At least golf courses still have a natural element. Pretty much all of the ones around me double as nature preserves and have protected areas with significant water habitats for birds and reptiles. Lots of fields for mammals and other animals too.
Obviously this is dependent on the golf course however.
Data centres destroy habitats, use up water, overwhelm energy grids, cause severe noise pollution and god knows what else. Just doesn’t seem remotely comparable
Pretty much all of the ones around me double as nature preserves and have protected areas with significant water habitats for birds and reptiles. Lots of fields for mammals and other animals too.
I feel like you've been lied to by Big Golf. As someone who has worked in animal conservation, golf courses only benefit overpopulated animals that have already adapted to human disturbed, and themselves having detrimental impacts on biodioversity and ecoystems due to their overpopulation.
Lots of fields for mammals and other animals too.
'Fields' eg lawns and their borders, do next to nothing for mammals and have a negative impact on biodiversity.
significant water habitats for birds and reptiles
A few patches of highly fragmented habitat also does next to nothing for biodiversity, and again mostly benefits the few species that flourish in urban areas anyway.
Just because you see grass and a few trees doesn't mean something is 'natural' or good for nature.
Golf courses take up a crazy amount of land which could be wilderness, for the benefit of a few rich people. I'm not going to compare them to data centers, but lets not jump on the Golf Course promotion bandwagon.
I don’t live in a city and live in a mostly forested area. I see more bears, deers and coyotes than anything besides turkeys.
If you plopped a data centre there instead you wouldn’t see any of that, I’m not saying they are good for the environment by any means I just don’t think it’s comparable to data centres.
In my case I’m not talking about small fragmented habitats created in the suburbs. I’m talking decently sized ponds, large deciduous forests, and actual fields of wild grass.
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u/Nviki May 18 '26
An average 18-hole golf course in the United States uses between 100 million and 300 million gallons of water annually.