AI is here to stay, but it does not have to negatively impact the availability of our natural resources to the degree it is today. AI as it currently stands is a detriment to our environment, and without direct change, we will eventually reach a point of no return in saving our planet. 

The climate clock indicates that we have a little over three years to limit climate change before irreversible damage is done (Clock, 2019). AI data centers have incredibly high water and energy usage which is damaging our environment; “large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people” (Yañez-Barnuevo, 2025). AI data centers use water cooling systems to keep their servers from overheating (Beshay, 2025). You might say, can't we reuse this water after its used to cool the servers, "however...  that the water isn’t just used for cooling and then discharged as treatable wastewater; much of it evaporates in the process.  Evaporative cooling also leaves behind high concentrations of salts and other contaminants" (Wroth, 2025). Regardless, water is being used up and our planet only gets more polluted. 

Above is the inside of a data center that is being water cooled. 

By 2028, AI data centers will use as much electricity as 28 million homes, enough to power California twice over. This massive, fast-growing demand is raising everyone’s electricity bills. Because these centers need so much new infrastructure (like power lines and plants), the costs are being shared by regular customers, not just the tech companies. Schlosberg, 2025); "Americans may see more widespread price hikes in coming years. One study from Carnegie Mellon University estimates that data centers and cryptocurrency mining could lead to an 8% increase in the average U.S. electricity bill by 2030" (Beshay, 2025). Along with AI Data centers consuming mass amounts of energy impacting energy bill cost, it is also doing damage to our environment; "All this electricity has to come from somewhere. And even though renewables like solar and wind are the fastest, cheapest way to get new electricity on the grid, tech companies are doubling down on dirty energy. Right now, more than half of the electricity used to power data centers comes from fossil fuels" (Schlosberg, 2025). This large amount of fossil fuel energy will only negatively contribute to our current climate crisis. 

So what can we do to stop AI from destroying our planet? There is no way we can get rid of AI as a whole, but regulations can be put into place to reduce the negative impact. If tech companies were required to use reusable energy sources, which are more efficient than fossil fuels, and lower the consumption of new water in the cooling systems, the negative impact on the environment would be much less. Join us in our fight to build and enforce regulations surrounding energy and water usage from the growing spread of AI data centers by signing this petition!