Just as the senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch crave variety, the thermal sense does, too. A tightly controlled "optimum" temperature is the thermal equivalent of beige, elevator music or soda crackers.
I started thinking about the downsides of air-conditioning in the early 1990s, at a time when the world was just waking up to the threat of human-induced climate change. Air-conditioning seemed to me an especially insidious climate villain. As temperatures rise, it's used more, causing increased greenhouse gas emissions and helping to make future summers even hotter. That boosts AC demand further, and the vicious circle keeps spinning. As time passed, I also became troubled by how widespread adoption of air-conditioning was eroding everyday social relations. The neighborhoods where I grew up in the 1960s and raised kids in the 1980s were always at their liveliest on warm summer evenings. Up and down the block, adults sat in the shade swapping stories while children romped from yard to yard. But when I returned to those neighborhoods on summertime visits in the 2000s, they had the feel of ghost towns. Cars and trucks parked in driveways provided the only visible clues that human beings were present in the area. Then in 2008, Richard Louv coined the concept of "nature deficit disorder" among children, and I saw air-conditioning's fingerprints all over that problem, too. Heat waves have become more frequent and intense in the 15 years since I wrote my book about AC's downsides, and that's made life more complicated for critics of the technology. I always try to be crystal clear in stressing that we face two distinct problems requiring contrary responses. On the one hand, air-conditioning should be guaranteed to all, as a human right, during extreme heat waves. On the other, there's a deep need to reduce our AC dependence during routine hot weather. In my guest essay for Times Opinion today, I focus on the latter need and suggest that the key to becoming less dependent is simple: The less you use air-conditioning, the easier it will become to live without it.
We hope you've enjoyed this newsletter, which is made possible through subscriber support. Subscribe to The New York Times. Games Here are today's Mini Crossword, Wordle and Spelling Bee. If you're in the mood to play more, find all our games here. Forward this newsletter to friends to share ideas and perspectives that will help inform their lives. They can sign up here. Do you have feedback? Email us at opiniontoday@nytimes.com. If you have questions about your Times account, delivery problems or other issues, visit our Help Page or contact The Times.
|
Saturday, August 31, 2024
Opinion Today: Why I swear off air-conditioning, and you should too
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment