"AI is taking people's drinking water: New data centers are springing up every week. Can the Earth sustain them? Karen Hao, The Atlantic, March 1, 2024.
anyone who boosts AI has to explain to me why this is worth it
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— Salomé Viljoen (@salome.bsky.social) October 30, 2025 at 8:31 PM
AI could pose ‘extinction-level’ threat to humans and the US must intervene, State Dept.-commissioned report warns, Matt Egan, CNN, March 12, 2024
Why would you walk through this portal? (I'm referring to the ridiculous ad below.) AI's enormous carbon footprint is making coral go extinct. If that happens, the only coral you'll ever see will be AI-generated. Just don't use Gen AI! Just don't.
Screenshot of an ad shown to me, 6 Oct 2024
Cost-benefit study confirms coral reef restoration could be a cost-effective way to save lives and money
Source(s): United States Geological Survey. 16 January 2025
Author(s): Curt Storlazzi
Coral bleaching on Australia’s Great Barrier Reef reaches ‘catastrophic’ levels, study finds, Helen Regan, CNN, January 23, 2025
The state of the world’s coral reefs has tumbled to an alarming new low, Associated Press, CNN, April 23, 2025
This ancient Australian reef is sending a silent distress call, Story by Hilary Whiteman, CNN, Photographs and video by Nush Freedman for CNN, May 4, 2025
However:
"Enric Sala, founder of National Geographic’s Pristine Seas program and scientific advisor to the film, has seen the ocean’s remarkable recovery firsthand, diving in the Southern Line Islands, where half of the corals died after marine heat waves a decade ago. “After four years, they had fully recovered, because the fish were there and the fish helped to clean the reef so the corals could come back,” he tells CNN." (May 8, 2025)
An explosion of sea urchins threatens to push coral reefs in Hawaii ‘past the point of recovery’. Isabelle Rodney, CNN, June 21, 2025
‘Super corals’ and supplements: Inside the lab trying to save the Great Barrier Reef, Alkira Reinfrank and Nell Lewis, CNN, June 25, 2025
Australia’s Great Barrier Reef devastated by worst coral bleaching on record, new report finds, Jessie Yeung, CNN, August 6, 2025
The planet has entered a ‘new reality’ as it hits its first climate tipping point, landmark report finds, Laura Paddison, CNN, October 13, 2025
The Data Center Resistance Has Arrived:
A new report finds that local opposition to data centers skyrocketed in the second quarter of this year. Molly Taft, WIRED, Nov 14, 2025
Iceland has designated the potential collapse of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) a national security concern and an existential threat.
Yet still fossil fuel usage continues to grow, and they barely agreed to *name* the problem at #COP30.
www.reuters.com/sustainabili...
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— Eoghan Daltun 🌍 (@irishrainforest.bsky.social) November 25, 2025 at 11:56 AM
See the whole thread:
Last night, after an hours-long public hearing, Monterey Park became the first city in California to pass an ordinance permanently banning data centers.
The city council voted unanimously to declare data centers a public nuisance, and to "prohibit all data centers within city limits."
My story:
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— Brian Merchant (@bcmerchant.bsky.social) April 21, 2026 at 11:07 AM
‘Time for Half Measures Is Over’: Study Warns of Terrifying Atlantic Ocean Current Collapse
“We must avoid this collapse at all costs,” said a leading current researcher, who warned that “the stability of the entire planet” is at stake. Stephen Prager, Common Dreams, Apr 16, 2026
"Some scientists warn the AMOC is heading toward a tipping point, potentially as early at this century, which would mean a future collapse is locked in."
A mysterious ‘cold blob’ in the ocean has puzzled scientists. A new study says it’s an ominous sign, Laura Paddison, CNN, June 12, 2026
After a reader asked: "Are the environmental fights around water usage a distraction from the real evil of AI and the destruction of knowledge that we are witnessing?" Sarah Kendzior replied: "They are not a distraction. AI data centers present an interrelated threat of stolen knowledge, state surveillance, and environmental devastation. They are ruining life on multiple levels at once, and all facets should be addressed." — Sarah Kendzior, Weaving and Grieving: Your questions answered on the midterms, fiber arts, 9/11, comedy, martial law, and more! Jun 1, 2026
NEW: Did a Meta data center project taint key water supplies in the capital city of Wyoming?
City officials say yes, Meta isn’t exactly denying it, and some residents are concerned a cover-up is afoot.
One of the wildest stories I’ve reported for @heatmap.news hands down.
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— jae holzman (@jael.bsky.social) July 9, 2026 at 3:27 PM
Disney Cutting Several Hundred Jobs; Pixar And National Geographic Among Most Affected Divisions, Dade Hayes, Deadline, July 21, 2026
September 16, 2026: A coral reef in French Polynesia (CNN video)
