I do share the fear of exponential data centre growth, but if data centres reach the amount of water consumed by animal agriculture, we’re seriously fucked.
Whatever water beef is using hasn’t really changed
It might not have changed much per kg, but overall meat consumption is up by a lot over the last few decades. So yes, it is a problem, not only because of its water use.
but AI data Centers are a recent significant change much more likely to affect me.
Just because you don’t see the damage that is already in progress, does not mean that it doesn’t affect you. Agriculture is in the process of drying up the aquifers in the USA, and that has been a problem since before AI
The world is indeed consuming more meat but I was understanding this as a us-centric story and beef consumption has actually been trending down. We still eat too much meat but at least are choosing chicken over beef
I do share the fear of exponential data centre growth, but if data centres reach the amount of water consumed by animal agriculture, we’re seriously fucked.
It might not have changed much per kg, but overall meat consumption is up by a lot over the last few decades. So yes, it is a problem, not only because of its water use.
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-consumption-by-type-kilograms-per-year
Just because you don’t see the damage that is already in progress, does not mean that it doesn’t affect you. Agriculture is in the process of drying up the aquifers in the USA, and that has been a problem since before AI
The world is indeed consuming more meat but I was understanding this as a us-centric story and beef consumption has actually been trending down. We still eat too much meat but at least are choosing chicken over beef
https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/per-capita-meat-usa