Note: This week's newsletter was headed down a very specific path, but it became clear as the week progressed that this subject line fits two topics. Here we go.

First, we're going to talk about sacrifice zones.

Sacrifice zones are a casual way of saying hey, we're willing to sacrifice the environment (and the living things within that environment).

The origin of the term comes from Cold War nuclear testing leaving areas radioactive and uninhabitable. But that concept is now extended to areas where communities are exposed to extreme levels of pollution and contamination from factories or mining or heavy industry. And as you might imagine, these areas tend to have lower incomes. They are areas that have been on the receiving end of colonialism, or racist policies like redlining.

But now we can add data centers to that list. And this, for me, is something that's kind of fascinating. Data centers aren't popping up in the inner cities. They're near neighborhoods with single-family homes, manicured yards, and two-car garages. This is affecting white people. And these are people who aren't used to being sacrificed.

Suddenly, these "safe" neighborhoods have undrinkable water. They have noise issues. And now there's increasing research into how it's affecting temperatures and creating unbearable heat islands. Studies are estimating an increase of about 2 degrees C in the area around a new around-the-clock AI data center. In places like the greater Phoenix, Arizona area, they can't afford for temperatures to get any hotter. These are areas where household air conditioning is literally a life-or-death situation. An extended power failure in the Arizona desert would send half of Phoenix to the emergency room.

And now we'll talk about making sacrifices.

At this point, I think we're all aware of the unfolding energy crisis, the likes of which we have never seen before (the 1970s oil embargo affected about 5%-7% of a much smaller overall supply; this is on pace to cut supply by 20%). The EU is asking residents to cut back on usage and travel to reduce energy demand.

So we, the individuals, will have to make sacrifices.

You know who won't be asked to sacrifice anything? Tech companies and their data centers.

Energy-intensive AI has been baked into everything from our work apps to our emails to our shopping sites and even our appliances. (And yes, our war machines and our surveillance states.)

The tech giants are going to continue to lobby to get the increasing amounts of energy that they need to function. We're going to be asked to make sacrifices in our comfort, in our commutes, in the increased prices that we'll pay due to skyrocketing supply chain and logistics costs... but of course no one will mention backing off on the use of ChatGPT et al.

As we rapidly head into this downward spiral, what are we willing to sacrifice?

My reading hasn't been filled with optimism lately.

​The ecological cost of AI is much higher than you think. A Taiwanese semiconductor manufacturer "is expected to churn through 100,000 metric tons of water a day to produce the state-of-the-art semiconductors needed for the functioning of burgeoning artificial intelligence data centers worldwide.... One hundred thousand metric tons of water is equivalent to about 7% of the municipal demand from Taichung’s 2.8 million residents."

​Why is higher education rushing to adopt AI? "[Donors], aided by university administrators and regents, circumvent faculty governance in order to treat universities like incubators or, worse, as click-farms to inflate the user data seemingly keeping the AI investment machine humming." I remain grateful that my kid attends a school with an honor code; most of the students view these tools as having a fundamental conflict with the principles of the honor code.

​More people in poor countries will die because of climate change. "Climate change is projected to increase these premature deaths and that more than 90 percent of them are slated to occur in low- and middle-income countries."

A colleague from the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) sustainability group recapped an event about AI and sustainability reporting on his blog. "[It's] problematic that AI is pretty much entirely supply driven, rather than driven by demand to solve problems. Copilot, for example, is introduced absolutely everywhere and it's like we're waiting for someone to raise their hand to find reasons to use it… that's terrible from a sustainability perspective."

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Consulting

​Reduce your Scope 3 emissions​

Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author