Spot birds not golf

Simon Willison's Blog News
data-center water-usage sustainability golf-courses birdwatching google

Summary

Suggests hyperscalers like Google convert golf courses into public parks for birdwatching to offset data center water use.

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Cached at: 07/20/26, 09:38 AM

# Spot birds not golf Source: [https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/17/spot-birds-not-golf/](https://simonwillison.net/2026/Jul/17/spot-birds-not-golf/) 17th July 2026 Suggestion for hyperscalers feeling pressure over data center water use: Buy up a few exclusive country clubs, convert the golf courses into public parks, pay for guides and binoculars to get the previous members into birdwatching \- help them embrace a more sustainable hobby\! Google[used 10\.9 billion gallons in 2025](https://sustainability.google/reports/google-2026-environmental-report/), so about 30 million gallons per day\. The Coachella Valley has[120 golf courses each using ~800 acre\-feet per year](https://www.cvwd.org/167/Water-Conservation), which is ~750,000 gallons per day\. So Google buying up 40 of those courses \(1/3\) should do the trick\.

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