By Dewey Turner, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Thanks to a hitch in scheduling, two FXBG Advance writers—Editor Steve Watkins and Environmental Columnist Ranjit Singh—will weigh in on critical environmental and development issues in two separate public events, both at the same time, both promoted by The Advance, two miles apart, on Thursday night: Watkins as one of the speakers at the quarterly research-and-ideas gathering Nerd Nite; Singh as moderator for a No-BS forum on data centers.
The “Data Centers in Our Region” forum will be 6:30-8 Thursday night in the Central Rappahannock Regional Library, at 1201 Caroline Street in Fredericksburg. Speakers will include Tim Cywinski with the Virginia Sierra Club, Elena Schlossberg, director of the Coalition to Protect Prince William County, and a handful of Virginia state legislators, TBA.
It will be the third in a series of data center discussions at the library, this one sponsored by the FXBG Neighborhood Coalition, Rappahannock Group Sierra Club, and the Climate Reality Project.
Nerd Nite, where Watkins will discuss his research and writing on a Lake Anna tributary dubbed “the deadliest river in Virginia,” will also be 6:30-8 Thursday night, August 20—in the Friends of the Rappahannock downstairs classroom at 3219 Fall Hill Avenue.
Other speakers will be environmental scientist Tyler Frankel and UMW student Hannah Reents, who’ll give a talk on “Know Before You Go: Bacteria Monitoring for Safer Recreation in the Rappahannock River,” and longtime Fredericksburg resident and builder Steve Spratt, who’ll hold forth about building treehouses and other adventures growing up on the Rappahannock.
Organized and hosted by Friends of the Rappahannock Education Director Nancy Hahn Stalik, Nerd Nite has been a quarterly event in Fredericksburg for the past several years, recently shifting locations from the Red Dragon Brewery, which has since closed, to the FOR classroom, where drinks are BYOB.
Here’s a video about the origins of Nerd Nite, a national, if not international, event series where speakers give short, informative presentations, usually in bars, on offbeat or intellectual topics—described by some as “The Discovery Channel with beer.”
Watkins’ reporting on Contrary Creek, the toxic Lake Anna Tributary, is scheduled for publication this Sunday, August 23, in The FXBG Advance.
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The announcement for Nerd Nite:
And the data center forum:
Thanks for the coverage of Community Forum #3 DATA CENTERS in OUR REGION. Sponsored by the Fredericksburg Neighborhood Coalition, Rappahannock Sierra Club, and Climate Reality Project. Doors open at 6 PM for 'tabling' by regional activist organizations, the NAACP Environmental Justice Committee, and basic info in DATA CENTERS 101.
BTW Caroline County DATA CENTER will pull its WATER from Lake Anna, as per Zoom call 8-17-26 with Sierra Club Tim Cywinski, one of the speakers at this Thursday's DATA CENTER Forum.