@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green
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gerrymcgovern

@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green

Author of World Wide Waste. Developer of Top Tasks. Focused on reducing data waste and e-waste.

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gerrymcgovern, to random
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Why has water become such an issue for AI and data centers?

Because for years, Big Tech boosted energy efficiency and reduced CO2 by using more and more water.

It also "reduced" CO2 by causing a massive increases in e-waste.

There is the huge danger in focusing only on CO2. To reduce CO2, we often degrade other life systems such as water, soil, biodiversity.

CO2 is increasingly being used for greenwashing.

We must measure the total cost to the environment, not just part of the cost.

gerrymcgovern,
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There is an “atmosphere of secrecy that has been around water use in the industry.”
https://www.marketplace.org/shows/marketplace-tech/the-clouds-heavy-toll-on-natural-resources/

“I never thought it could be worse transparency than on the energy side, but we actually know less.”
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/data-center-water-usage-remains-hidden/

“We have been really bad at reporting data centres accurately, largely because the data centres refuse to be transparent.”
Philip Boucher-Hayes, RTE

gerrymcgovern,
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“We don’t know how much water data centers use. We just know it’s a lot.”
https://www.datacenterdynamics.com/en/analysis/data-center-water-usage-remains-hidden/

“Water consumption in data centers is super embarrassing. It just doesn’t feel responsible.”
https://watercalculator.org/footprint/data-centers-water-use/

When it comes to water use, "the reason there's not a lot of transparency, simply put, I think most companies don't have a good story here.”
https://www.npr.org/2022/08/30/1119938708/data-centers-backbone-of-the-digital-economy-face-water-scarcity-and-climate-ris

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"Training GPT-3 at Microsoft’s state-of-the-art US data centres would consume 700,000 litres of clear freshwater. This is due to sheer scale of an operation that Microsoft has revealed contains supercomputers with 10,000 graphics cards and more than 285,000 processor cores. That’s a conservative estimate, because training could also be done at the company’s less efficient Asian data centres. If that’s the case, water consumption could be tripled to 4.9 million litres."
https://ca.style.yahoo.com/news/ai-chatbots-guzzle-enormous-amounts-104503976.html

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"Degrowth implies a planned contraction of energy and resource demands as a path towards social justice and ecological sustainability. There is a growing literature on the theoretical aspects of degrowth, however, this chapter uses the rise of tool libraries as part of the degrowth movement to shed light on pathways challenging the alienated and fetishised social relations that lie at the heart of the social and ecological degradation of the Capitalocene."

https://www.degruyter.com/document/doi/10.1515/9783110778359-012/html

gerrymcgovern, to random
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“They almost annihilated us, and that genocide continues. To destroy the environment you have to destroy the people who protect it.”
Juan Benito Mancias, Indigenous Texan

All over the world, right this very moment, industrial civilization is coming for the last of the Indigenous. They are seeking to finish the job their colonial ancestors started, often under the banner of the Green Transition, of clean, green and renewable energy. It is a twin attack.

gerrymcgovern,
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The oil and gas drilling is continuing, and the “green” mining is exploding. The only thing worse than a greedy coloniser and greedy imperialist, is a righteous greedy colonizer and imperialist. One who, as he destroys the remains of what is truly, honestly green, clean and renewable on this beautiful Earth, can laugh and sneer that he is doing it for 2-ton EV SUVs, scooters, vapes and earbuds. Will you be a witness for the last of the Indigenous? Will you be a witness for the last of Nature?

gerrymcgovern,
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Copper is critical for the “Green” Transition

“The mine will use about 250 billion gallons of water over 40 years to process ore in an already drought-stricken area. It will also use the water to help store toxic tailings in ponds that will stretch for miles.”
https://ricochet.media/indigenous/brandi-morin-the-apache-stronghold-standing-in-the-way-of-a-massive-copper-mine/

dimillian, to random
@dimillian@mastodon.social avatar

So? Breathing is consuming a lot of air. Slow down breathing please.

