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Data centers have become the starting blocks in the global race for AI supremacy. Tech giants like Meta, Alphabet, and OpenAI have committed hundreds of billions of dollars collectively to building more of them. States are offering incentives for their development, and President Donald Trump signed an executive order in July cutting regulations to speed up construction. For all the breakthroughs they promise, the environmental toll of these facilities is already staggering: According to the International Energy Agency, U.S. data centers used roughly 185 terawatt-hours of electricity in 2024more than all of Pakistans 248 million people used that year. To keep hot servers cool, a typical 100-megawatt hyper-scale data center consumes as much water per day as 6,500 homes. And, as with the factories and railroads that powered previous technological revolutions, the impact on surrounding communities can be especially profound. This premium story, accompanied by original photography commissioned by Fast Company, documents: Why one of Metas data center neighbors says, “I haven’t drank my water in years.” The number of homes that could be powered with the electricity consumed by one Meta data center How much the area’s light pollution has increased since 2020 What the ongoing data center boom is doing to electricity prices in states like Georgia What does the cloud look like? For Beverly Morris, its hulking, windowless buildings, bright lights, and literal clouds of dust. The Stanton Springs Industrial Park in Newton County, Georgia, is home to one of Metas largest data centers, a sprawling 2.5 million-square-foot complex. [Photo: Peter Essick] In 2020, two years after Beverly and husband Jeff Morris bought their home in Mansfield, Georgia, construction crews began clearing the way for what would turn out to be one of Metas largest data centers, a sprawling, 2.5 million-square-foot complexlarger than the states largest shopping malljust 1,000 feet from their front door. With no official notice to Morris from Meta or surrounding Newton County representatives, the oak forest across her dirt road was felled; eventually, a white glow from a row of perimeter spotlights flooded their home nightly. Nature was run out of there completely, Morris says. By 2022, during busy construction days, thick plumes of red dust would storm across their property. After a particularly bad onslaught, Morris called the phone number she found on a construction sign; a crew soon showed up with power washers to hose down her house. There was a red river running off of my roof, she says. It was such a spectacle that one of the workers insisted on capturing it on his phone. She now wishes shed obtained the video. Everything was covered in red. The massive Meta data center was built just 1,000 feet from the Mansfield, Georgia, home of Beverly and Jeff Morris. [Photo: Peter Essick] The new factories The cloud has never been a very helpful description of the global infrastructure of the internet, but as the global race for AI supremacy ramps up, a new, more apt metaphor has emerged. I think everybody should stop saying data centers, interior secretary Doug Burgum told a conference in D.C., where in July, Trump signed an executive order cutting regulations to speed up data center construction. Burgum cited the term used by the CEO of Nvidia: It’s not data centers. It’s AI factories. But these giant warehouses arent factories in the traditional sense. Even the most compute-intensive data centers employ few full-time workers. Most of the work in a data center is done by automated systems and software that manage the infrastructure, while the core computation of training and inference is powered by energy-hungry chips, often made by Nvidia. In the first half of 2025, spending on data centersincluding big investments from Meta, Alphabet, OpenAI, Amazon, and xAI contributed as much to U.S. GDP growth as household consumer spendingan unprecedented economic shift. But tremendous cash isnt the only cost, and tech companies arent the only ones shouldering the burden. In Mansfield, Morris says the impact of all the digging and blasting to build Metas data center, known as Stanton Springs, eventually extended to her well water. By 2023, the pipes in her house were clogged with sediment, wrecking appliances and slowing faucets to a drip. I havent drank my water in years, says Morris, who estimates shes spent about $5,000 on repairs so far. She said a July appraisal found that her propertys value had cratered. The Meta data center creates a dome of artificial light visible from miles away. [Photo: Peter Essick] The extent to which the construction of the data center contributed remains unclear. A Meta spokeswoman told The New York Times that the company had recently commissioned a well study on the Morrises property and said it was unlikely that its data center affected the supply of groundwater in the area. Though the studya copy of which was reviewed by Fast Companyassessed the impact of the facility’s construction and operations on local groundwater and nearby wells, Morris says “Neither Meta nor anyone else came on my property to do a groundwater study. Meta declined repeated requests for comment on this story. It has changed the way that I live here, she says. And they really accept no responsibility for it. And they’re big enough to do that. How AIs power needs affect everyone Tax breaks and relatively cheap power have turned the Atlanta area into the countrys fastest-growing hyper-scale data center market. Demand is so high that the Peach State has delayed closing several coal-fired power plants. Only a few years ago, Big Tech touted bold carbon targets. Now Bob Sherrier, a staff attorney in the Southern Environmental Law Centers Georgia office, says the data center blitz will deepen our reliance on dirty, volatilely priced methane gas and coal for decades. (Stanton Springs consumed 968,000 megawatt-hours of electricity in 2023, according to Metas most recent numbers, enough to power about 90,000 average homes.) Nationally, Morgan Stanley estimates that forecasted data center demand will require an additional 45 gigawatts, or about 10% of all current U.S. generation capacityequivalent to 23 Hoover Dams. The data center build-out also means that all the cheap power thats drawn developers to states like Georgia isnt actually that cheap: Nationally, the cost of building out new transmission lines and substations to power the AI push is contributing to surging electricity rates