Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.startmag.it

English translation of linked article: >**STARTMAG » Energy and Environment » How much water the data centers of Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft consume** *How much water the data centers of Amazon, Google, Meta and Microsoft consume: While data centers have been audited about their electricity usage, little is known about their water usage. But that could change soon. All the details.* 19 August 2023 07:53 > >We tend to think of the Internet as an immaterial object, but websites exist in the real world in the form of rows of servers that never shut down, filling data centers that need to be cooled down to prevent technical failures. Operators such as Amazon, Google , Meta and Microsoft use a variety of systems to do this: the most energy efficient ones – such as cooling towers – typically evaporate water to cool the air circulating in buildings. > >**DATA CENTERS AND DROUGHT** > >With drought spreading across the globe, battles are emerging between data center operators and adjacent communities over local water supplies in places like Chile, Uruguay and parts of the US Southwest. In the north of Holland, public outrage erupted last year when a local news agency reported that a Microsoft data center complex was consuming more than 4 times the amount of water the company had previously disclosed. > >Some of northern Europe's colder and wetter hubs, such as Ireland and the Netherlands, have stalled development of new centers due to concerns over energy use, leading companies to look further afield. Operators of hyperscale data centers – those with more than 5,000 servers – are migrating to places where water is abundant, such as Norway, but also to drought-prone places, such as Italy and Spain, where energy is more affordable (and where extreme heat is becoming the norm). > >**HOW MUCH WATER DO DATA CENTERS CONSUME?** > >While data centers have undergone scrutiny about their electricity usage, little is known about their water usage, even from the tech companies themselves. A survey conducted last year by the consultancy Uptime Institute found that just 39% of data centers also tracked their water usage, a 12% drop from 2021. Tech companies have in the past refused to disclose information on the energy and water consumption of individual centres, arguing that those data are a trade secret. > >Over the past two years, Google, Meta, and Microsoft have begun publishing their total water usage across their operations, but they don't break down the number by business unit, or use standardized metrics. Bluefield Research has estimated that data centers use over a billion gallons of water per day, including water used for power generation. > >**WHAT THE EUROPEAN UNION WILL DO** > >Governments are starting to ask for more information. From March 2024, the European Commission will require operators to disclose wide-ranging data on their energy and water consumption to the public. In the UK, utility Thames Water is studying how much water data centers use in London and, depending on the results, may adjust its pricing model for water-intensive activities. > >“Identifying which water-intensive customers the data centers are hasn't been easy,” said John Hernon, who is leading the investigation. Operators often use shell companies to apply for planning permits, and from the outside a data center can look like any department store or factory. > >**CALCULATION POWER AND WATER CONSUMPTION** > >Arman Shehabi, a researcher at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in California, best known for a landmark paper on energy use in data centers, thinks data centers could be contributing to water shortages as droughts get longer and deeper. intense. Part of the problem, he explained, is that data center operators "usually ask last at the table," straining the system by demanding access to scarce water, after agricultural interests and local communities they have already worked out a plan. “Everyone will experience it,” he added. > >Companies say data centers are becoming more energy efficient, but the increase in overall demand for computing power is outpacing those gains. The rush to build large language models used in generative AI has created an increased demand for more powerful processors. The specialized chips required for artificial intelligence, known as accelerators, emit so much more heat than generic chips that "data center operators are having to completely rethink their cooling systems," commented Colm Shorten, data sustainability expert center at real estate investment firm JLL. > >Shaolei Ren, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of California Riverside, conducted research estimating that training GPT-3 in Microsoft's US data centers directly consumed 700,000 liters of water in about a month, not including the indirect use of water associated with electricity generation. The team also calculated that each short conversation of 20 to 50 questions and answers with ChatGPT consumes approximately 500 milliliters of water. > >**WHAT THE COMPANIES WILL DO** > >“Microsoft is investing in research to make large systems more sustainable and efficient, both in training and in application,” a company spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Climate change is a real and urgent challenge, with an increasingly serious impact on our businesses, our communities and the ecosystems that support them”. OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment. > >Shorten said that over time data centers will need to fundamentally change the way they dissipate heat. “The gold standard is a process called immersive cooling, where servers are immersed in a special fluid that transfers heat from the chips,” she explained. For now, operators are likely to opt for a hybrid model, where a high-performance section of the data center will be liquid-cooled, while the rest will continue to use air conditioning." > >Amazon Web Services, Google, and Microsoft have all made water stewardship commitments, promising to use more unpotable and recycled water and replenish more water than they consume operationally by 2030. That's the equivalent of carbon offsetting planting trees, something that looks good on paper, but may not directly benefit communities affected by data centers, because water can only be replenished in places where it's easy to do so. See also: [Google's Water Use Is Soaring. AI Is Only Going To Make It Worse.](https://www.businessinsider.com/google-water-use-soaring-ai-make-it-worse-data-centers-2023-7) So how much water *do* these data centers use? The short answer is that not even the owners know, but estimates put it in the area of billions of gallons per day. Meanwhile [Google is planning to open a data center in Uruguay](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jul/11/uruguay-drought-water-google-data-center), a country [currently undergoing an historic drought](https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/10/climate/uruguay-wasnt-supposed-to-run-out-of-water.html).

