Air conditioning is good for some, indeed necessary, but bad for all and especially bad for Mother Earth. Don't worry, the big gov guys have it all worked out who will have it and who won't and they also have it all worked out how those without will knuckle under to meet the needs of the few and of Mother Earth.
In the heat wave, the case against air conditioning
Washington didn't grind to a sweaty halt last week under triple-digit temperatures. People didn't even slow down. Instead, the three-day, 100-plus-degree, record-shattering heat wave prompted Washingtonians to crank up their favorite humidity-reducing, electricity-bill-busting, fluorocarbon-filled appliance: the air conditioner.
This isn't smart. In a country that's among the world's highest greenhouse-gas emitters, air conditioning is one of the worst power-guzzlers. The energy required to air-condition American homes and retail spaces has doubled since the early 1990s. Turning buildings into refrigerators burns fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases, which raises global temperatures, which creates a need for -- you guessed it -- more air-conditioning.
A.C.'s obvious public-health benefits during severe heat waves do not justify its lavish use in everyday life for months on end. Less than half a century ago, America thrived with only the spottiest use of air conditioning. It could again. While central air will always be needed in facilities such as hospitals, archives and cooling centers for those who are vulnerable to heat, what would an otherwise A.C.-free Washington look like?
The author also finds benefits for Tea Partiers and conservatives. Read the rest and try to think just how well this will play out across the nation and the world. South Central LA? Paris? Atlanta? Yeah, with no air conditioning cries of "drill baby drill" will be replaced by "burn baby burn." Think of the politics of unintended consequences.
