"The New Polluters" Panel Discussion

Name: "The New Polluters" Panel Discussion
Start: 2024-10-25T17:00:00-04:00
End: 2024-10-25T20:00:00-04:00
Location: Buffalo Arts Studio

Schedule

Fri Oct 25 2024 at 05:00 pm to 08:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Buffalo Arts Studio | Buffalo, NY

Please join us for the panel discussion "The New Polluters" on Friday, October 25, from 5:00pm–8:00pm. The talk will start promptly at 6pm in the Buffalo Arts Studio Community Space.
In partnership with area environmental activist organizations including Clean Air Coalition and Climate Smart Task Force, and Buffalo Waterkeepers, Buffalo Arts Studio presents the panel discussion, “New Polluters” featuring artists, academics, and grassroots activists discussing the environmental impact of cloud computing and crypto-mining on our community. This presentation is part of "Waterfront View," a series of exhibitions, workshops, and public conversations that examine how late-stage capitalism has shifted the view of water and waterways from a resource of collective benefit to a commodity of individual interest and shareholder profit. This programming reflects the belief that artists and curators can effect change through collaborations that balance community needs with artistic insight.
The panel will include exhibiting artists Joan Linder and Stephanie Rothenberg as well as North Tonawanda resident Deb Gondek who advocated for the two-year moratorium on new operations and the expansion of existing data centers. Residents brought the complaint after noise and increased pollution by Digihost, the company operating a crypto-mine at the former Fortistar power plant site on Erie Avenue in North Tonawanda, posed quality of life issues and environmental risk. Environmental Justice Organizer Bridge Rauch with Clean Air Coalition of WNY will also serve as a panelist. Rauch has a Master’s of Regional Planning from SUNY Albany and has worked extensively in Buffalo’s non-profit sector, including at The Service Collaborative of WNY, Preservation Buffalo-Niagara, and the Coalition for Economic Justice. Also on the panel is Elizabeth Cute, Sr. Program Manager with Buffalo Niagara Waterkeeper. Cute Oversees place-based environmental justice programming for high school students, water quality monitoring programs, and leads PFAS and Plastic Pollution Prevention policy and advocacy efforts.
For more information about Buffalo Arts Studio, please visit www.buffaloartsstudio.org