The Pollution Being Churned Out by AI Data Centers Is So Severe That It's Almost Incomprehensible

Cornell researchers found that at the current rate of AI growth, the burgeoning industry could represent 24 to 44 million metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions by 2030

The United States emitted 4.9 billion tonnes of CO₂ in 2024.

So by 2030 the AI industry CO2 release might be 0.9% of total US emissions.

That ‘almost’ in “Almost Incomprehensible” is doing a lot of work there.

Consider how rapidly they have been built, and the capitalists’ plans to make many many more. Now also consider the state of the planet’s ecology and the already terrible effects of climate change.

To me, it’s incomprehensible that regular people haven’t already revolted against the death spiral the capitalist class has put us on.

Can you name a moment in time when regular people did stand in solidarity and revolt against something that wasn’t already at the point of causing them grave, direct, unavoidable, and consistent harm?