From: @gerrymcgovern
https://mastodon.green/@gerrymcgovern/112433747877755267

gerrymcgovern,
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@dimillian
Are you saying AI is as important as breathing.

What about when it becomes a choice to give a poor person water or give the data water, who should get the water? Right now, these choices are happening, and data centers and AI are getting water first.

This ChatGPT-type AI is a giant scam. It comes from the same cultural mindset that gave us bitcoin. It's pure grifting. Can't even tell the truth if it tried. It's DNA is white supremacy. The only killer app it has is advertising.

gerrymcgovern, to random
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Since 1970, humans have pumped so much groundwater, we’ve altered the Earth’s tilt. “It is, in a way, mind boggling,” the researchers who discovered the tilt, stated. Humans are causing so much polar ice to melt that we are changing time. We are slowing the Earth’s rotation and may have to subtract a leap second very soon.

https://www.science.org/content/article/humanity-s-groundwater-pumping-has-altered-earth-s-tilt

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/global-warming-is-slowing-the-earths-rotation/

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"ChatGPT consumes a lot of energy in the process, up to 25 times more than a Google search. Additionally, a lot of water is also used in cooling for the servers that run all that software. Per conversation of about 20 to 50 queries, half a litre of water evaporates – a small bottle, in other words."

AI is predicted to consume twice as much energy as the whole of France by 2030

Training GPT3, took 1,287 MWh (Megawatt hours) of electricity.

https://www.brusselstimes.com/world-all-news/1042696/chatgpt-consumes-25-times-more-energy-than-google

gerrymcgovern,
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@Chee_Koala
We are in the beginning of a global environmental collapse driven by the massive overconsumption of energy and materials causing the degradation of water, soil, air, biodiversity, and along comes AI with massive new energy and material demands. That's the so what. We're devouring our environment. To have any hope of avoiding catastrophic environmental collapse, we must massively reduce our energy and materials consumption. We must prioritize things that are truly useful.

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"The British Crown and other colonial states relied on racist concepts like the Doctrine of Discovery and Terra Nullius, known as the unowned lands doctrine, to seize Indigenous lands and ignore or subvert the laws and institutions through which Indigenous Peoples had successfully managed these territories. The consequence has been cultural loss, alienation, impoverishment, conflict and environmental degradation."

https://theconversation.com/historic-haida-nation-agreement-shows-the-world-how-to-uphold-indigenous-rights-229447

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"Apache Stronghold, representing the San Carlos Apache tribe, appeals to the U.S. appeals court, seeking to reverse a decision granting land to Rio Tinto and BHP for a copper mine in Arizona.
The mine’s proposed location holds immense cultural and spiritual importance for Indigenous communities, hosting sacred ceremonies for generations."

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/native-american-group-fights-land-grant-for-arizona-copper-mine/ar-BB1lID0e?ocid=hpmsn

gerrymcgovern, to random
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Everything digital is harder to repair

"Few mechanics are properly equipped to deal with all-electric vehicle issues. Unless properly trained, they are limited to what service manuals say. In many cases, shops refuse to work on EVs that have tricky problems because they don't want to risk making things worse for everyone involved. Modern cars are more approachable, but, as a collector warns, repairing some of them can turn into a hopeless endeavor."

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/not-just-evs-repairing-conventional-cars-is-already-a-major-headache-233738.html

gerrymcgovern, to random
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Data centers to run out of power in two years, says DigitalBridge CEO

'We're kind of running out of power in the next 18 to 24 months,' warned Marc Ganzi of DigitalBridge. How data center operators might address this power shortage remains unclear.

https://www.lightreading.com/ai-machine-learning/data-centers-to-run-out-of-power-in-two-years-says-digitalbridge-ceo

The voracious greed for growth at any and all costs by Big Tech is pushing our environment even faster towards collapse. Politicians are cheer-leading all this. It's so shameful. The very worst of ancestors.

