Google cleared 250,000 trees in Finland before it had approval — and the wolves came to town
Google illegally cut down 250K trees in Finland for data center
Google flattened 816 acres of forest near Muhos in northern Finland for AI data centers before completing the Environmental Impact Assessment Finnish law requires. Regulators halted work at two sites, streams feeding the Oulujoki River turned brown, and wolves pushed into villages as wildlife fled. Locals and conservationists call it arrogance; Google's Finland chief apologized and pledged to replant about 321 acres. The project is part of a $15 billion Nordic investment.
We had wolves coming into the village because all the wild animals moved out of the forest. They fled.
- croisillon
related:
183 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50048638
253 comments https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50196837
- semiquaver
The New York post should basically never be used as a source and this article is a great example of why. It is just obviously not journalism as most people would recognize the concept. Everything they post is ragebait, clickbait or both. They are institutionally allergic to any form of nuance.
Here is the (much, much higher quality) original reporting that this terrible ny post writeup is based on: https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/...
- WarmWash
It's incredible how this story has incessantly made the rounds while the actual story is so incredibly small and insignificant. Like it probably wouldn't even make the town newspaper level insignificant.
"A Finnish contractor working for Google failed to get the correct permits for clearing 1.5sq-mi of man made forest that was rezoned to industrial"
The actual takeaway is how desperate the media is for clicks. They don't report based on importance, the report based on attention potential (while people naturally assume it's based on importance, as that's the aire the media projects ofc)
- designerarvid
First time hearing of number of trees as a measue in forestry. In scandinavia we use hectars (100x100m). There’s also several different m3 measurements (with and without bark), that is used along with timber quality.
Finland has trees in billions. Still google should follow the laws and hand in the right permits.
- atombender
@dang, could we replace the link with this much better article?
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/ng-interactive/2026/...
- draxen
A lot of the regulatory footguns European legislators have implemented over the past ~35 years were ideologically driven by progressive US/UK academia and media.
Unfortunately the distance between stupid, self-defeating Anglo-American activism and European legislation is shorter than the distance between that activism and American legislation.
Generally, Europeans would benefit from being as critical of progressive Anglo-American activists, academics, and media as we are of American corporate interests.
- exizt88
Good. Finland has dozens of billions of trees. Having AI data centers on European soil is more important.
- Kevin_Flynn
1. Government welcomes Google.
2. Google starts construction, fails to file paperwork at some level.
3. 1,000's of trees decompose naturally somewhere.
4. Local community upset that Google is building what Government welcomed while allowing tree decomposition to reign unchecked. The horror, the horror.
5. Sea levels rise, 86.5% of humanity is wiped out, and a great famine ensues.
6. Meanwhile, in the State of California, taxpayer funding is squandered on supertrains to nowhere that noone wants, instead of clearing fuel from forests, while the electric company shuts off the electricity, to prevent forest fires.
As much as I dislike big evil corporations, I'm gonna give google a pass on forgetting to hand in their homework this time.
Compared to the State of California, they seem to be doing a good job.
disclaimer: this summary contains at least one forward looking statement :|