ORGANIZATION
Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute
The organization carrying Odum's name and legacy — now deploying his emergy framework to oppose data center siting that threatens aquifer-sustained springs ecosystems.
The Howard T. Odum Florida Springs Institute bears the name of the systems ecologist whose work it extends. Based in Florida, the institute studies and advocates for the state's freshwater spring ecosystems — the hydrogeological features Odum himself studied for decades. Director Haley Moody has raised alarms about data center proposals sited within the recharge zones of Florida's springs, warning that the water consumption required by AI infrastructure threatens ecosystems sustained by aquifer flows operating on timescales of decades to centuries. The irony is exact: the institute named for the ecologist who developed the tools to account for hidden energy subsidies is using those tools to fight the ecological consequences of a technology that conceals its costs behind a frictionless interface.
In The You On AI Field Guide
Florida's springs are among the most productive freshwater ecosystems on Earth, sustained by the Floridan aquifer — one of the largest and most productive aquifers in the world. The aquifer's recharge rates are measured in