Artificial intelligence is reshaping how we live, work, and communicate—but the digital world runs on physical infrastructure. This season of The Young Ike explores the rapid expansion of data centers across the United States and the environmental, economic, and civic trade-offs that come with them.

As demand for AI and cloud computing explodes, data centers are popping up in communities large and small, reshaping local energy grids, water systems, and land use plans. They bring investment, tax revenue, and jobs—but also raise serious questions about sustainability, transparency, and long-term environmental goals.

This season is not about AI chatbots themselves, but about the infrastructure underneath them—and how communities, policymakers, environmental advocates, and industry are responding.

Featured Voices This Season:

Across this season, Griffith speaks with five guests approaching the data center buildout from different perspectives:

- Kathryn Hoffman, CEO of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy, on legal and regulatory challenges surrounding data center development

- Carrie Jennings, Research and Policy Director at Freshwater, on groundwater use, water governance gaps, and the hidden risks of data center development.

- Senator Nick Frentz, Chair of the Senate Energy, Utilities, Environment, and Climate Committee, on balancing economic development, energy policy, and climate goals in the data center boom

- Gary Brown, grassroots organizer and Izaak Walton League member, on local resistance movements and community-level organizing

- Andrew Odlyzko, technology historian at the University of Minnesota, on financial manias, infrastructure booms, and historical parallels to today’s data center surge

An industry perspective was actively sought for this season but could not be secured. That commitment—to engaging all sides of complex environmental issues—remains central to The Young Ike and will continue in future seasons.

How This Season Works:

Episodes will be released weekly over the next four to five weeks. Listeners are encouraged to follow along and participate in Podclubs—community-led discussion groups modeled after book clubs—designed to take these conversations off podcasts, off algorithms, and into the real world.

To find a Podclub event near you or start your own, visit:

theyoungike.org/podclub