Google Illegally Cut 250,000 Trees in Finland for a Data Centre, Ordered to Stop
alex_verem · x · 2026-10-25
Google cut down roughly 250,000 trees in Finland for a data centre without the environmental review required by law, and Finnish authorities ordered it to stop. Locals report wolves entering their village after the forest was cleared and their stream turning brown. Google apologised, saying it acted on its best understanding of the law.
The author argues this exposes AI's hidden cost: every model answer needs buildings, land, power and water — a reason he champions small open models running locally on laptops.
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