Air Conditioning

We don’t have it, and I have good arguments against it:

•  Literally billions of people in hotter climates than ours live without it. Apartment buildings in Singapore and Mumbai may be air conditioned, but most of the people on the Indian subcontinent, sub-Saharan Africa, and tropical Latin America do without air conditioning.

•  It wastes precious energy resources just to keep us comfortable.  Now PPL is giving economic incentives to people who agree to turn it off during peak periods.  It’s even better not to use it at all.

•  We need to get accustomed to higher temperatures.  The Republicans may deny the very concept of global warming, but it is here, it will get worse, and we need to adjust.

•  Running a fan is a chap alternative.  One problem with the heat is that you sweat and it doesn’t dry.  A fan doesn’t really cool you, but it evaporates the sweat, so your body is cooler.  

Having said that, we saw two rather lousy matinees this weekend (“Friends with Benefits” and “Captain America”) in part because the theaters were air conditioned.  

Here’s a tip to deal with the heat.  Don’t drink beer.  It has calories, and calories will make you feel warmer.  Try ice water.  Alternatively, drink enough beer so that you don’t  care about the heat.