Death Valley is alive this year. A #super#bloom is the latest sign.
In California’s Death Valley region, the last few months have been remarkably loud.
And the latest bellow is still ringing out, with the area’s #native#wildflowers bursting into bloom.
The flowers have filled a place best known for its shades of browns and grays with brilliant blasts of yellow and purple and sprinkles of pink and cream.
This display comes just weeks after the 🔹resurrection of a long-dead lake,🔹 which filled the park’s Badwater Basin and drew visitors from across the country for a once-in-a-lifetime chance to paddle across a body of water rarely revived since prehistoric days.
These fleeting phenomena can both be traced to the unusual and record-setting precipitation that has inundated the state since August, when Hurricane Hilary gave Death Valley its #wettest#day ever.
Subsequent storms dumped even more rain on the desert, eventually 🌟dragging it out of a years-long #megadrought.🌟
“The rose is a rose from the time it is a seed to the time it dies. Within it, at all times, it contains its whole potential. It seems to be constantly in the process of change: Yet at each state, at each moment, it is perfectly all right as it is.” — Paulo Coelho
As Use of "AI" Soars, So Does the Energy and Water It Requires
"Generative "artificial intelligence" uses massive amounts of #energy for computation and data storage and billions of gallons of #water to cool the equipment at data centers. Now, legislators and regulators — in the U.S. and the EU — are starting to demand accountability."
"As the BigScience project in France demonstrated with #BLOOM model3, it is possible to build a model of a similar size to #OpenAI’s GPT-3 with a much lower carbon footprint. But that’s not what’s happening in the industry at large."
Legislators should offer both carrots and sticks. At the outset, they could set benchmarks for #energy and #water use, incentivize the adoption of renewable energy and mandate comprehensive environmental reporting & impact assessments."