for customers across the country. In Georgia, our rates have gone up six times, Morris says. A late evening thunderstorm passes over the Meta data center in Social Circle, Georgia. [Photo: Peter Essick] Power is only part of the equation: Keeping chips cool means withdrawing and consuming immense amounts of water, and developers prioritize places that are hot and dry, where power tends to be cheaper, meaning most data centers are being built in areas with high water stress. According to the local water authority, the Stanton Springs facility guzzles about 10% of Newton Countys daily water supply. In Newton County, demand is rising so fast that residents could face a water deficit by 2030, according to a 2024 report. Growing AIs footprintand impact Some of the worlds biggest projects are emerging in neighboring Louisiana. In Memphis, a supercomputer for Elon Musks xAI has been relying on dozens of unpermitted temporary gas turbines, exacerbating health issues in the surrounding community. In Richland Parish, a plan to build 2 gigawatts worth of gas turbines for a Meta data center project was recently approved by planning authorities, despite local objections that the process was rushed and lacked transparency. But the scale of the project is no secret: Just one of these covers a significant part of the footprint of Manhattan, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote on Facebook. Not to be outdone, OpenAI and Oracle are building an 800-acre data center in Texas that will form part of the Stargate project, a partnership with the Trump administration to create a nationwide backbone for training ever-larger AI models. Backed by a $100 billion investment from Nvidia (much of it to be spent on its own chips), the five-data-center project could demand upwards of 10 gigawattsabout as much energy as consumed by all of New York City. Morris, who grew up in Georgia, misses the fireflies that used to surround her house, which glowed until the data center showed up. Even with the spotlights switched off, the facility, now operational, still creates a dome of light visible from miles away. (The areas Bortle score, a measure of light pollution, shows a 25% increase in artificial brightness since 2020.) The sounds of construction have been replaced by a constant electric hum, periodic alarms, and the intermittent buzz of diesel generators. Morris admits to feeling powerless, but has found some comfort onlineeven on Facebookconnecting with others across the state who are pushing back against new data center development. I know Im not the only one now, she says. And shes right. Last month, the city council for the nearby city of Social Circle unanimously enacted a 90-day moratorium on new data centers. A version of this story appears in the latest issue of Fast Company magazine.
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E-Commerce
We live in a culture that glorifies leadership. Titles like manager, director, or CEO are treated not just as jobs, but as glamorous career destinations (even when the actual job is anything but). In the corporate world, ambition and talent are often defined by how many people report to you, and the ladder of success is measured by headcount under your name. You can be the most talented coder, designer, analyst, or scientist, but sooner or later the corporate current will push you toward leading others. It is the professional equivalent of a rite of passage: You can only go so far unless you manage people. This obsession with leadership explains why nearly everyone wants to be one, and why admitting that you dont may get interviewers and recruiters to label you as unambitious.” The fact of the matter is, that the number of people aspiring to lead far exceeds the number of people who can actually lead, especially if we measure leadership talent not by the ability to get the job but actually having a positive impact on your team and organization after you do (yes, this applies to politics, too). Data from organizational psychology is sobering: Most people are not competent leaders. Studies suggest that 50% to 60% of leaders are seen as ineffective by their employees, and engagement surveys regularly show that my manager is the single biggest factor driving dissatisfaction at work. In other words, the demand for leadership positions is far greater than the supply of leadership competence. The real problem is not the enthusiasm for leadership, but that people are bad at evaluating their own leadership potential. Many confuse ambition with aptitude, confidence with competence, or popularity with effectiveness. Fortunately, science has given us some reliable markers. Leadership is not mystical. It can be assessed. And while there is no perfect recipe, there are 10 questions you should ask yourself if you are considering the move from individual contributor to leader of others. Think of this as a checklist, not a guarantee of success, but a necessary starting point. Do you have technical expertise? In the past, leaders were legitimized because they knew more than the people they supervised. The master craftsman became the workshop head. The top surgeon ran the department. The best soldier led the unit. Today, AI and automation are eroding the value of expertise. A machine can often answer factual questions faster and better than your boss. Still, expertise matters, not just what you know but whether others see you as credible. A leader without expertise is like a captain who cannot sail: The crew will not follow. The key is not to be the smartest in the room, but to have demonstrated competence in a domain that earns you the respect of those you lead. This legitimacy is essential. Without it, your authority will be questioned at every turn. Are you a fast learner? Intelligence is often misunderstood. It is not about trivia knowledge or SAT scores. It is about the ability to learn new things quickly. In leadership, this matters enormously. Every new project, crisis, or strategy requires you to absorb information, process it, and adapt. Smarter leaders are more likely to solve complex problems, avoid repeating mistakes, and keep pace with change. The real measure is not raw IQ but whether you can demonstrate learning agility. The best leaders are not those who never make mistakes, but those who rarely make the same mistake twice. Are you curious? If IQ is the ability to learn, curiosity is the willingness to do so. It fuels exploration, questions, and the humility to say I dont know. Curiosity also enhances intelligence because it pushes you to acquire