by Zumwalt
President Trump on Monday lashed out at communities that are protesting data centers, suggesting that residents who do not go along with the artificial intelligence revolution must prefer to be “backwards and poor.” —The New York Times, August 31, 2026
It’s a fair trade.
Water for compute.
Convert all the reservoirs.
Pump the aquifers to cool the language models.
Water for compute.
It’s a fair trade.
Energy for the processing.
Switch the substations to priority routing.
Make the desert a giant server farm.
Energy for the processing.
Prices are right for data and power.
Step up production:
More servers, more carbon in the air;
More processing, less rivers, more exhaust in our lungs.
Rising global temperatures are ripe to drive up prices.
Droughts increase water’s premium.
Aquifers get depleted.
Power becomes even scarcer.
Cooling costs rise.
Little Johnny wants to make money.
How can he not help to do so?
Invest in AI and pollute at the same time.
Easy money.
Pollute on a small scale:
Pocket change.
Pollute on a large scale:
Wealth beyond dreams.
Rising Temperatures,
Erratic Weather,
Algorithmic Growth,
Scarce Water Resources,
Civil Unrest
All put stress on
Grid supplies.
Now Johnny has to work harder.
He burns the midnight coal.
And makes more money.
Data centers, crypto mines and gigawatts
Make deserts out of wetlands.
Cooling fans, diesel backups and transformers
Make hazardous waste the specialty in trade.
But it’s a fair trade.
Quality of Life for Velocity of Life.
It’s a reasonable trade.
More processing for less plants and animals.
We will switch the future for the present.
Make our dreams a giant dustbowl.
Swap future prospects for a generated prompt.
Principles are right for the harvesting.
Let’s step up consumption:
More compute, more poison, hotter temperatures;
More processing, less rivers, less need for people.
It’s a good, honest trade.
I can write away the guilt.
Post my outrage to a monetized feed
And feel just a little better
As everyone increasingly feels worse.
Zumwalt’s poetry examines the intersection of identity, instability, and the mechanics of perception. Zumwalt is a proud repeat contributor to The New Verse News.