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.abc.net.au

[Archived version](https://web.archive.org/web/20230822221343/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-21/ocean-tempertature-records-2023/102701172) Like many others I have been keeping a close eye on the graphs at climatereanalyzer.org for awhile, and let me tell you they are TERRIFYING right now. The 'anaesthetics' mentioned in the title refers to things like the ENSO, carbon captured by the ocean, and ice and aerosol albedo, whose roles the last few years have helped mask the true effects of global warming. That's changing this year. From the article: >The last El Niño event was in 2015 to 2016, which also happened to be the warmest year on record for global average surface temperatures on land and sea. But Dr Cai said the Earth this year was “eight years of background warming” worse off than in 2016. >The bright, smooth surface of the ice reflects a lot of sunlight back into space, meaning its heat is not absorbed into the ocean. Antarctic sea ice extent this year has fallen to record lows and is struggling to recover substantially during the winter months like normal. >Aerosols act like a “shade” to incoming sunlight, reflecting it back into space. “We’ve been reducing emissions, which is good for air quality, but it means now the carbon dioxide signal can punch through,” Professor Collins said. >Dr Bracco said this year’s record was indicative of a level of background global warming that could not be undone for hundreds of years, and urgent action was needed to stop it getting worse.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 98%

Source: https://digital.mdl.nws.noaa.gov/?zoom=4&lat=37&lon=-96.5&layers=F000BTTTFTT®ion=0&element=8&mxmz=false&barbs=false&subl=TFFFFF&units=english&wunits=nautical&coords=latlon&tunits=localt If you live in any of these areas, stay safe and healthy and remember to look out for your friends and neighbours who might be vulnerable. edit: thanks for the correction Deme. edit2: the temperatures were in Fahrenheit, I guess I switched to Celcius and took the screenshot before the change had loaded. The website seems to reeeeeally struggle with switching units, so I'm going to leave it in (properly marked) Fahrenheit. I don't know, I thought the National Weather Service was going straight to the source, but their website is really shit.

Memes 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 97%

I have "elon musk shirtless" on my search history now, hope you're happy.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.beehive.govt.nz

New Zealand has provided a new system of "biodiversity credits" in an effort to help support the native ecosystem. In theory, the project will fund conservation projects and programs to save threatened species, by selling these credits to inidividuals, business owners and landowners. Associate Minister for the Environment James Shaw says the following: >“Sixty three percent of our native ecosystems are now threatened, and a third of our native species are threatened or at risk of extinction. It’s time we find new ways to incentivise conservation, protect our precious wildlife, and provide clearer guidance on how to identify, manage and protect biodiversity.” “Landowners, land managers, farmers, and Maōri should be looking at their wild spaces as a taonga, but also as a valuable source of supplementary income. This can then be used to support on-the-ground conservation, like reforestation, wetland restoration, or planting native vegetation." >In a further win for nature, clearer direction on how to identify, manage and protect areas of significant biodiversity will be phased in over several years, from 4 August. All we can do is die trying.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

