.
July 24, Protect NC Jobs & Health from AI!
10 am, in front of NC General Assembly, 16 West Jones Street, Raleigh
Join National Nurses United, the NC Data Center Network, AAUP NC, and others as we speak out about the protections health care workers, patients, educators, students, and communities in North Carolina need from AI. On July 1, Governor Josh Stein announced his North Carolina AI Leadership Council’s AI Strategic Roadmap, a guide with goals and principles on the potential impact of AI on how people live and work in North Carolina. The voices of many North Carolinians weren’t part of this important process and weren’t part of making recommendations about how to prepare for this fast-moving technology and the energy needed to fuel it.
July 30, Public Hearing on Amazon Data Center in Richmond County
6 pm, Old Richmond County Courthouse, Courtroom A, 114 E. Franklin St., Rockingham, NC
The hearing will gather public comments on two draft air quality permits related to powering Amazon’s proposed Energy Way Tech Campus data center in Hamlet. This area is already home to serious pollution, including Enviva Wood Pellet Production, Smith Energy Complex, hog factory farms, and more. Amazon and Duke Energy want over 600 diesel generators for a data center. Tell them NO! Register here.
*Fact sheet that includes talking points and where to send comments if you aren’t able to attend here.
*There will be a press conference before the hearing.
*Comments due by July 31.
July 30, Defending TPS for Haiti – Climate Justice Solidarity Call
6 pm, online
The Trump administration is about to end protections for 350,000 Haitians living in the United States. Join Haitian leaders, legal experts and climate justice activists to learn why protected status for Haiti is a climate issue and how you can take action! Register here.
Keep up to date on stopping data centers in Durham with updates from Community Land and Power here.
Two upcoming meetings.
August 3, 200 E. Main St, 9 am: Durham County Commissioners’ hearing on a countywide data center moratorium.
August 10, 200 E. Main St, 6 pm rally; 7 pm Durham County Commissioners’ hearing: Final hearing and vote on a countywide data center moratorium.
August 4, VS. GOLIATH: Appalachia
8 pm, online
A new award-winning documentary series from Tikkun Olam Productions and Fossil Free Media following everyday people across the United States as they stand up to the fossil fuel industry and fight for the future of their communities. VS. Goliath: Appalachia follows longtime frontline community leaders and MVP fighters Russell Chisholm, Crystal Mello, Georgia Haverty, Maury Johnson, and MVP Southgate fighters Crystal Cavalier-Keck and Jason Campos Crazy Bear Keck in the years-long pursuit of community defense against multibillion-dollar fossil fuel companies. Register here.
August 8, “We Will Dwell in Safety”: A Day of Prayer & Action
10 am – 3 pm, Halifax Mall, 300 N Salisbury St., Raleigh
Hosted by Siembra, join as people gather to pray for the safety and wellbeing of all North Carolinians. On June 24, 2026, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to override Governor Josh Stein’s veto on SB-153, a law that requires state law enforcement agencies to collaborate with ICE. This creates a safety crisis for North Carolina. At the event, we will join together and call on leadership of state law enforcement agencies to keep all of us safe now that they have this responsibility. Register here.
ACTIONS
The NC Data Center Network has created an AI-Data Center Questionnaire for North Carolina Candidates that has been sent to all NC candidates. This short questionnaire is part of a statewide voter education effort on AI and data center development in North Carolina. It gives voters a direct opportunity to understand where candidates stand on these rapidly expanding issues.
Please share the questionnaire with candidates in YOUR district to help encourage them to answer these questions! It will be great if the same candidates hear from several people! The link to share is here.
Stop Data Centers & Crypto Mining in Durham! Send a message to Durham City Council Members, County Commissioners, and Planning Department Staff here.
Tell the Department of Air Quality (DAQ) to Reject Duke Energy and Amazon’s request for 649 diesel generators at their large -scale data center in Richmond County here.
Tell the EPA: Monitor for Microplastics here.
ARTICLES
Enbridge Gas suing Chatham County couple over surveying land for new pipeline by By Celeste Guajardo
here.
New fact sheet from Food & Water Watch on data centers and PFAS. Toxic Mixture: Data Centers Turn to PFAS For Cooling here.
How We Pressed Pause on Data Centers in New York and What’s Next here.
Extreme Temperatures Once Again Prove Deadly in Europe and U.S.
Hospitals are struggling to keep up with the influx of patients during climate-fueled heat waves. By Kiley Price here.
Includes 5 ways to stay cool in a heatwave resource here.
The Trump Energy Agenda Means Astronomical Bills and Smoky Skies
Instead of speeding the conversion to clean cheap energy, which would save households huge amounts of money, we’re instead shoveling taxpayer cash to the fossil fuel industry, and in the process overheating the Earth. By Bill McKibben here.
Indigenous environmental justice: Author links culture, water by Jennifer Allen here.
Thanks for reading! Take care of yourselves!
Peace and love for our beautiful Earth, Karen