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Don't mind this glaring bastion of land use mismanagement
2020...the electrical grid cannot handle EVs, what happens when they all plugin at the same time? Stupid libtards!
2026...plug in all the datacentres sucking megawatts 24/7
Not the same people.
Politicians ban straws.
Politicians allow data centers.
Not the same politicians
It is the same politicians. What happened was that climate scientist went on them for a bit so they decided to just do something token. So they banned plastic drinking straws, but then the AI tech bros came along and they forgot about all of climate change and then now are super duper in favour of AI data centres because that's who's paying them.
The plastic drinking straw lobby didn't have quite the same funds as the AI data centre lobby.
Politicians: Signs Paris Agreement to help curb global warming and climate change, invest in cleaner renewables to give the words a fighting chance.
Other "politicians": Leaves agreement, cuts all renewables funding, gives massive tax breaks and subsidies to oil industry, allows data centers to poison local water supply and let locals pay the electric bill
Yes the same politicians. Jared Polis signed the plastic pollution reduction act. He also signed the Colorado artificial intelligence act.
All politicians are more than happy to do anything but cost rich people money. Some politicians want to win pro-environmental votes with useless dickery.
But what if China builds a terminator? We have to have our own terminator just in case /s
I don't think that matters. The result is two contradictory laws.
After learning that most of our plastic waste is sold to other countries for disposal, instead of being recycled, I stopped separating my trash and it all goes in one bag now. I spent so much of my life washing and separating that waste to do my part for the planet only to find out it meant nothing. If the trash man is going to ship my waste overseas, then he can fucking separate it and wash it.
Side note, the paper straws may be better for the environment, but they are likely just as bad for us as plastic straws. Glues are used to keep the paper straws stiff, and they will break down and leach out while you drink. Not all glues are safe for human consumption. Now I just take the lid off the beverage and drink straight from the cup like a savage.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0045653521007074#abs0020
Side side note, fuck AI and data centers.
Please at least recycle your aluminum!
I would if I had any. I stopped buying soda ages ago to reduce waste, and now I just drink lose leaf teas.
Side side note, fuck AI and data centers.
I should start adding a footnote to all (longer) comments:
Ceterum censeo centra datorum esse delenda
Or maybe more concisely:
Centra Datorum delenda sunt
(Strictly speaking, this leaves out the "AI" part, but that would bloat the sentence even more)
They are not AI data centers, that is just the marketing. They will be Surveillance Data Centers.
This isn't a 2020 vs. 2026 thing. It's a corporate thing. What corporations do is pour money into anything that makes pollution primarily the fault of the average person's choices.
"The reason the environment is bad is that you don't choose to recycle properly."
It works best for corporations when the thing requires permanent vigilance from the average person. That way, when John down the street accidentally puts a soda can in the trash, an environmentally focused person who has bought the corporate propaganda can have their bile focused on John, and will forget all about the company down the street that pollutes every day the amount that John pollutes in a decade.
The truth is that, while individual responsibility makes a difference, what really makes a difference is legislation regulating corporations. That packaging that you have to figure out how to recycle? That's not really your fault. It's the fault of the company that packaged it that way. If they had legislation to force them to do environmentally friendly packaging, they would do that. But it's so much more convenient for them if they can do the irresponsible thing and still make you feel like it's your fault.
Plastic straws can be cast as the consumer's fault. Data centers are corporate. That's the difference.
It is a pretty good contrasting example of the hypocrisy and ridiculousness though.
This right here. It's the same in just about every sphere. If there's money to be made, the environment takes a back seat, and the psyop gets to work
Awesome summary.
I went to an ice cream place the other night and got a milkshake and it came with a paper straw. Instantly ruined the experience. People are out of their fucking minds with these paper straws.
Skill issue
Yeah, my state government is like "pwease limit showers to 5 minutes (0.3 kiloseconds) and keep your thermostat at 75° (24°C) 🥺" while they take kickbacks for approving more of the damned things
Gotta preserve resources for the data centers.
2027: "Your wasteful token over-use is destroying the planet, smh"
Good. GOOD.
The planet is going nowhere good, I want to at least make sure it dies so fast, that they die too.
