Check out this May 4, 2026 cartoon from Rhymes with Orange.
THIS WEEK: Global Earth Repair Convergence May 7-11 in Port Townsend, Washington and online. More than 120 soil scientists, Indigenous elders, restoration ecologists, permaculture designers, policy advocates, mycologists,agro-foresters, filmmakers, economists and farmers lay out how to regenerate degraded land, how fungi can clean polluted waterways, how to rethink your backyard. On Friday, May 8th, I will present MAPPING OUR TECHNOSPHERE: the four pillars that make online activity possible: the power grid, manufacturing, access networks and data centers. I'll propose ways to reduce the technosphere's cradle-to-grave ecological impacts-- and host discussion.
BEYOND THE MARKETING TERMS
Every time I hear someone call solar PVs, industrial wind turbines, battery energy storage (BESS) or e-vehicles "green," "clean," "zero-emitting" or "renewable," I flinch.
Whenever someone asks how much energy and, water and toxic waste are involved in operating (say) a data center, and the person responding fails to include the energy, water, mining, intercontinental shipping and toxic waste involved in manufacturing the servers and cooling systems, and the person responding fails to discuss the impacts of discarding these servers and cooling systems (which need replacing every few years and do not biodegrade), I cringe.
I flinch and cringe a lot.
Does people who call these technologies "green," "clean," "zero-emitting" or "renewable" know that these are merely marketing terms?
I understand that coal-burning power stations generate coal ash-- toxic substances like arsenic and lithium that can leach into groundwater and air and harm health if they're inhaled or ingested. Modern landfills must have a protective barrier below the coal ash to prevent contaminants from leaching into groundwater. But landfills constructed before that practice existed"now require cleanup that can take ten years. Click Here
I wouldn't wish coal ash on any neighborhood. But ignoring the ecological and public health impacts of solar PVs, wind turbines and BESS from their cradles-to-graves does not make them disappear. Here are a few significant issues:
- 81% of (say) a laptop's energy use is consumed before its end-user turns the laptop on for the first time.
- Manufacturing silicon (for solar panels or transistors) burns coal and trees. Panels are coated with PFAs in four places.
- Users who expect 24/7 electricity will need to connect to the (fossil-fuel-powered) grid or use batteries, which are toxic to manufacture and flammable.
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