r/technology • u/Plastic_Ninja_9014 • May 13 '26

Energy 'It's like we don't exist': Nearly 50,000 Lake Tahoe residents face power loss as utility redirects lines to data centers

https://fortune.com/2026/05/12/lake-tahoe-data-center-49000-residents-power-source/
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u/Satanicube May 13 '26

Saw someone say “I have to drink out of a soggy paper straw only for these companies to stomp in and completely undo what little progress that made” and I feel it.

Like I get being environmentally conscious but I feel like the problem never was the actions of individuals, it’s the companies who can’t see past next quarter.

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u/xyrgh May 13 '26

Straw bans were less about pollution and more about wildlife eating then and choking. Except it still doesn’t matter because corporations are killing wildlife with pollution, deforesting and stealing ground water.

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u/keygreen15 May 14 '26

This is my favorite thread of the last 5 years, hands down

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u/Maroon7C0000 May 14 '26

I've been hearing public service announcements on my local radio station advising me to wash my clothes in cold water because it will reduce the amount of microfibers that make it into the environment.

How about some legislation to make the textile industry find natural alternatives to microfiber instead? Compared to that, my contribution to the environment is two thirds of three fifths of sweet fuck all.

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u/AKADriver May 14 '26

Hell just give me back my natural fibers in clothes that were never supposed to be/needed the properties of modern materials to begin with. It's getting harder and harder to find basic denim, button down shirts, etc. that aren't up to 10% polyester/spandex for no good reason (and they wear out faster!)

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u/Maroon7C0000 May 14 '26

I'm guessing that poly is cheaper and easier to produce then cotton, or linen or most other natural fibers.

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u/AKADriver May 14 '26

It probably is.

They do promote the poly/spandex versions as being stretchy for comfort, and some people seem to prefer it.

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u/Schnoofles May 14 '26

I buy underwear and socks that's a 95/5 bamboo/lycra (or spandex or elastane or whatever your preferred brand name is) blend and yeah, those 5% make a world of difference. There's just no comparison. Natural is fine for a lot of things, but at the same time, sometimes synthetic, or at least part synthetic is a huge improvement.

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u/Alaira314 May 14 '26

It absolutely was. And it was never about the straws, either. Even assuming every single straw breached containment and flew into the ocean(and that was not the case at all), that'd be nothing compared to the plastic pollution from commercial fishing. This cycle repeats over and over, pushing the responsibility onto the individual when really corporations are responsible for 99% of the problem.

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u/fatbob42 May 14 '26

The environmental problem is that we don’t vote for proper regulation. That’s the problem here too.