Overview:

  • Big tech is threatening the Great Lakes, writes Huda Alkaff, director of Michigan Green Muslims.
  • Bipartisan Michigan legislators introduced a bill to pause new data center construction until spring 2027.
  • Faith communities across the Great Lakes are working on environmental resilience projects.

This holy month of Ramadan, I have been reflecting on love: of water, life, and community. Every day from dawn to sunset during Ramadan, Muslims fast from food and water, in part to cultivate appreciation for these necessities that nourish both body and spirit.

Ours is the only faith that fasts from water as part of our daily religious practice, but fasting is far from the only way we honor water. We purify ourselves with water, a sacred gift, trust, and blessing. 

The reverent relationship faith communities all over the world have with water marks a sharp contrast to the way wealthy corporations drain and desecrate rivers, lakes, and aquifers in their thirst for growth. Right now, the industry threatening our waters is big tech.

Last month, a bipartisan group of Michigan leaders introduced legislation that would stop the construction of new data centers until next spring. They are no doubt responding to voter concerns about the way this artificial intelligence boom is polluting waterways, driving up utility bills, and destroying the rural character of communities.

It’s unclear if state lawmakers will approve the proposed pause, but communities aren’t waiting. At least 27 Michigan cities and townships have already halted new data center approvals, and opposition is surging across the Great Lakes and the country. Legislators in Wisconsin are also proposing a statewide pause, building off local moratoria in tech hotspots like Madison.

It’s heartening to see people rising up to defend their lands and waters. For too long, these commons have been sacrificed in the name of poorly planned growth and corporate profits, but Michiganders are coming together out of care for the people and places we love.

That’s something communities have had to do time and again to ensure we can live, work, learn, and pray in healthy spaces. Right now, Michigan Green Muslims and Wisconsin Green Muslims are working to green schoolyards and mosques, replacing pavement with plants that cool and shade gathering spaces while soaking up runoff. Bringing more nature into our cities reduces flooding and pollution, and reconnects us to the Creator.

We’re not the only faith group working to make communities more resilient. A new University of Wisconsin-Madison program called Preparing Religious Environmental Plans brings together religious leaders from all over the world to work on disaster preparedness, greening their places of worship, and addressing communities’ environmental concerns, and they’re visiting the Great Lakes this month to learn from local programs.

This kind of long-term planning is at odds with the headlong rush to hyperscale we’re seeing from tech companies. People who have lived with toxic taps and super storms know that no amount of AI can keep us safe and healthy if we don’t care for the basic foundations of life. 

Those of us who live in the Great Lakes are fortunate to have vast freshwater stores right in our backyards, but that doesn’t mean we can take water for granted. Just ask the hardworking families stretching to pay rising water bills at a time when grocery and gas prices are also sky-high.

Alongside a data center moratorium, Michigan lawmakers are also considering a package of bills that would make water more affordable for ordinary residents. This will help ensure every household has ongoing access to running water for drinking, cleaning, cooking, bathing, and religious and cultural practices. 

Whatever your faith, I hope you will take some time this month to reflect on your relationship to water, and consider how you can step up to care for our shared waters and all the beings that depend on them. 

Planet Detroit’s Voices column includes opinion pieces from our community of partners and readers. These pieces express the voices of the authors and not necessarily those of the publication.

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Huda Alkaff is an ecologist, environmental educator, and the founder and director of Michigan Green Muslims and Wisconsin Green Muslims, connecting faith, environmental justice, sustainability, and healing through education and service.