Funny

i dont think factory farms are called ranches, regardless, i wanted to be clear.

they do

Less than meat. But don't just take my word for it: CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf https://pacinst.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/CA-Ag-Water-Use.pdf

Where do you think your Lemmy instance is hosted? How do you think your call gets router when you call your mom?

No, you're not understanding that there are other types of datacenters.

A datacenter is a building with a lot of computers. Not all of them are AI related, and in fact most aren't.
Easily more than 90% of everything on the Internet and all telecommunications runs out of a datacenter.

The thing people are currently, rightly, being opposed to are hyper scale data centers. Those tend to be filled with things like AI training or massive web services where all the pieces need to be close to each other to work efficiently.

Most data centers are similar in size and environmental impact to a shipping warehouse, but with power consumption a fair bit higher.
Any midsize city will have at least a few, if for no other reason than to handle telecommunications, and many businesses will have their own small one near their offices.

Everything in a capitalist society serves profit to its owners. That doesn't mean it doesn't serve a good we want to have around. It'd certainly be better and more efficient if my local telecom hub or hospital were publicly owned and managed with a service motive above a profit motive, but they're not and I'd rather have both than not.

What I don't need is open AI building a datacenter 32 times larger than the hospital and 128 times larger the the telecom hub to train AI models, fuck up the water and double my power bill.

That's just called a business.

I happily rent a server so I can serve the thousands of users that interact with the FOSS project I'm part of.

Still less H2O intensive than meat production.

Yup. Water cooling is a closed circuit (unless you shit money or have a near unlimited supply, like with a river nearby). We've been water-cooling all kinds of shit in data centers and production plants forever. In fact, direct water cooling is more efficient than traditional AC, because you don't need to blow a bunch of air around, you just apply cold water to the hot parts, and cool the water back down afterwards. Sensitive stuff uses deionised water anyway, but I don't know if they care enough for DCs. That is kind of expensive to produce and maintain, you really try to avoid larger leaks and spills.

There are plenty of issues with the datacenters, from the bullshit on-site gas turbines to noise pollution to using up the world's RAM supply to the whole replacing humans with "AI" issue. But all of those could be solved with proper regulation.

This is yet another thing that basically no other country in the world has real problems with besides the US of A

USA companies are trying to export their brand of lawlessness to other countries. Just ignore the regulations, pay a fine, if they can't kill it in court, and carry on.

Yup, American agricultures water usage ist notoriously inefficient, simply opening a valve and letting the water run down a slope to irrigate the area vs watering the plants. Also, the water pipes in the USA lose a lot more to leaks than Data centers could ever use.

On the other hand, not being a farmer admittedly, I'd assume there's some reason the almonds are grown there of all places rather than somewhere with cheaper water, is the climate good for them there or something, water consumption aside?

(Assuming you're asking with best intent)

I'm suggesting we stop breeding "livestock" (sentient animals) into existence for a life of torture to then be killed and eaten by humans.

80% of agricultural land is used for animal agriculture. Rewilding most of that land, making some of it habitable, and the remaining converted to plant agriculture would be a far more eco-friendly solution.

What I think you're getting at with

If we stop caring for the cows, they'll die.

(paraphrased)

Which I agree is unethical; however, real world solutions don't happen immediately like that. A slow movement builds, and as demand for meat, dairy, eggs, etc. reduces, the supply will reduce over time until only a small portion of farmed animals remain. They should be cared for in a similar way that elephants on Sanctuaries or rescues are cared for.

Eat them, and then don't grow more.