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"By now it’s been made fairly clear that the bedazzling wonderment that is “AI” doesn’t come cheap. Story after story have highlighted how the technology consumes massive amounts of electricity and water, and we’re not really adapting to keep pace. This is also occurring alongside a destabilizing climate crisis that’s already putting a capacity and financial strain on aging electrical infrastructure."

https://www.techdirt.com/2024/05/10/ceo-ai-power-drain-could-cause-data-centers-to-run-out-of-power-within-two-years/

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"The facilities also require huge amounts of land, water and energy — up to 50 times more per square foot than the average office building — while providing few direct, permanent jobs. Critics argue the bills fall short of ensuring data centers don’t overuse Michigan’s water and compromise its clean energy goals."

https://www.bridgemi.com/michigan-environment-watch/would-tax-break-mi-data-centers-bring-economic-boon-or-climate-doom

gerrymcgovern, to random
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Data centers in Northern Virginia are using “absurd amounts of water”

“The region is the world’s largest data center hub, with over 300 facilities processing almost 70 percent of global digital information, each using as much as 5 million gallons of water per day. And because cooling methods often rely on evaporation, the water does not go back into wastewater systems. “Data centers rank among the top 10 water-consuming industries in the United States”

https://www.planetizen.com/news/2024/05/128903-virginia-data-centers-draining-states-water-supply

gerrymcgovern, to random
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Tech innovation in an era of environmental collapse: AI, bitcoin, vapes, earbuds

"Vapes electronic waste yet these manufactured electronics with rechargeable batteries are produced and shipped around the world. They are utilized and designed to be thrown out after use. Disposable vapes are single-use products powered by the same rechargeable lithium-ion batteries used in electric cars and iPhones."

https://patch.com/new-york/glencove/vape-waste-detrimental-environment

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"New figures reveal there have been over 1,200 battery fires in bin lorries and at waste sites in the UK over the past 12 months. The failure to responsibly dispose of waste electrical products is contributing to a huge increase in the number of battery fires in bin lorries and at waste management sites."

https://www.businessgreen.com/news/4206656/vapes-waste-blamed-surge-battery-fires-waste-sites

gerrymcgovern, to random
@gerrymcgovern@mastodon.green avatar

The AI Revolution Is Crushing Thousands of Languages

More than half of all websites are in English, yet more than 80 percent of people in the world don’t speak the language.

https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2024/04/generative-ai-low-resource-languages/678042/

gerrymcgovern, to random
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It takes lots of coal and charcoal to make silicon

For every 50,000 tons of silicon, there’s 500,000 tons of CO2 produced. If used in a solar panel, the silicon should produce four times as much energy as it took to make it.

“It’s Like Working In A Volcano”: How Silicon Is Made | Extreme Jobs, ABC Australia,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5eVsQSn_EWc

Silicon is not green and certainly not clean. Nor is it renewable. We must use it wisely.

gerrymcgovern, to random
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"It’s 2024 and I’m suspicious of “solutions”. Solutions to what? Excess greenhouse gases in the atmosphere that have already seen us breach the 1.5 degree limit set by the Paris Agreement? Ocean acidification that’s bleaching corals en masse? The rampant deforestation and habitat destruction that’s seen half of the world’s wilderness turned into farmland? How about the economic system with its limited prescription of value that converts what is priceless into profit?"

https://www.planetcritical.com/p/dont-talk-to-me-about-solutions

gerrymcgovern, to random
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Canadian Mining Company to Explore in the Ecuadorian Amazon

The mining project is not supported by Indigenous peoples because it will have negative consequences on the Amazon ecosystems.

https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Canadian-Mining-Company-to-Explore-in-the-Ecuadorian-Amazon-20240508-0009.html

How did we destroy our environment?
Through mining.

How are we going to save our environment?
Through mining!

Ok, Growth Death Culter.

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