Marlie Langer | Head Editor
January 17, 2026
In many schools across the country, AI chatbots like ChatGPT have proven useful to students and teachers alike. Although it’s a beneficial tool for students to get help when other help is unavailable, as well as for teachers to find an example of a certain topic or to get help grading, ChatGPT uses an immense amount of water daily. This causes mass thermal pollution, and it wastes massive amounts of water. ChatGPT consumes billions of liters of water to run its system, more than most plastic water bottle companies have used this past year. We need a change.
In this context, Ecosia AI, an AI chatbot that only runs on green energy (aka clean energy), has been released, while ChatGPT continues to rely on taking from our planet and polluting our waters. Ecosia has invested 18 million euros in renewable energy projects and also works to plant trees in various places when people use its chatbot. Their project to plant trees across the world takes place in countries such as the Dominican Republic, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, and many more. Within each of these countries, the focus is on addressing specific environmental issues which has been tuned to each region’s specific needs. For example within the Dominican Republic, they’re working with smallholder farmers to grow trees alongside their coffee crops and planting native seedlings in Argentina to restore the local ecosystems.
As our modern society brings us closer and closer to technology, we need a solution that doesn’t deprive or destroy our ecosystems entirely. In an interview with a senior at San Clemente High School, Grace Owens claimed that we should “work towards using more renewable energy sources for our everyday tasks.” In a world like ours, using clean energy is essential to restoring what we have damaged, industrialized, and destroyed throughout the past century. Senior at San Clemente High School, Mikaela Benumof commented that she doesn’t feel as harsh a burden when using AI, knowing that she “[is] doing something good for the environment.”
To further prevent mass thermal pollution and the use of billions of liters of water once again, it is necessary to switch to more eco-friendly AI chatbots in all circumstances.
Leave a Reply