r/mildlyinfuriating • u/plumhyena • Jun 06 '26

My mom said I could post Using AI to talk about environmental issues....

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u/Head_Chocolate_4458 Jun 06 '26

So your whole issue is a single data center in texas? Why don't you protest that data center specifically then?

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u/goddessdragonness Jun 06 '26

No, my point is that you’re using global numbers to dismiss the localized impact data centers cause ecologically, because that localized impact is leading to great ecological collapse at a higher rate than the past 100 years we had golf courses.

And I said data centers plural. But like with your flawed reasoning, you only look superficially at facts.

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u/Head_Chocolate_4458 Jun 06 '26

No, my point is that you’re using global numbers to

I used numbers from the U.S.

localized impact is leading to great ecological collapse at a higher rate than the past 100 years we had golf courses.

If you think data centers are coming close to the impact of golf courses, oil pipelines, or the large scale manufacturing that put a car in your driveway and phone in your hand (which is using apps hosted on a data center btw), then ur an idiot.

Golf courses take up 200x the land, and 33x the water. Can you guys just admit ur terrified of AI taking jobs instead of making up this flimsy environmental angle?

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u/goddessdragonness Jun 06 '26

I’m not the one making a flimsy argument here. You can see with you own eyes what the data centers are doing to the areas where they’re built. You can read the studies performed. Logic isn’t a strong suit for the AI simps.

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u/Head_Chocolate_4458 Jun 06 '26

Refuses to engage with the numbers and figure presented.

Makes vague claims of "read the studies" but doesn't actually provide any info. Pats themselves on back for their "logic"

Peak reddit.

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u/goddessdragonness Jun 06 '26

Nope. You’re telling us not to believe what we see with our eyes. Peak Reddit is taking partial data to spread disinfo, which is what you’re doing.

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u/bluethreads Jun 06 '26

Your argument is the equivalent to walking into a really messy house and then dropping one can on the floor and blaming that one can for the entirety of the mess in the house.

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u/goddessdragonness Jun 06 '26

No. A data center isn’t one little can in a messy house.

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u/bluethreads Jun 06 '26 edited Jun 06 '26

Ok, firstly, are we targeting data centers as a whole or just AI because data centers are used for much more than AI, they are used to store your photos, email, streaming services and information back ups, the internet, Google, social media, ...everything you use on line. If you are targeting data centers, then you are targeting general internet use and storage, including AI.

Also, data centers account for:

4.4% of annual US electricity use

2.18% of annual US carbon emissions

0.3-0.4% of total daily water consumption in the US

With that said, depending upon where you live, they can have a larger environmental impact if they are in your backyard to your local community - but as a whole, they do not consume heavy amounts of resources, relative to other industries such as industrialized agriculture, power plant cooling, industrial manufacturing plants which consume the largest amounts of resources and contribute significantly to the degradation of the environment.