Climate impact

For over 50 years, major oil and gas companies have purposely deceived the public about the connection between fossil fuel consumption and climate change. Oil and gas companies have spent untold fortunes lobbying Congress, suppressing scientific research and saturating the media with misleading messaging so that they can avoid regulation, evade accountability and continue to line their pockets at our expense.

Their actions have led to unconscionable environmental damage, including rising global temperatures, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, more extreme weather events and widespread pollution. The evidence we have connecting fossil fuel consumption to these events is indisputable, yet major corporations continue to suppress the truth while consuming our finite resources at an unsustainable rate.

But it is no longer just fossil fuels that threaten our ability to live healthy lives, as the increased prominence of AI is adding to the damage being done. AI systems require enormous amounts of energy, raw materials and water to remain operational, as just a single 100-megawatt data center consumes as much water as 6,500 households, and that is just to keep its servers cool.

Don’t be deceived into thinking climate change is some scientific hoax or political agenda, because our planet is suffering, and we need to hold the parties responsible for that suffering accountable. We have already seen what dedicated action is capable of with the Montreal Protocol. After it went into effect to slow our usage of CFCs, the ozone layer began to recover, and may return to pre-industrialized levels by the turn of the century. With proper action, the rest of the planet can begin to recover as well.

AUSTIN MYERS

New Bethlehem