WWE’s Brie Bella: “We can live without AI but we can’t live without fresh water”
In a video published to her YouTube channel, WWE women’s tag team champion Brie Bella commented on public lands in the United States being sold to build AI (Artificial intelligence) data centers…
“AI data centers harm the environment by consuming large amounts of electricity and fresh water. Their demand increases greenhouse gas emissions, depletes local water supplies, and strains community power grids. I wanted to put some numbers to this issue to really put it in perspective and paint the bigger picture.
Large data centers can consume up to 5 million gallons per day of fresh water, equivalent to the water use of a town populated by 10,000 to 50,000 people.
Only 3% of Earth’s water is fresh water, and only 0.5% of all water is accessible and safe for human consumption. Fresh water is critical for survival. On average, a human being can live without water for only three days. Increasing drought and water shortages are reducing water availability.
Meanwhile, data center developers are increasingly tapping into surface and underground aquifers to cool their facilities. Additionally, a single modern AI data center can use as much power as 100,000 homes. Many of the larger ones now being built are expected to consume up to 20 times that amount. That’s almost unfathomable.
If the damage to our communities, our environment, and the plants and animals that live among us doesn’t get you to care, the rise in power bills across the US—with Americans paying almost 10% more for electricity on average this past year alone—should make you care. That is only going to get worse for us as more data centers take over public lands and wildlife sanctuaries across the nation.
We can live without AI. Trust me, we can live without it, but we can’t live without fresh water.”