fromNonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
3 weeks agoA Canary in a Coal Mine: Amazon's Luzerne County Data Center | Nonprofit Quarterly | Civic News. Empowering Nonprofits. Advancing Justice.
For nearly a century, miners used canaries, small yellow-greenish songbirds known for their high metabolisms and rapid breathing, to detect toxic gases in the mines. When a canary showed signs of distress, it gave miners enough time to evacuate before succumbing to carbon monoxide poisoning. The songbirds were replaced by electronic gas detectors more than 40 years ago, but the saying "canary in a coal mine" is still a common metaphor for potential danger.