knowledge you did not have. Meta-analytic studies show that trait curiosity predicts leadership effectiveness. The paradox is that curiosity tends to decline with age and expertise. The more senior we become, the more tempted we are to rely on what we know instead of questioning it. The best leaders resist this temptation. They continue to ask questions even when they already have answers. Do you have integrity? This should go without saying, but it rarely does. Leadership without integrity is not just ineffective, it is dangerous. Integrity is not about never making mistakes, but about having a moral compass. It requires altruistic values and, critically, self-control: the ability to resist temptations, avoid abusing power, and make decisions that benefit the group rather than the individual. History is full of leaders who failed on this count, from corporate scandals like Enron to political leaders who enriched themselves while destroying their nations. A lack of integrity may not always prevent people from climbing to the top, but it always determines how they are remembered. Do you have humility? Humility is the underrated secret of leadership. It means knowing what you do not know, being self-critical, and acknowledging when proven wrong. It also means being able to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you in certain areas and not feeling threatened by it. We crave humility in leaders precisely because it is so rare. Politicians who admit mistakes are refreshing because they are exceptions. CEOs who credit their teams rather than themselves stand out because they are uncommon. Humility is not a weakness, but an understated strength. Without it, leaders become delusional. With it, they inspire trust. Are you ambitious? Ambition has a bad reputation, but it is essential. Leaders need drive, energy, and persistence. The crucial distinction is motivation: Why do you want to lead? If your ambition is fueled by power hunger, vanity, or narcissism, you will likely harm others in the process. The right kind of ambition is prosocial. It is about wanting to make others better, to create impact beyond yourself, and to leave a legacy that matters. Do you have people skills? Leadership is the ability to build and maintain a high-performing team. That requires emotional intelligence: empathy, listening, influence, and conflict resolution. It will be very hard for you to lead if you cannot manage yourself, or manage others. You can be brilliant, curious, and ambitious, but if you cannot connect with people, you will never sustain their trust or loyalty. Think of great coaches in sports. Their tactical knowledge is important, but their ability to motivate, read the mood of a locker room, and manage egos is what separates the great from the mediocre. Leaders in business face the same test. Your success is measured not by your individual performance, but by the collective performance of the group you lead. Can you tame your dark side? Everyone has one. For some, it is arrogance. For others, impulsivity, paranoia, or aggression. These dark side traits are not inherently bad, since they often fuel ambition and resilience, but when unchecked they derail careers. The difference between great and terrible leaders is not the presence of flaws, but the ability to control them. Good leaders know how to edit themselves, even when nobody forces them to. They resist the temptation to just be themselves when their unfiltered selves would damage relationships. As I illustrate in my latest book, Dont Be Yourself: Why Authenticity is Overrated and What to Do Instead, some of the best leaders succeed not by being authentic, but by being disciplined versions of themselves. Can you inspire others? Charisma is a multiplier. When you are competent and ethical, charisma amplifies your impact. Leaders who can communicate a vision with confidence, passion, and clarity are far more effective at rallying teams. But charisma without substance is dangerous. It can make bad leaders even more destructive by persuading people to follow them off a cliff. Think of Martin Luther King Jr., his charisma mattered because it was grounded in integrity, purpose, and competence. Compare that with countless populist leaders whose charisma fuels division and chaos, not to mention charismatic leaders who were utterly destructive (most populist brutal dictators or colorful tyrants fit the bill). If you are ethical and competent, be as magnetic as possible. If you are not, please be boring. Are you coachable? Leadership is never a finished product. Even if you check every box above, the world will keep changing, and your skills will eventually become outdated. The only way to stay relevant is to be coachable: to seek feedback, listen, and adapt. Some of the most successful leaders in history were relentless learners. Leaders who stop learning become rigid, outdated, and irrelevant. Being coachable is not about deference. It is about evolution. So, should you be a leader? If you can answer yes to most of these questions, you are better prepared than the majority of people who aspire to lead. If not, it is worth reconsidering. There is no shame in remaining an expert, an individual contributor, or a collaborator without a managerial title. In fact, organizations increasingly recognize the value of technical specialists who do not want to, or should not, manage people. Of course, it would be disingenuous not to acknowledge the elephant in the boardroom: Plenty of people ascend to leadership not because they are especially talented, but because they lucked into the right family, the right network, or the right school tie. Nepotism, privilege, and elite membership still grease the wheels of many leadership careers. Ive left these off the checklist for the simple reason that not everything that is should be. Just because these forces still work doesnt mean we should celebrate them, let alone confuse them with actual leadership potential. Leadership is not for everyone, nor should it be. But when done well, it can transform teams, organizations, and societies. When done badly, it can destroy them. The checklist above is not just about career advancement, it is about protecting others from the wrong kind of leadership. If you do not have the integrity, humility, or people skills to lead, the most responsible thing you can do is abstain. In the end, leadership is not about you. It is about what you do for others. And that is the question worth asking before you chase the title: Do you want to lead for their sake, or yours?
