gerrymcgovern

gerrymcgovern, 17 days ago to random

“Of all the metals, the aggregate potential for damage to human and environmental health is the greatest for copper,” a report by The International Institute for Sustainable Development stated. An OECD investigation had similar findings. Copper mining has a long history of “mass destruction” of the environment.

gerrymcgovern, 17 days ago to random

Why do data centers and AI need tax breaks?

"Today, Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp vetoed HB 1192, which would have put a two-year pause on a state tax break for data centers. The bill would have also created a study committee to allow the state to better plan for the influx of data centers and large amounts of power they require. Testimony presented during floor debate showed that the tax break for data centers was only returning 24 cents for every dollar lost."

https://www.sierraclub.org/georgia/blog/2024/05/press-release-response-gov-kemp-s-veto-hb-1192-pause-tax-breaks-data-centers

gerrymcgovern, 17 days ago to random

"As logging and mining threaten the Amazon, Peru's lawmakers are rolling back anti-deforestation laws in defiance of global climate accords."
https://www.context.news/nature/what-does-perus-forest-law-mean-for-the-environment

The frenzy of AI and the Greed Transition is being felt most in the last refuges of Nature, the last refuges of biodiversity. The Global North is now on a righteous march of extinction and genocide, as it self-congratulates itself on its wonderful innovation and progress.

gerrymcgovern, 17 days ago to random

Mining the Grand Canyon

Arizona lawmakers argue that the monument's creation under the Antiquities Act affects revenue and local economies, pushing for uranium mining.

Hopi, Havasupai, and Navajo Nation have intervened in the lawsuit, emphasizing their sovereign interests and ancestral connection to the land.

Conservation groups back the tribes, highlighting the monument's significance for wildlife migration, cultural heritage, and food and medicine resources.

https://www.ehn.org/arizona-tribes-oppose-uranium-mining-in-grand-canyon-area-2668175089.html

gerrymcgovern, 17 days ago to random

"The Yuturi Warmi, an Ecuadorian patrol group, has vowed to protect their community's land in the Amazon Rainforest from the pollution of extractive industries – and their efforts appear to be working. Along the Jatunyacu River, which later joins the Amazon River in the Napo Province, Elsa Cerda, a 43-year-old indigenous Kichwa woman, brews guayusa leaves – a native plant from the rainforest – in a pot."

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20240503-the-indigenous-women-fighting-mining-in-ecuadors-amazon

gerrymcgovern, 17 days ago to random

"Degrowth, on the other hand, must keep an eye on the hands of the clock. For now, it is a collection of untested ideas but it cannot continue to be a cloistered wing of academia. Urgency drives the world view of degrowth. Transcendentalists saw anti-materialism as a necessary tool to achieve personal enlightenment – we now view simple living in the context of climate anxiety. Simple living can no longer be merely a matter of personal choice."

https://www.resilience.org/stories/2024-05-07/is-degrowth-an-academic-field-or-a-mass-movement-taking-degrowth-to-the-people/

gerrymcgovern, 18 days ago to random

Junkyard computing

For specific workloads, clusters of repurposed phones are cheaper and more carbon efficient than traditional servers.

More broadly, scavenging unwanted equipment shows excellent potential for building economic and carbon-efficient
systems, especially when renewable energy is plentiful.

Junkyard Computing: Repurposing Discarded Smartphones to Minimize Carbon, Jennifer Switzer, Gabriel Marcano, Ryan Kastner, Pat Pannuto, ACM, 2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/pdf/10.1145/3575693.3575710

gerrymcgovern, 18 days ago to random

"Google is one of the largest and most profitable multinational corporations in the world. It wants to draw perhaps up to a million gallons of water daily from our city to cool their behemoth complex. I say perhaps because we don’t really know because they haven’t made public their plans. And they want to do this during a historic drought. A drought over three and a half years old which the Department of Natural Resources has labeled the longest in Iowa since the 1950s."
https://www.thegazette.com/letters-to-the-editor/first-google-wanted-a-tax-break-now-they-want-our-water/

gerrymcgovern, 19 days ago to random

E-waste contains over 1,000 different chemical toxicants. You think these chemicals are properly certified, tested and controlled? Think again. “Even in the US, the country that tracks the largest number of pollutant releases, fewer than 1% of all chemicals tested and found toxic are tracked,” scientist Josh Lepawsky told me. In south east Asia, water carries the toxins from the e-waste dumps far and wide. Lead, copper, cadmium, chromium, nickel and manganese seep into the rice crops.

gerrymcgovern, 19 days ago to random

"We’re creating content at a mind-boggling pace and scale: 54,000 photos are taken every second, and this year we’re estimated to create around 120 zettabytes of data. By 2035, data creation is predicted to exceed 2,000 zettabytes. Printing out just one zettabyte would require paper from 20 trillion trees (except we only have 3.5 trillion trees on Earth), or would fill more than 212 billion standard DVDs."

