Grow Food not Surveillance Toolkit
If they build it, what will come?
Across the country, communities are being asked to welcome massive data center developments with promises of economic growth and technological progress. Before committing valuable land, public resources, and critical infrastructure, communities deserve to understand not only the immediate costs, but the long-term impacts on health, privacy, and individual freedom.
This toolkit provides the research, maps, educational resources, sample testimony, and practical tools you need to engage in local decisions.
Because the question isn’t simply whether a data center should be built. It’s what happens after it is built.
Step One: Find Out If Your State Mandates, Bans, or Defers to Local Control
Step four: Take Action in Your Community
This section provides practical tools to help you take meaningful action, including a Community Action Guide, sample emails to elected officials, and testimony templates for public meetings. Whether your goal is to ask questions, raise concerns, or ensure accountability, these resources can help you make your voice heard before decisions are finalized.
Step Five: Important Resources to Inform Yourself and Your Local Officials

Before You Approve a Data Center

The Future Being Built Around Data Centers

The Road to Mass Surveillance Starts Here

Flock Cameras: A Case Study in the Expansion of Mass Surveillance

Before You Approve a Data Center

Before You Approve a Data Center

Hacked data shines light on homeland security’s AI surveillance ambitions














