Brie Bella: We Can Live Without AI, We Can’t Live Without Fresh Water
On her YouTube channel, Brie Bella explained the dangers of AI and how public land is being sold to AI data centers.
Brie posted the video after a solo hike at Radnor Lake State Natural Area. She began by noting the National Park funding cuts, which affect staffing and park maintenance, before saying that the land is being sold to data centers.
She then gave facts.
“AI data centers harm the environment by consuming large amounts of electricity and fresh water. The centers increase greenhouse gas emissions, deplete local water supplies, and strain community power grids. I wanted to put some numbers to this issue to really put it in perspective and paint the bigger picture.
Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day of fresh water, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Only 3% of Earth’s water is fresh water, and only 0.5% of all water is accessible and safe for human consumption. Fresh water is critical for survival. On average, a human being can live without water for only three days. Increasing drought and water shortages are reducing water availability.
Meanwhile, data center developers are increasingly tapping into surface and underground aquifers to cool their facilities. Additionally, a single modern AI data center can use as much power as 100,000 homes. Many of the larger ones now being built are expected to consume up to 20 times that amount. That’s almost unfathomable.
If the damage to our communities, our environment, and the plants and animals that live among us doesn’t get you to care, the rise in power bills across the US—with Americans paying almost 10% more for electricity on average this past year alone—should make you care. That is only going to get worse for us as more data centers take over public lands and wildlife sanctuaries across the nation.
We can live without AI. Trust me, we can live without it, but we can’t live without fresh water.”
Brie closed by saying they want to build a data center next to Nashville Zoo and people are worried about what will happen to the animals and their habitats.
