When she got home she was so hot she took a shower, and then got real light-headed and almost fainted. Now she refuses to even go outside until summer is over.
But, according to some insane jackass named Stan Cox, we use air conditioning way too much:
"I don't want to suggest air conditioning doesn't have its benefits — in a heat crisis like this one, clearly air conditioning has proven to have a public health benefit," said Cox, whose new book, "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer)," is raising eyebrows in the U.S. this week.
"But we are seeing lavish, unnecessary use of it," Cox said Thursday.
"It's not one of those situations where there's a corporate conspiracy or evil-doing behind it, it's just one of those technologies that tends to create the need and desire for even more of it. People think they can't live without it, but they can."
Americans aren't alone in their growing fondness for A.C. Ian Bruce, a climate change specialist at the Vancouver-based Suzuki Foundation, says as climate change creates more hot summer days north of the border, there's little doubt Canadians will start becoming more reliant on A.C. as well.
"We've seen dramatic increases in temperature across the country and especially in the North and the Arctic," said Bruce. "I wouldn't be surprised at all if Canadians are following the exact same trend as Americans when it comes to air conditioning."
But climate change is no reason to accept the status quo, Cox says.
Nine out of 10 new homes in the U.S. are built with central air, he says, and Americans use as much electricity to power their air conditioning as the entire continent of Africa uses for everything.
And it's a vicious circle: the reliance on A.C. is contributing to global warming, Cox says, which in turn creates more of a demand for it.-Americans urged to end their reliance on air conditioning as heat wave endures
I wonder if all those who like to write attacks on global warming "deniers" are going to be doing their part to stop the rising temperatures by turning off their air conditioners this summer?
I don't want to suggest air conditioning doesn't have its benefits — in a heat crisis like this one, clearly air conditioning has proven to have a public health benefit
ReplyDeleteThe article answers your own question: it is better to use A/C to prevent things like over-heating. The elderly especially should be using A/C. I think you're reading into it what you want to, and I don't understand how you are able to read so much into so little.
Read this paragraph, Ginx:
ReplyDeleteNine out of 10 new homes in the U.S. are built with central air, he says, and Americans use as much electricity to power their air conditioning as the entire continent of Africa uses for everything.
Clearly he sees the fact that 90% of new homes have central air (making it awfully easy to to cool a house down) as a bad thing.
And why should it be only for the elderly? Is it wrong to just want to be comfortable?
The whole mentality is part of the environmentalist hatred of technology. How wasteful we are, using more energy to power our sissy-lifestyle with air conditioning than the whole continent of Africa uses for everything! Well, I don't give a shit about how much or how little of anything the world's most backward continent uses.
The answer is to bring more air conditioning to Africa, not less to North America.
Um... he's saying that air conditioning is available to be used in all those homes. When it goes up to 100 degrees, I don't think anyone was saying, "Turn off your A/C! Think of the planet!"
ReplyDeleteEnvironmentalists do not hate technology. Honestly, you have to set aside some of your Glen Beckery for a second and really think about what you're saying. Technology is about the only thing that CAN make an environmentalist happy, as we need technological innovation in order to solve the very real environmental problems we have.
When most people don't have access to air conditioning, it cannot be over-used. If everyone has access to A/C, that isn't a bad thing, it just means that people need to understand when to use it. If you have to take a shower to cool off... maybe you can save the water by turning on the A/C. Just a thought.
Also, Africa doesn't need A/C... I mean it's hot there, but I think most Africans would prefer an economy whereby they have some ownership rights over the resources that multinationals pay them a pittance to remove from the earth.
I rarely use air conditioning, and don't even have it in my current "home" (which is probably why I don't use it much). Instead I open the windows and have a Mexican woman come in to fan me and feed me grapes.
ReplyDeleteI used it more when I lived in the dessert (it was a hot apple pie, and it would have been unbearable living there without AC) but even then tried not to when I could find other ways to stay cool, like going naked when I was inside the house (though I did once venture outside to check the mail while still in my birthday suit and got stares from the old lady across the street) and consuming large amounts of ice cream (which made being nude a less appealing option over time, as there were lots of mirrors in that house).