UBC

---

AI and the Politics of Extraction | Centre for Climate Justice

4,923 views Dec 1, 2025

The rapid expansion of artificial intelligence has brought renewed urgency to questions of climate justice. The massive resource extraction required to build and power data centre infrastructure is having profound impacts on local communities and ecosystems. At the same time, the large-scale monetization of data raises complex political and ethical issues, with far-reaching consequences for democracy, human rights, and the environment. In this public discussion that took place on November 22nd 2025,

Professors Naomi Klein (UBC-V), Stephanie Dick (SFU), Wendy Wong (UBC-O) and Hamish van der Ven (UBC-V) explored questions around the implications of AI for climate justice, the governance of AI and protection of users, and which beneficial models of AI could and should be explored. Moderated by Professor Carol Liao (UBC-V). About the Centre for Climate Justice At the CCJ, we work to understand climate change impacts through the lens of social inequity to facilitate systemic change. Through collaborative, interdisciplinary, and community-engaged work, CCJ generates knowledge that supports transformative action.

Learn more: climatejustice.ubc.ca Further Reading

Empire of AI (by Karen Hao)
Doppelganger (by Naomi Klein)
We, The Data (by Wendy Wong)
AI in the Wild: Sustainability in the Age of Artificial Intelligence (by Peter Dauvergne)
Too Smart: How Digital Capitalism is Extracting Data, Controlling Our Lives, and Taking Over the World (by Jathan Sadowski)
The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech’s Hype and Create the Future We Want (by Emily M. Bender and Alex Hanna)
CBC: AI-related data centres use vast amounts of water. But gauging how much is a murky business: https://www.cbc.ca/news/ai-data-centr...
The Data Fix with Dr. Mél Hogan - Advocates, with Meg Rintoul and Kathryn Barnwell: https://pocketcasts.com/podcast/the-d...

Upcoming Event: Empire of AI: Karen Hao in Conversation with Naomi Klein Get tickets here: https://chancentre.com/events/empire-...

Transcript

Roger D. McConchie is a graduate of the Faculty of Arts of the University of British Columbia (B.A.) (1970) of the Faculty of Law of the University of British Columbia (LL.B.) (1977).

Before establishing McConchie Law Corporation in March, 2004, Roger D. McConchie was a partner in the Vancouver office of a major Canadian law firm for 20 years.

From January 1, 1971 to September, 1974, Roger D. McConchie worked as a diplomat for the Canadian Department of External Affairs in Ottawa, New York (United Nations) and Lima, Peru with accreditation to La Paz, Bolivia.

Roger D. McConchie was called to the Bar of British Columbia in May 1978 and to the Bar of Alberta in June 1989. Although most of his practice is in the courts of British Columbia, his practice has also involved Alberta litigation continuously since his call to the Bar of that Province.He has appeared in the British Columbia Supreme Court, the British Columbia Court of Appeal, the Alberta Court of Queen's Bench, the Federal Court Trial Division, the Federal Court of Appeal, and the Supreme Court of Canada. He has also appeared in the Provincial Court of British Columbia and frequently appears before administrative and quasi-judicial tribunals. He also has considerable experience with mediation and arbitration.

Roger D. McConchie is a member of the International Bar Association and an Associate Member of the American Bar Association.

He served as a charter member of the Advisory Board of the School of Journalism at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. This graduate student institution, which opened in September 1998, draws students from around the world.