Civic Participation

Community Protection Toolkit

While we recognize that many organizations have created toolkits, we thought there was a key ingredient missing - immediate usability. Our Toolkit is an effort to address that gap.

In addition to providing clear and concise information on the way a data center works, we provide a host of starter questions that you can take to a municipal meeting and ask directly. You can send them in an email and government officials will be forced to send a real response, not just a canned template. You can use them to vet experts and determine if they know what they say they know. You can share them with legal and policy professionals to get them started building public records requests. Basically, you can use these questions to take immediate action to protect your community from the negative impacts of hyperscale data centers.

Click the button below to request a downloadable pdf.

What actions can I take today?

  • Attend a local water district meeting and ask for a special session on how data center are impacting your local aquifers.

  • Contact your County Supervisor and ask for a special session on how data center environmental impacts are considered in the zoning variance process.

  • Share the Taps Run Dry presentation and Community Protection Toolkit with your local representative and inquire about any known efforts to protect your local water availability:

    • Local water agency

    • Councilmember Offices

    • City or County Clerk

    • Environmental Commissioner (if your city/county doesn’t have a commission, ask them to start one)

    • Planning or Zoning Commissioner

    • Elected City or County representative

  • Join a local water or data center advocacy organization and share the Taps Run Dry presentation and Community Protection Toolkit with the leadership.

Where can I learn how to start?

We’ve partnered with Only in San Jose to provide access to the following civic education resources. While the resources focus on the specifics of a particular California city and county, there are similarities across all US cities and counties that make this information useful to anyone in the US.

How do I know who to talk to?

USA.gov provides information on how to identify your elected officials at all levels of government. You can also obtain their contact information. If you need help locating your elected officials, start your search at the button below.