It's a crime that 93-year-old American hero Willie Nelson should even have to consider what the term "data center" means. But Austin, the city that Nelson has called home since 1972, is now a hub of tech-mogul idiocy. Someone is also apparently planning to build a data center near Abbott, the tiny Texas town where Nelson grew up. So now, Nelson has joined the growing choir of voices who take exception to these monstrosities that, in Nelson's own words, "only destroy the environment around them."
In a statement posted on social media yesterday, Willie Nelson wrote:
I grew up in Abbott, and I still have a home there with farmed land where I can still see stars at night. And now our community, like many others, needs to fight against data centers invading our land. The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter). The strength of rural America has never come from big industrial footprints. It comes from generations of people, open spaces, local businesses, and a connection to the land. All of America deserves thoughtful stewardship that doesn't steal farmland (where our essential shared-food is grown) and small family farmers' livelihoods, and not data centers that only destroy the environment around them. Whoever controls food and water, controls the masses. Let's not allow our own demise or give up control over necessary resources in the U.S. and especially in Abbott.
Earlier this year, Willie Nelson released Dream Chaser, his 156th album, and he's currently once again headlining his own Outlaw Music Festival tour, which resumes 8/18 with a stop in Maryland Heights, Missouri. This fall, he'll publish My Last Leaf, a book of reflections.