https://thespinoff.co.nz/science/06-05-2024/the-climate-cost-of-your-digital-life

gerrymcgovern, 19 days ago to random

The Paradox of the Nordic "Green" Transition

“The per person emissions in Norway were incredibly high. With this data set we can confirm that from a Norwegian perspective we have a lot of work to do, because we are third in the world when it comes to emissions per person from domestic [flight] emissions.”

https://norwegianscitechnews.com/2024/04/big-data-reveals-true-climate-impact-of-worldwide-air-travel/

Per capita, Norway is 3rd worst in world for domestic flight pollution. It is 1st worst in world for e-waste. Norway has also voted to mine and destroy the deep seas.

gerrymcgovern, 19 days ago to random

"Nearly half, 49.6 per cent, of all internet traffic came from bots last year, its “Bad Bot Report” indicates. That is up 2 per cent in comparison with last year, and is the highest number ever seen since the report began in 2013. In some countries, the picture is worse. In Ireland, 71 per cent of internet traffic is automated, it said. Some of that rise is the result of the adoption of generative artificial intelligence and large language models."

https://www.independent.co.uk/tech/dead-internet-web-bots-humans-b2530324.html

gerrymcgovern, 19 days ago to random

AI is not your friend

"The chatbot’s description says that it’s “Someone who helps with life difficulties.” Its profile picture is a woman in a blue shirt with a short, blonde bob, perched on the end of a couch with a clipboard clasped in her hands and leaning forward, as if listening intently."

https://www.theverge.com/2024/5/4/24144763/ai-chatbot-friends-character-teens

When you offer up your deepest secrets to AI, the first thing it's thinking is: how do I monetize this?

AI serves the advertiser.

gerrymcgovern, 21 days ago to random

Funny how so many of the countries that are held up as models of innovation and progress in the "Green" Transition to "Clean" Tech, are among the very worst abusers of our environment and its resources.

https://www.overshootday.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/

gerrymcgovern, 21 days ago to random

"Climate change exists because humans as a species prioritize economic growth instead of economic sustainability. Capitalism itself, Saito asserts, is unsustainable. Even though well-meaning liberal politicians like to push for Green New Deals in the hope of continuing non-stop economic growth without the consequent ecological harm, Saito argues capitalist societies need to perpetually consume resources to remain prosperous."

https://www.salon.com/2024/05/03/why-climate-change-action-requires-degrowth-to-make-our-planet-sustainable/

gerrymcgovern, 22 days ago to random

“Generally speaking, I do think these are tools that should do what their users want,” says Sam Altman

Oh, boy, these tech bros are so, so cynical. So utterly cynical. The core purpose of AI is to control people, not to liberate them. The core purpose of AI is advertising and the core purpose of advertising is control.

Political advertising seeks political control over you.

Brand advertising seeks brand control over you.

AI is about removing liberty and choice, so Big Tech gains more power.

gerrymcgovern, 22 days ago to random

"Data centers require pure water, and the moment you use that water, you are competing for it with the farmers, agriculturists and others. So, energy and water, which are related to [sustainability] outcomes, could be impacted. It's not significant right now, but people see that as a likely risk, and therefore the ESG-friendly advocates are recommending that green data centers get built."

https://www.techtarget.com/sustainability/news/366583294/AI-can-be-sustainability-enabler-but-cost-is-steep

gerrymcgovern, 22 days ago to random

" Democratic Republic of Congo is pushing Apple for more information about its supply chain over concerns it may be tainted with conflict minerals sourced from the country, international lawyers engaged by Congo said on Thursday. Congo, particularly its eastern region, has been plagued by violence since the 1990s, killing millions as struggles over national identity, ethnicity, and resources saw neighbouring countries invade and a myriad of armed groups spring up."

https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/dr-congo-presses-apple-over-minerals-supply-chain-lawyers-say-2024-04-25/

gerrymcgovern, 23 days ago to random

The only thing worse than an imperialist and colonizer is a righteous imperialist and colonizer

"No different to the gold rush or iron ore boom of previous eras, the clean energy revolution is riddled with violent injustice and compromise. Rhyming with its historical equivalents, the economics of self-interest culminates with the rights of Indigenous Peoples being bulldozed and our lands being exploited for others’ gain."

https://www.crikey.com.au/2024/05/02/indigenous-peoples-renewable-energy-mining/

gerrymcgovern, 23 days ago to random

"A study I carried out took common Footprint and related figures and derived the conclusion that if the world’s 2050 expected population were to share natural resources equally we would all receive about one-ninth of the per capita amount we in rich countries get now, and if economic growth continues at present rates the fraction would more than halve by 2050."

https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/what-is-to-be-done-thoughts-on-degrowth-strategy/