Is Your Desert a Target ?

The Fight Against Data Center Development in Imperial County

In Imperial County, California, a battle is brewing that has implications for deserts everywhere. What happens when Big Tech's hunger for artificial intelligence collides with one of the most fragile ecosystems on Earth?

The proposed AI data center would be the largest of its kind in California. But this isn't just about technology—it's about water rights, electricity grids, noise pollution, and broken promises. It's about who gets to decide the future of our shared landscapes.

Host Chris Clarke sits down with Gilberto Manzanarez of Valle Imperial Resiste, the grassroots organization leading the charge. Local residents aren't just concerned—they're mobilized, organized, and fighting back against powerful interests that see the desert as empty space waiting to be filled.

This episode reveals the anatomy of grassroots advocacy: how ordinary people confront extraordinary power, how environmental justice becomes local action, and why the desert's silence is actually a chorus worth protecting.

More Essential Desert Stories

Desert Defense in a World of Lies Listen Now

Building a Cross-Desert Movement Listen Now

California's Fallout Legacy Listen Now

Your Deserts. Your Voice.

What's happening in Imperial County could happen anywhere. Speculative development doesn't respect boundaries—it only respects resistance. Join Chris Clarke as he documents the frontlines of desert protection.

90 Miles from Needles

The Desert Protection Podcast

Because the desert isn't empty.
It's full of life worth fighting for.