ECO-TERRORISM V. RECKLESSNESS

I write thrillers that weave concepts like climate, the environment, and water. I’ve spent my life dealing with one subject, water. Let’s explore its misuse.

Eco-terrorism is the use of violence or threat of violence to achieve an environmental goal. Usually, this involves bio-centric oriented individuals (who believe all living things should have equal protection from harm) who seek to disrupt or eliminate those persons or industries that harm the planet. Think Earth First, Animal Liberation Front, the Unabomber. Most people would agree eco-terrorists should be prosecuted to the full extent of the law, right?

Well, what if the coin was flipped? If the eco-terrorism was committed out of ignorance or greed? Would you consider a pass for them? Of course not.

In my May 26^th article, I touched on the extreme environmental harm that cryptocurrencies and their mining cause. For reference, a single cryptocurrency transaction uses 6.2 million times the water used in a single credit card transaction. And this is not just the wasting of scarce water resources, it’s affecting your electrical bills (more on that later).

Up to thirty million people in the United States suffer from water shortage. Worldwide, that figure is three billion. Water is a precious natural resource that knows no substitute.

Recent studies have found a 150% annual increase in the water footprint of cryptocurrency mining since 2020. The energy consumption of cryptocurrencies is estimated to now consume up to 2.3% of all energy consumption in the United States, and that figure is projected to rise.

Why do cryptocurrencies use such vast amounts of energy and water? It’s a long explanation essentially reduced to a couple of sentences: Value is generated by the creation of new blocks in an underlying blockchain through, essentially, a guessing computerized game. It’s a trial and error guessing game generating up to 350 quintillion computerized guesses every second by linked computers. That’s energy intensive. Water is consumed to generate the power and cool the massive computer networks. Roughly 3,520 gallons of fresh water is used in every transaction.

Cryptocurrency has already increased electric rates across the country by usurping other demands, forcing plant expansions, that all users pay for and requiring grid upgrades. Most people don’t like increased utility costs and appreciate the value of freshwater. So why?

Cryptocurrency has no intrinsic value. It isn’t a meaningful employment generator. It’s just another currency for those to speculate in. Cryptocurrencies create a cost to the environment and your pocketbook. The White House website now boasts the “value” of cryptocurrencies and a pledge to “ Make America the “Crypto Capital of the World,” while investors boast diversification through cryptocurrencies.

So back to the word eco-terrorism. I’m not suggesting cryptocurrencies are forms of terrorism by any means, but they do fit a definition for blind, reckless, and wasteful use of natural resources. If people knew the economic and environmental cost of this nonsensical computer guessing game, most would have the ethics, morality, and common sense to pass on it.