READER Paul Morley (Imagine if it were a ‘hostile power’, Craven Herald letters, July 25) suggests that environmentalists never 'peep' about the environmental damage caused by social media and AI and he highlights Google's report on their energy consumption and the water drawn from a Mexican lake to cool nearby data centres.
Perhaps he missed Baroness Natalie Bennett's comments on X (Twitter) and in the Daily Mail about Google's report pointing out that the 'cloud' computing on which data centres, social media and AI all rely is not actually 'in the cloud' but very much down to earth and trashing the Earth.
'Cloud computing' is a problem for freshwater worldwide for many reasons and by aggravating climate change it leads to ever higher demand for freshwater for cooling, irrigation and quelling wildfires.
Mr Morley also suggests that social media is the 'life blood' of greens but they generally use social media far less than those who are keen to bring on or deny climate change.
Claire Nash
Skipton
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here