phys.org

All over the world, insect populations are declining. The impacts of climate change, combined with chemical pesticide use, habitat destruction, and lack of food source diversity are only some of the issues that insect species are struggling to adapt to. There was the [infamous study from Germany in 2017](https://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/19/europe/insect-decline-germany/index.html) which found that insect populations had apparently declined by 75% in 30 years, and the article in this post estimates that bee and hoverfly species in the UK have dropped by 25% compared to the 1980s. But data is scarce even in wealthy countries, and historical data in developing nations is all but nonexistent. That means we just don't know exactly how much insect populations are struggling, but what we do know looks pretty bad.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.walesonline.co.uk

Demonstrators chained themselves to a pink boat outside Ffos y Fran, the largest opencast coal mine in the UK. The four people arrested on suspicion of aggravated trespass were 43, 45, 68 and 75. This surprised me, although I find it encouraging that it is not only young people recognising and trying to do something about our situation. From the article: >The mine has been hugely controversial in recent years with residents complaining over noise, pollution and disruption to their lives. Since then, campaigners claim mining has continued unlawfully at the mine. Merthyr (South Wales) Ltd, which operates the site, recently made a last-ditch appeal against the decision to stop operations there. >...The Public Order Act (2023) came into effect in May. Under the Act, locking-on is now an offence which can result in 51 weeks in prison. >The group claims the mine is continuing to operate despite planning permission running out in September. Recently barristers for climate action claimed that continued coal extraction at Ffos y Fran was illegal. >Superintendent Michelle Conquer said: “Since Wednesday afternoon, police officers have been deployed to the Ffos y Fran site in Merthyr Tydfil to facilitate peaceful protest. >“In doing so we note the views of the protest group that the mine is operating unlawfully."

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.bbc.com

Wael Sawan, CEO of Shell, says renewable energy replacements are not happening fast enough, and increased demand could raise prices again. Climate experts disagree with his concerns. From the article: >Head of the UN António Guterres recently said investment in new oil and gas production was "economic and moral madness". >Mr Sawan told the BBC: "I respectfully disagree." He added: "What would be dangerous and irresponsible is cutting oil and gas production so that the cost of living, as we saw last year, starts to shoot up again." >Many countries do not have the infrastructure to move to more sustainable forms of energy. >The head of the International Energy Agency, Fatih Birol, has said that "if governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal from now". >The UK currently imports more than half of its oil and gas - and that proportion is expected to rise without renewed investment in the North Sea. Shell recently decided to sell its stake in a major new undeveloped oil field at Cambo.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.euronews.com

At ClimateReanalyzer.org you can see the world overheating in real time using [this graph](https://climatereanalyzer.org/clim/t2_daily/)which follows the world's average air temperature at 2m of height. Stay tuned for more records broken. It's only the beginning of July.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

Does it seem hotter than normal? Drier than usual? Have you noticed a distinct lack of bees in your neighbourhood? Come in and tell us about it. This thread is for discussion of collapse-related issues that you’re personally experiencing, have experienced, or are affecting people you personally know. AKA things you don’t have to read the news to know are happening. Links to relevant news articles are encouraged, however.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.thenationalnews.com

