24.06.24 - AI is breaking the grid, degrowth everywhere, rewilding buffalo
....ocean carbon removal fiasco in Cornwall
The AI energy meltdown cont….
Energy AI is a running theme in this newsletter - the power demands of AI are simply breaking the global energy system.
Bloomberg has produced stunning feature on this – with suitably dramatic visualisations:
AI is already wreaking havoc on global energy systems - Bloomberg
And in Grist they ask if Virginia, possibly the most data centre intensive US state of all can decarbonise its grid? Spoiler Alert: No
Virginia has the biggest data center market in the world. Can it also decarbonize its grid? - Grist
Degrowth to….
Degrowth is currently getting a lot of attention – such as this excellent and very readable piece in the Harvard Business Review:
In Defense of Degrowth - Harvard Business Review
And also in the New York Times, which talks among others to Kohai Saito, whose books on degrowth are bestsellers in Japan:
Shrink the Economy, Save the World? - NY Times (paywall)
….rewilding buffalo
“Before colonialism, buffalo were our life source. They’re powerful and they gave us food and shelter,” Dawn Thomas says. “They were taken away from us and we are still trying to heal from that.”
“The buffalo have that trauma too. The buffalo almost went extinct, like us.” But now, she says, people and bison are recovering together. “We’re thriving. We’re emerging out of that difficult time.”
This a wonderful story about a college for indigenous students who are restoring the prairy eco-system by re-introducing buffalo - and many other species….
Rewilding the American Serengeti - Yes! Magazine
“The black-footed ferrets and the swift fox, they are so important to us,” Thomas says. “It’s a slow process, I know, but they are slowly growing. We are all slowly growing and reconnecting.”
71% of people worldwide want immediate action on climate change…
…..according to 17,000 people surveyed in 17 G20 countries. Earth4all have just published one of the most comprehensive opinion surveys on attitudes to climate change in recent years.
But looking at Germany - where I live only 36 per cent think the current economic system is “bad for the environment”. And tellingly, 63% don’t see themselves as exposed to climate dangers - in stark opposition to opinion in less wealthy countries in the survey.
Ocean carbon removal fiasco in Cornwall
Silicon Valley is betting billlions on speculative carbon removal technologies to mitigate climate change. None of them have been remotely effective so far; all methods tried are either ludicrously energy intensive, or ecologically disastrous, or both.
Planetary’s disastrous attempt at “ocean alkalinity enhancement” in St Ives, England seems to tick both those boxes. Heavily funded by Shopify and Musk among others, Planetary planned on shipping 450 tonnes of ground-up Brucite from China to dump of the St Ives coastline - until a local campaign stopped them.
This in-depth feature strains to give Planetary the benefit of the doubt, but the shortcomings of their plans are made painfully clear:
A Dose of Antacids, a Quaint British Bay, and a Public Relations Fiasco - Hakai magazine
Invisible Networks: exhibition in Berlin until 30 June
And if you’re in Berlin please visit this exhibition on technology and human/more-than-human connection.
My work is present - a series of banners on rethinking technology - Connection Matters - as well as 7 other amazing artists…