🌿 The Climate Impact of AI

+ an AI tool to identify Mother Earth's best work

Author

Ruqaiya
May 01, 2025

In partnership with

Last month, we celebrated one of the greatest Ammis in the game: Mother Earth 🌍️ 

This month, we celebrate our Ammis and each other! My Ammi is a horticulturist, so you could say my Ammi and Ammi Earth are good friends 💚 

Here are a few beautiful blooms brought to you by these two incredible Ammis:

🌿 Let’s grow!

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Apple Sauce

The ‘sauce’ - or overview - on AI tools you may find useful.

Explore the great outdoors with AI

Today’s apple: Seek by iNaturalist

I’m currently reading a book called The Indoor Epidemic, which explores a concern that people, primarily children, are spending too much time indoors. As you might be able to guess, the solution is pretty straightforward: go outside ☀️ 

Seek is an app that helps you explore the outdoors, with a bit of help from AI 🔍️ 

The app uses AI image recognition technology to identify the plants and animals all around you. You can even earn badges for seeing different types of birds, amphibians, plants, and fungi, and participate in monthly observation challenges.

Source: iNaturalist

Seek was recommended to me by an Ammi in the second edition of this newsletter:

Thanks, Arwa, for the great recommendation!

School’s almost out, so it’s a perfect time to start seeking 🙂 

⚠️ Ammis and friends! Always check privacy policies and verify any AI-generated health, safety, or education advice with trusted human experts. Use AI as a helper, not a replacement for your invaluable Ammi intelligence and judgment!

Planting the Seed

Explore AI topics and headlines in simple language.

AI, the environment, and the Ammis

I like to approach complex topics, especially ones like AI’s impact on the environment, as holistically as possible. Today, we’ll take a look at the good, the not-so-good, and the what-can-we-do about AI + the climate!

🌍️ The not-so-good

1. Energy consumption

Generative AI models, especially large ones like the GPT models behind ChatGPT, need a lot of computer power to work. Because of this, they use a large amount of electricity when they are being trained and even later when they used to answer questions or do tasks.

  • Training GPT-3 consumed approximately 1,287 megawatt-hours (MWh) of electricity (enough to power about 120 average U.S. homes for a year).

  • Carbon emissions from that training alone were estimated at 552 metric tons of CO₂, the equivalent of 123 gasoline-powered passenger vehicles driven for one year.

  • Data center - where these computers are housed and running - energy use globally is projected to surpass 1,000 terawatt-hours (TWh) annually by 2026, comparable to the entire electricity consumption of Japan.

  • Using ChatGPT, powered by GPT-4, to generate a 100-word email uses 140Wh of energy.

2. Water consumption for data center cooling

AI data centers require substantial water in cooling systems to prevent computers from overheating. As AI use increases, so do these resource demands.

  • The global AI demand in 2027 is projected to require 4.2 and 6.6. billion cubic meters of water withdrawal, surpassing the annual water use of 4–6 countries the size of Denmark, or about half of the United Kingdom’s total annual withdrawals

  • Using ChatGPT, powered by GPT-4, to generate a 100-word email consumes about 500mL of water.

  • In regions with water scarcity, such as the southwestern U.S. and parts of Asia, this water usage competes with essential agricultural and community needs.

3. Additional impacts

  • 🪨 High-end GPUs needed for AI training require rare earth metals, often mined in conditions that raise ethical red flags.

  • 🧠 Training newer, more efficient models may take half the energy per parameter, but companies are now training bigger and more complex models more frequently.

  • 🔄 Demand is surging: more AI apps, more chatbots, more usage. The result? Net energy consumption keeps climbing.

🌱 The good

While generative AI poses real environmental challenges, it also holds tremendous promise as a tool for sustainability and scientific progress. AI can process large amounts of data, recognize patterns, and make predictions far faster than humans alone. This makes it a powerful ally in areas like climate modeling, energy efficiency, conservation, and medical research.

When used intentionally, AI can help us solve complex problems, accelerate discovery, and create smarter systems that reduce waste and better protect our planet. Here are a few ways AI is being used to combat climate change:

  • Monitoring iceberg melting: AI processes satellite images to track iceberg changes 10,000 times faster than humans, aiding in understanding sea-level rise.

  • Mapping deforestation: A company based in Edinburgh, Scotland, says it is working in more than 30 countries and has mapped more than 1 million hectares of land from space using satellite data.

  • Cleaning ocean plastic: Organizations use AI to detect and map ocean plastic pollution, facilitating targeted cleanup operations.​

  • Predicting climate disasters: AI models forecast climate-related disasters, enabling better preparedness and response strategies.​

  • Decarbonizing industries: AI platforms help industries monitor and reduce emissions by analyzing data from satellite imagery, machines, and industrial processes.​

🌱 The what-can-we-do?

We all have a role to play in shaping tech that's better for our kids and our climate. Here are some suggestions, inspired by this Q&A with an MIT Scientist, Vijay Gadepally:

Limit unnecessary AI usage: We can be mindful of our AI interactions.

  • ✅ Use AI only when needed - avoid unnecessary or repetitive prompts.

  • 🛑 Stop generation early if you no longer need the output.

  • 📦 Batch questions or tasks into one prompt to reduce system load.

  • 🔍 Choose low-impact tasks like text over images or code when possible.

Support energy-efficient AI tools: We can advocate for and choose AI applications and services that prioritize energy efficiency or offer transparency about their energy use.​ In the Q&A, Gadepally offers a cool idea: what if we could see the estimated energy consumption of a task before we hit ‘enter’? Kind of like estimated carbon footprint displayed on Google Flights.

Advocate for sustainable AI practices: support initiatives, like the Green Screen Coalition, to reduce the negative environmental impact of developing and using AI.

Mindful AI use starts with awareness, and we now have that! From here, we can decide how much and how often we use AI, and in what ways. That’s a personal choice.

But let’s be clear: the real responsibility lies with the companies developing and scaling these technologies. They must design with sustainability in mind, disclose their environmental impact, and invest in clean, ethical infrastructure.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it time and again, with Ammis in the picture, I’m hopeful for a healthy future with AI 🌿 

Sources:

Fruitful Harvest

Fresh AI picks from the community garden.

🍇 Fresh picks:

Cultivating Conversation

Your insights nourish our garden.

💬 Today’s Question:

Would you pay slightly more for AI tools or apps that are proven to be more climate-friendly?

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See y’all soon,
Ruqaiya
Ammi by day, Ammi by night

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