China is having its hottest temperatures in 60 years and its worst flooding in 50 years.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

phys.org

Agricultural methods are one of the major factors that needs to be fundamentally overhauled, if we are going to have any chance at starting to reverse the effects of climate change. In Vietnam, facing record high temperatures and a heatwave of 37+ degrees Celsius, farmers have switched to working nightshifts for outdoor labour. From the article: >"With extremely high temperatures, it's very uncomfortable and exhausting to work during daytime, although of course I can see more clearly," [farmer Nguyen Hung Phuong] said. >Night planting began a few years ago at Nguyen Thi Hanh's farm. "Our parents did not have head lamps. The weather was also not as hot," 56-year-old Hanh said. Night planting has its advantages for the rice, which Hahn said is sensitive to extremes in temperature. We are going to see more changes like this in people's behaviour. I think we would all do well to learn from these individuals' example and take action to adapt to the changing needs of our food crops as well as ourselves. In related news, Germany is looking at overturning its ban on GMO crops this week. [European Commission Expected To Take a Stand on GMOs](https://www.foodprocessing.com/food-safety/regulatory-compliance/article/33007563/european-commission-expected-to-take-a-stand-on-gmos)

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.theguardian.com

For anyone who would enjoy a heaping side of societal breakdown to go along with their environmental destruction, here is a whiff of what is to come for all of us. From the article: >A study published in JAMA Psychiatry on Wednesday found a 1C increase in average annual temperature was connected to a rise of more than 6.3% in incidents of physical and sexual domestic violence across three south Asian countries. >Extreme heat can lead to crop failures, buckle infrastructure, eat into economies, trap people indoors and render them unable to work – all factors that can place families under extreme stress and push up violence rates. The researchers found that although there was a heat-related increase in violence across all income groups, the largest increases were among lower-income and rural households. >Previous research from Madrid found that when a heatwave hit, the risk of intimate partner femicide rose 40%, and in Kenya, women who experienced severe weather events – including heatwaves – had 60% higher odds of reporting intimate partner violence. Studies collating global data have found the risks of interpersonal violence increased by 2.3% and intergroup conflicts by 13.2% as temperatures rose. Hold on to your butts and thank your lucky stars if you aren't part of any of the following groups: -poor people -women -residents of underdeveloped countries Because for the rest of us, things will be getting even worse, even faster.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

news.sky.com

Long COVID is still not well researched, but this survey of 600 doctors in the UK, by the British Medical Association, found that 48% reported loss of earnings as a result of long COVID symptoms. Just when you thought medical workers in the UK had enough problems. This is a concerning issue because it will probably amplify the disaster that is the current UK healthcare system.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

This is a good summation of the problems facing Antarctica in the near future. I guess the time to talk about keeping warming under 1.5℃ has passed.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

time.com

https://www.saudigazette.com.sa/article/633809/SAUDI-ARABIA/215000-pilgrims-provided-healthcare-during-Hajj Thousands of the people gathering at Mecca for Hajj this year were treated for heat stress during the event. Temperatures were in the 40s for a week from what I can gather, and this year's Hajj was billed as "the largest in history" with over 2 million people gathering. From the article: >To tackle the issue, the kingdom has put in place some measures to minimize the chances of heat stroke and other ailments. Worshippers at the Grand Mosque are being sprayed with water via automatic cooling systems, and free bottles and umbrellas are being distributed. >Temperatures in the Middle East are warming twice as fast as the rest of the world, meaning that it is becoming increasingly hotter than when the Prophet Muhammad first inaugurated the Hajj in the 7th century.

Climate Crisis, Biosphere & Societal Collapse 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

www.theglobeandmail.com

Starting this weekend, healthcare workers in Ontario will be required to report cases of three tick-borne diseases, anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus, to their local health authorities. From the article: >[Ontario Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Kieran Moore says] “It’s absolutely expected that we’ll have greater incidence over the next several years because this is a known wave of infections that we’ve seen migrate up the coastline of northeast North America and anticipate them affecting Ontarians." > >Over the last 20 years there has been a rise in the incidence of Lyme disease as ticks, particularly black-legged ticks, are able to survive the winters, Moore said. The United States has seen waves of anaplasmosis, babesiosis and Powassan virus come after cases of Lyme disease, Moore said, and he expects to see that in Ontario as well. > >“It is simply from the ability of these ticks, that are now able to survive our winters and stay and breed over their two-year lifecycle,” Moore said.

Faster Than Expected 0101010001110100 • 1 year ago • 100%

https://xkcd.com/1338/