(Initial context: I am quite concerned about the environment in general. Younger me even studied environmental engineering because I wanted my career to be in s

(Initial context: I am quite concerned about the environment in general. Younger me even studied environmental engineering because I wanted my career to be in service of the environment. I have fallen far short in practice, though.) Some months ago, I investigated details enough to convince myself that, barring new evidence or developments, the environment impacts of data centers are not significant enough for me to boycott personally using genAI. (I mean their impact globally; for any specific data center, there could be an environmental impact I would find unacceptable.) (I did not keep track of my sources, unfortunately. I internalized that research into a tentative conclusion.) That is, I concluded that my efforts to benefit the environment are better directed toward other types of personal choices. (For example, earlier this year, I replaced a ~20 MPG vehicle with a ~45 MPG one; and from 2004 through 2018 I had a Civic Hybrid (~40 MPG). And I avoid driving when possible, but I still do drive. Etc. -- numerous partial measures to be less environmentally destructive. Enough to reduce my guilt and pretend to myself that I'm an environmentalist.) [Edit: minor edits for clarity and brevity.]