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E-Commerce
Tis the season for carved pumpkins, god-awful candy corn, and an inevitable workplace costume that lands someone a well-earned talking-to from HR. Halloween is near, which means its the perfect time to reflect on a tale from the cubicle thats even spookier than Tales From the Crypt. It starts with three words that would strike fear in the heart of anyone who’s ever worked in corporate America. Performance. Improvement. Plan. Taken at face value, the phrase sounds gentle, maybe even helpful, like the start of a company-sponsored self-care journey. In reality, a PIP is usually the workplace equivalent of a death sentence, a corporate guillotine that gives being on the clock a whole new meaning. At least thats how it felt early in my career when it happened to me. The news hit like a cold email from HR with no greeting. I remember sitting across from my manager (lets call her Lisa) at a long-ass boardroom table, fluorescent lights humming, my coffee going cold as she explained the expectations moving forward. She had that tone people use when theyre rehearsing empathy. And while I tried to keep my composure, all I could hear as Lisa spoke was, Your days here are numbered. I was working at a startupone of those scrappy, ever-changing companies where job descriptions are more like suggestions. Every few months, my priorities shifted, as did my boss, team, and sometimes the department I worked in. Still, I kept my head down, remained adaptable, and did solid work. But at some point after my third job title change, I started to lose steam. Projects dragged. Deadlines slipped. Some of it was on meconstant change can burn out even the most proactive employee. But a lot of it came down to the chaos: unclear direction, competing priorities, constant pivots. Id go from one urgent request to another, without anyone assessing my workload or considering whether I was merely spinning my wheels. So it was a wake-up call when Lisa summoned me into that 1:1 meeting and told me I was being put on a PIP (no Gladys Knight). I didnt just need to tighten up; I needed to learn how to move in a room full of vultures. Theres something humbling about having your performance questioned in black and white. I felt embarrassed, frustrated, and, honestly, a little angry. Id been juggling a revolving door of responsibilities while management kept changing the rules mid-game. But once the sting wore off, I realized this was a turning point. I could either take it as a big L like the late Harlem rapper or treat it as feedback. I decided to lock in. The thing is, I had a publicity problem. So many of my contributions were going unseen, unrecognized, or worse, attributed to someone else. I set out to change that. Asana became my amigo. Weekly emailed status updates to Lisa became the norm. Long division had nothing on the way I was showing my work. I also stopped waiting for clarity. If directions were vague, I asked all of the questions until I got specifics. If priorities clashed, I pushed for alignment. It wasnt easy; when youre a young professional, advocating for yourself can feel like being confrontational. But I also understood how silence had been making me complicit in my own confusion. Believe it or not, things improved. My work got sharper. My time management leveled up. Even Lisa softened a bit, noticing that I was handling the pressure with a new kind of steadiness. I started to believe I might survive the PIP and come out on the other side even strongernot unlike how 50 Cent emerged from the gunsmoke of nine bullet wounds before becoming a household name. Then the layoffs hit. Lisa sat there silent while her boss broke the news: My role was being eliminated as part of a restructuring. I raised an eyebrow when she assured me it had nothing to do with the PIP. It didnt really matter, though. All that growth, all that effortand I was still out of a job. But I didnt walk out defeated. I knew Id done my best work during that PIP. I learned the annoying art of workplace communication and receipt-taking. I stood up for myself. And I left that job with more confidence than I had going in. That was the real win. (Not to mention the years-later apology from Lisa, who admitted that she undervalued me. Better late than never, I guess.) My Scottie PIPpen days taught me a difficult but necessary truth: Sometimes you can do everything right and still get caught in the wrong storm. But if you use that pressure to sharpen your processes, youll come out stronger, no matter how it ends. So if you ever find yourself cast as the main character in your own workplace horror story, dont panic. Get organized. Get visible. Get curious. (And get your résumé updated, just in case.) Because its not about proving anyone else wrong. Its about proving to yourself that even when things get scary, youre built to survive. The Only Black Guy in the Office is copublished with LEVELman.com.
Category:
E-Commerce
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