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Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Water, Water Everywhere | Sustainable Content #32

Published about 1 month ago • 2 min read

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Calculating water consumption

I'm writing this early because I'm speaking at the Green IO conference this week. I'm a sucker for a sustainability conference, doubly so for one in New York City. I'll keep this brief, as there's a lot going on with life, travel, and... you know... everything else.

Last week, I was introduced to the work of Masheika Allgood. She's developed a calculator to identify how much water is being consumed by hyperscale data centers.

The existence of this calculator left me a little giddy. You know how much I love clarifying complex ideas, and she's done just that. This is an amazing way to simplify the incredibly complex assessment of tech's water use. I am absolutely delighted to know of its existence.

"Water is a municipal concern," she says. "It’s managed at the local level by cities, counties, and special water districts. But I have yet to meet a local official who had any understanding of how much water the data center they approved would require to operate, or how much it would ultimately consume."

Think about that for a moment. I just spent a few years living in Phoenix where new data centers are popping up all the time. It's the second-largest data center market in the country.

Phoenix is not known to be an area with water to spare, yet municipal governments continue to approve data centers. Does anyone understand how this going to affect these already water-stressed communities? My fear is that they won't understand until it's much too late.

I definitely recommend checking out her work.

"But even the most carefully crafted message comes up against our own selfish interests. It’s like the Stanford marshmallow experiment played out on a large scale. Humans are not good at delayed gratification. We may know that it takes 713 gallons (2,700 liters) of water to make a single T-shirt, the equivalent of 900 days of drinking water. But do we think about that at the point of sale? Does it factor into our decision-making that we’re choosing between drinkable water in 20 years or getting that cheap T-shirt with a pithy comment about wine today?"

 

Alisa Bonsignore
​Sustainable Content: How to Measure and Mitigate the Carbon Footprint of Digital Data ​
​Now available​

What I've been reading

Being near the California coast, there's a lot of awareness of the long-haul journeys of our marine mammals. The humpback whale, for example, journeys thousands of miles from Alaska to Mexico each year. Scientists at the University of Queensland in Australia have been tracking migrations of multiple animals in a single online tool.

​Impact still means more than output in communications. "More content doesn’t always mean more influence. The allure of AI-powered content generation is real, but it brings a growing risk of focusing on what’s easy to produce rather than what drives meaningful change."

Shameless and unsolicited cross-promotion of good stuff!

I've recently been introduced to the work of the Climate Mental Health Network. They have excellent resources for anyone struggling with the complicated grief and sorrow that a lot of us are experiencing.

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Help me spread the word about Sustainable Content

If you feel so inclined, would you be willing to recommend Sustainable Content to a colleague? Given the circumstances in the U.S., the momentum is slowing and difficult to regain. I remain only one person, and it's difficult to be everywhere I need to be — conferences, workshops, clients — to spread the message broadly. It would be extremely helpful if I could get the word out about the impact of digital content; the fact that it's measurable; and the knowledge that we can mitigate it. Thank you!

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Alisa Bonsignore

Founder, Strategist, and Author

Clarifying Complex Ideas, LLC

Talking about sustainable content: how to measure and mitigate the carbon footprint of digital data.

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