r/environment • u/Barbiebeans • 1d ago
OUTRAGE: Google Has Been Accused Of Illegally Clearing 300 Hectares Of Finnish Forest For New Data Centers Before Completing The Required Environmental Assessments, As The Finnish Nature Conservation Association Alleges “Gross Disregard” For The Law 🤯💥
https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/google-accused-illegally-killing-forest-data-center120
u/CaliIsReallyNice 1d ago
Yup. Standard procedure.
When I was a kid, back in the 80s, Walmart bought up a giant heavily wooded lot and announced a new store in our town. City government told them they couldn't cut down those trees, they were protected. Before the ruling actually went through the bureaucracy, Walmart hired a logging crew to go in and clear cut the entire lot in one night, and they paid a fine and built their store.
Google is directly funding fascist parties in Europe. Google has become a really shitty company.
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u/Acrobatic-Ad-9189 1d ago
This happens in norway as well. They clear the forest, then they send someone to see that its ok to clear the forest.
Its standard procedure everywhere
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u/DukeOfGeek 1d ago
They need to fine and arrest the people who actually cut the trees or tear down historic buildings too. Tell them "you are responsible if the paperwork is not filed, demand to see it or you're on the hook".
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u/djeaux54 1d ago
My father used to have a side hustle doing endangered species assessments for developers and utilities. One of the largest, high-end real estate developments in the area (including a golf course) contacted him after the dozer work had been completed. Obviously, there were no gopher tortoises, pine snakes, or red cockaded woodpeckers present. What the developer never realized was that the fee was about four times larger than his customary rate, even though it was about 1/10th the physical work for him.
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u/breinbanaan 1d ago
So whats the alternative for Google?
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u/djeaux54 1d ago
Get a legitimate forestry survey, which would have to be done by an independent consulting forester from Finland. Follow that up with whatever environmental and endangered species surveys that Finnish law requires. Follow that up with government review. That all takes time.
And consider this: by the time that approval comes down, the entire hyper-energy-intensive AI models that GoogleMetaXChatGPT have invested in are replaced by the "next big thing."
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u/breinbanaan 1d ago
Ah im sorry. I meant an alternative for me to ditch Google for!
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u/Kallistrate 23h ago
There are lots! DuckDuckGo if you use their search engine, ProtonMail if you use Gmail (they also have calendars, drive, photos, etc), Firefox if you use Chrome.
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u/clyypzz 1d ago
That's how big companies usually work, by "making facts". Now that the nature is gone anyway why not finally build it? Corrupt scum.
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u/stephcurrysmom 1d ago
Old Robert Moses tactic
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u/djeaux54 1d ago
Easier to beg forgiveness than to get permission. It's probably taught in U.S. business schools.
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u/stephcurrysmom 1d ago
I mean, it is outlined clearly in The Power Broker. He did it time and again to nullify the pending long conversation around planning, environmental studies, who owns it, all of the political conversations that drag out development. He just did it without permission and dared people to punish him.
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u/odd-duckling-1786 1d ago
Money says they assumed if they just started doing it that theu would be fined and everyone will just move on. I say fuck'em. Throw the book at them and ban all current and future construction projects of theirs.
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u/HoldenMcNeil420 1d ago
100 billion dollar fine. Time to set an example.
Time for us all to set examples. Let’s make Luigi proud.
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u/Tokoyami8711 1d ago
No one needs these data centers other than fascists who want to ruin humanity.
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u/Borne2Run 1d ago
Start leveling fines as a % of their gross revenue for clear and egregious violations of the law.
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u/timberwise 1d ago
The irony nobody's naming: the environmental assessments Google skipped are exactly the thing that would have settled this argument. One commenter here says it was a drained, already-harvested block waiting to be cleared again; the conservation association says it severed an ecological corridor. Both could be true at once — that's literally what the review is for.
And the "make facts first" pattern in this thread is the real story underneath. As long as the fine costs less than the months a proper assessment delays you, "clear first, ask forgiveness later" is the rational move — standard practice everywhere, not just Finland. Good on the Finns for pushing back instead of folding. Fines that sting plus suspended clearing is the only thing that changes that math. Hope they hold the line.
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u/HassesStuga 1d ago edited 1d ago
But, some Finnish authority must have approved….
I mean, the same happened in Sweden. Who approved?
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u/Logintheroad 1d ago
Well, they let them in. They allowed it. Google didn't roll up and just start clearing the forest. Someone in the Finnish government got paid and approved it. So be mad at that.
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u/thisguynextdoor 1d ago
To add context, the area they cleared was drained forest field, already cut a few times. It was there waiting to be cleared again.
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u/kungfoojesus 1d ago
Force these centers into the desert and make them use solar. Not enough energy? Too fucking bad. Not enough water? Ask AI how to work around it. No fucking reason to clear cut forests for this shit
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u/Kallistrate 23h ago
It's not any better for the environment for them to go into the desert. Deserts have sensitive ecosystems that are even more tenuous than others. They aren't dead space where all the trash and unwanted things can get dumped.
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u/tsardonicpseudonomi 1d ago
This is why social democracy is a trap. Socialism or barbarism is inevitable.
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u/Trancaso-UhOh 1d ago
They should have went to Mexico or Honduras. They would have had no issue with eliminating 300 Hectors.
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u/Voodoo_Masta 1d ago
Ok Finland - block their data center and all Google data centers from now until forever.