Heat

It’s May. Mid-May, even. Today I very much wanted to walk in the park near my home – the park with all the herons and egrets and cormorants. But it was 92 degrees. In May. And there was an air quality alert. So my friend and I hit the gym instead.

The next few days don’t look great. In fact, they look aberrant. These weather extremes are scary. On Staten Island, we have three data centers that are sucking up a lot of water and power, and that water and that power are no longer available to the people who live here. Unless they want to pay an astronomical price. My electric bill (and I have electric heat and stove/oven, so I know I pay a higher price) for April was $720.

I live in a one-bedroom apartment. I haven’t put the heat on because it’s been spring and I don’t need it. I have barely cooked anything on my stove. And yet still, $720.

The cost of these data centers are being spread out to consumers – when that cost should be absorbed by the billionaires who run Amazon, Google, Meta, Apple. The data centers these guys (and yes, they are guys) need to provide whatever services…need to be self-sustaining. Passing the cost onto the consumer is a losing proposition. My very good friend just went without internet this whole weekend.

And she did just fine. She cleaned her whole house. She planted in her garden. She read a book.

And my other lovely friend went on a cruise along the Seine. She didn’t need the internet during her time on vacation. She had a lovely time, without news, without being plugged into the dystopia that is our world right now.

These billionaire assholes need to be afraid. We might not need their vaunted services. My friends and I can write letters. And visit one another in person.

I know I can’t, as an asthmatic, live without air conditioning. I also know that, if there’s not enough power to let me continue to live, I will go out with my middle finger up, angry at a world that gives us a 95-degree day in the middle of May. I realize the air conditioning contributes to that – but there’s more to it than an individual person wanting relief. These massive data centers, devouring water and coolants – they are eating us now.

It’s us against the machines. Asthmatics, people with persistent allergies, people who just want to breathe – we’re aligned now against rows and rows of servers who are supplying us with things we do not want. For those of us who need a little extra help, there is not much mercy there for us.

I didn’t think I would see this kind of battle in my lifetime – the battle of humans against the needs of machines. But we are in this dystopia now. For me, the question is, how will I write my way out of this and pay for my air conditioning. For others, the question is how will they survive.

The weather is the least of it. But it drives so much hardship and ill health. And for those of us who are comfortable – who have the luxury of our air being rinsed and cool and recycled – perhaps we can give a little bit to the people who need it.