Air Conditioning is Climate Adaptation Gone Wild

This is a story of modern living, an evolution of what we collectively consider a necessity, and what we might do as individuals.

The Daily Podcast, linked here How Air-conditioning Conquered America highlights how we got to the point where millions of people are living in conditions that were not meant to be endured or sustained by our culture, economy or the environment. Houston, Texas, Phoenix Arizona and other parts South and North to name only a few.

I grew up without air conditioning in our family home. August in Northern Illinois can be particularly hot and humid. My mother would put sheets on the living room rug at night and have a fan blowing over us for sleeping on the floor when it got really hot. We’d have evening meals down in the basement where it was cooler. As noted in the podcast, the family venture into air conditioning came later and included a couple of window units and fans.

Subsequently, we have evolved our living environments into places that have windows that don’t open and air conditioning has become a necessity.  Now that I live in two locations, one with and one without central air conditioning. We seem to survive just fine. The one with only a window unit and a two-story house has us opening the upstairs windows at night and drawing in cooler night air. In the morning the house is closed up and we seem to survive just fine. Evenings can be spent out on the lawn enjoying cooler temperatures and nature. “Up Norh” in Washington, we have central air conditioning and still at times open up the house in the evening, sitting out on the patio, dinners outside, etc.

The point of the podcast is that not every climate adaptation has to do with government action. Each of us has it in our power to take small steps to make our space more comfortable and livable without resorting to cooling the air mechanically…in those locations where it is possible. Phoenix might not be one of them.