environmentFriday, June 19
Two stories today highlight the tension between green branding and actual environmental cost. Amazon's data centers in Virginia are guzzling water, while Australia's plan to burn forest biomass for cement is being called out as worse than coal. Meanwhile, an innovative ice-stupa project in India shows what real adaptation looks like.
Two stories question whether touted green solutions are actually sustainable.
Amazon's data center water use in Virginia is framed as minor relative to lawn watering, but 20 million gallons a day across four counties is a lot of water for a single company.
Australia's $53 million investment to burn forest biomass in cement kilns is scientifically dubious: burning wood can emit more CO2 than coal, making this a step backward.
Elsewhere, communities are innovating against scarcity while microplastics turn up in pet bowls.
Artificial ice pyramids in Ladakh are a low-tech, high-impact adaptation to glacier loss, storing winter water for spring irrigation.
Microplastics are in over 75% of pet food, raising questions about how plastic pollution moves through the food chain and into pets.
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