OK, derailing slightly. There is nothing I hate more than going to a restaurant and getting a cardboard straw for a plastic cup with a plastic lid.
It's almost as infuriating as seeing people who still somehow wear masks incorrectly.
Corporations are blasting bombs, burning cities, drying rivers, fracking forests and then they tell you how you eating 3 times a day is what's bad for the environment
When the economy takes a downward turn
Corporations: You should have planned better for this, have a solid savings plans with with emergency funds just in case. Government handouts are socialism. It's really your fault for not being prepared.
Also corporations: There's been a minor disruption to our income stream, where's our billion dollar bailouts we can use to pay out executive bonuses and buy a new corporate jet
Paper straws are scientifically terrible for carbonated drinks. All of those fibers make a ton of nucleation sites for the CO2 and just make darn sure that your carbonated drink isn't carbonated by the time it gets to your mouth. Seriously, if you wanted to design something to intentionally make a carbonated soda flat by the time it gets to your lips, I don't know how you'd do it better than with a paper straw. Maybe a long hose that shakes the liquid as it goes through?
And sure, ok, plastic straws aren't great environmentally. But surely there was a third option before we went back to literally the worst choice? Something decently cheap, biodegradable, and non-porous? Can we not invent something like that? There's tons of industrially-compostable polymers, right? Wouldn't those break down in the ocean over time?
I now take the lid off the beverage and drink straight from the cup like a savage. If you're a beverage lid purist, you might want to consider investing in a personal metal straw, they even make them crazy now.
I agree that sipping is probably the best option. My problem is that most to-go cups at restaurants use lids for structural reinforcement; they make the cup less sturdy (because it's cheaper) and count on the lid to keep it stable.
For clumsy and forgetful people (it's me, hi, I'm the problem) the option right now seems to be buying a reusable straw that ends up sitting in my silverware drawer permanently, living with the fact that I'm just always going to have some sort of stain on my shirt, or drinking subpar, flat sodas. Or, I guess, switching to a non-carbonated drink. None of them are my favorite options. Come on, scientists!
Something decently cheap, biodegradable, and non-porous? Can we not invent something like that?
Have you tried lips yet? They’re free for most of us and while still a bit porous, they’re quite effective for helping transfer whatever liquid you are trying to transfer from the source into your mouth- soda, beer, whiskey, wine, coffee, water, piss. You can also use them for fun on friends, like sucking dick or eating pussy (or ass). 100% reusable and biodegradable!!!
There are drinks or packagings that are worse without a straw.
That said, we alread have pasta straws. Companies should use pasta straws. I drink boba tea pretty slowly so paper's not gonna survive that. Milk through paper straw is the worst milk I tasted. There's no good reason to use paper straws. Pasta straws are better.
I've never understood why they don't just use the coffee lids for everything.
The Oil industry fist began with putting the blame for climate-destroying stuff on the consumer. Wr need to acknowledge that companies are at fault
European online communities in 2020: ecology is the future, we need to remove coal, anyone who disagrees is a russian bot
European online communities in 2026: we must start building datacenters or we will be left in the dust, ecology is just russian bot propaganda
Note that it's not the same voices saying these two things.
The stupid part is that it 100% is. The plastic straw thing was to shift blame onto consumers so we’d blame ourselves instead of the big energy companies. The “AI data centres are cool” people are the same ones as before, now telling everyone how we need to give up more of our meager existence to serve the rich. Energy companies also love it because they can check prices to the fucking moon.
Why is everyone so angry about straws? You all acting like we made you put down your dog. Nobody said it’d solve all issues. Besides, wasn’t it about marine life and not carbon?
I feel like I'm one of the few people that never really minded the paper straws.
The Sun Life chip bags that were super loud was funny to me though.
It was just performative corporate "wokism". They'd do anything to appear attractive to their customers as long as it doesn't hurt their bottom line. Plastic straws, sure! Actually reduce the amount of waste generated? Absolutely not. How much of the great Pacific garbage patch is made up of straws?
Except the AI data center comes from the same side as the plastic straws.
Plastic straws never had much to do with climate change though? That was mostly about plastic pollution.
Consumer climate guilt is the biggest grift of the 21st century.
They always get us to pay for anything they don't want to., which is most things.