The Hum
The Hum is a podcast hosted by Saul Levin that explores who controls the future, featuring interviews with individuals resisting the encroachment of AI and data centers into daily life. The show is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions.
Episodes
“This ton of bricks just fell on us and we do our best”
When Maryland’s governor failed to act on data centers, residents took matters into their own hands. Melissa Emmal of Calvert County, MD and Mike Tidwell of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network talk about how Marylanders were able to win moratoriums or bans on data centers covering 80% of the state population, including by voting out local officials cozy with industry. Message us on Instagram @t
The Hum Live in Brooklyn at Climate Week
Key elected officials Davante Lewis (Louisiana), Peter Hubbard (Georgia), and Emily Gallagher (New York) chat with Saul live about the challenges, pressures, and opportunities of public service amidst the rapid pace, widespread corruption and secrecy of AI data center buildout. Message us on Instagram @thehumpod to get connected to resistance in your state or country. Send us stories and key dates
"There's no adult in this room"
Data centers can’t be understood without looking beyond borders - not a single US AI data center is made entirely with American parts and labor. Former US Trade Representative and member of the Biden cabinet Katherine Tai and leading national trade expert Beth Baltzan discuss the role of supply chains, trade deals, tariffs, and economics in shaping the data center buildout and resistance. They als
“Everybody should be filing FOIAS”
University of Michigan PhD student Nathan Kim talks about how he and other students discovered that their university’s proposed AI data center was being built to make weapons of war, how they’re fighting back, and the overlaps with his research on AI and big tech. Message us on Instagram @thehumpod to get connected to resistance in your state or country. Send us stories and key dates coming up so
“Children of the Forest Unite”
In Bastrop Texas, 8-year-old twins Oslo and Ivan organized a march against a proposed data center near their school. The twins and their mom Holly call in from their farm to talk about how the poster Oslo drew and put up inspired 100 people to join the protest, including many friends and parents from school.Message us on Instagram @thehumpod to get connected to resistance in your state or country.
Getting Creative: A Menu of Data Center Policy
Katie Thomas, an energy and climate expert who once led Senator Bernie Sanders’ climate team, walks us through example local policies passing on data centers across the US. Katie shares her tracker and gives a menu of options and ideas so any community can be prepared to fight back. Message us on Instagram @thehumpod to get connected to resistance in your state or country. Send us stories and key
“Death by a thousand cuts”
Drew Small’s family business running Facebook ads for Nashville musicians from his basement was already being hampered by AI when a data center project was announced in town. We hear Drew’s gripping story of winning a moratorium and protections by partnering with a motley crew of neighbors and public librarians. Message us on Instagram @thehumpod to get connected to resistance in your state or cou
“These sacrifice zones are manufactured”
An interview with Memphis brothers KeShaun Pearson and Rep. Justin J. Pearson Memphis brothers KeShaun and Justin Pearson are community leaders who have become national figures in the movement to stop data centers. They discuss their origins being directly impacted by environmental racism and their family’s efforts to protect their home from the greed of Elon Musk. Message us on Instagram @thehum
“We’re in a barn with taxidermy on the wall and you’re talking about proposing an AI cryptomining data center”
CRAN Part 2: A conversation with Kayleigh Henry and Chris SotiroNew Jersey CRAN’s youth leaders have been traversing the state, joining each other in hometowns and rural barns to capture the organic uprising happening in every corner of the state against AI data centers. Leaders Kayleigh Henry and Chris Sotiro talk about how young people are rising up, why it’s working, and how they’re just gettin
“THEY CANCELLED IT”
CRAN Part 1: A conversation with founder Ben DziobekThe Climate Revolution Action Network of New Jersey has grabbed the attention of people all over the country for their huge success fighting AI data centers in the densest state in the US. CRAN Executive Director Ben Dziobek gets specific about how they are winning by empowering their Gen Z members and volunteers to form creative alliances to fig
"We're talking about it because the people are talking about it"
An interview with Michigan candidates Abdul El Sayed and William Lawrence. Abdul El Sayed and William Lawrence are running to represent Michigan in the Senate and House, respectively. Both have leaned in hard in their opposition to runaway data center buildout and now enjoy unexpected leads in primary polling. We discuss how these issues became front and center, what they hope to do about them, a
“Everybody is blind to partisan lines:” Indiana’s unifying fight against data centers
Facing a tidal wave of AI data center development and complex corporate takeover in Indiana, residents in all corners of the state have come together to notch stunning victories against big tech. Kerwin Olson and Ben Inskeep of the Indiana Citizen Action Coalition discuss their work with neighbors in dozens of counties to stop outside companies from gobbling up energy, water, and land. Message us
‘Ask your auntie, not AI’: How Seminole Nation permanently banned data centers
The Seminole Nation in Oklahoma has made international headlines with their unanimously passed ban on AI data centers on their lands. Indigenous organizer Ash Nicole Lamont and Mekusukey Band Representative Chebon Kernell, who introduced the legislation, tell the fascinating story of their community’s successful resistance. They outline the threats of AI data centers to language, tradition, and s
“What about the air?”
Taylor Frazier McCollum left her job at a beauty salon in Landover, Maryland after seeing a video about a data center. She organized with her clients and neighbors to win a data center moratorium in her town. Taylor’s story of using the relationship building and organizational skills of her trade to keep her town safe reveals the power each of us has to step up and take on big tech. Message us on
“I’m in this fight because I love technology”
Kate Brennan of the AI Now Institute is a leading national expert on the rapid development of AI and data centers and a vocal advocate for regular people to have a say in emerging technology. She talks about her journey as a technology loving Google employee, the policy toolkit she wrote for local officials, and what you can do to fight data centers near you. Message us on Instagram @thehumpod to
They’ll Pave Paradise Just to Put Up a Data Center
Emily Waldron is a social worker and farmer who harvests trees to become telephone poles in the Willamette Valley of Oregon. In our discussion, we explore the home she loves and the reasons she and her neighbors of all ages have banded together to organize tractor parades, town halls, and community meetings to protect the rich soils that fuel their way of life from Silicon Valley tech companies. M
The People vs AI
This is the first episode of The Hum!Journalist Andrew Chow’s TIME cover story included conversations with people fighting data centers and AI all over the US. In our discussion, we dig deep into why people are rising up, who they’re up against and what they’re fighting for. The overview provides a foundation for the interviews with activists and researchers to come. Message us on Instagram @theh
Introducing The Hum
The Hum is a podcast about who controls the future - interviews with people fighting the rapid expansion of AI and data centers for the profits of a few.Weekly episode of The Hum are coming in May 2026. Subscribe now and tell everyone you know about the show. The Hum is produced in partnership with Rowhome Productions.
Recommended
Solved Murders - True Crime Stories
紐約鳥｜New York Aperture
The Swerve Podcast: Obscure Topics | Conspiracy Theories
The Bread and Banter Podcast
The Church of What's Happening Now: The New Testament
Busted Open
Deadline: White House
Crickets Corner
History of the Earthquake and Fire in San Francisco
Fox news
K-Drama Obsessed Mamas | Beyond “Just One More Episode!”
True Crime Classics
