Posted on 08/14/2015 10:00:59 AM PDT by rey
It started with the pope. In his recent encyclical, Laudato Si, he singled out air conditioning as a particularly good example of wasteful habits and excessive consumption that overcome our better natures:
People may well have a growing ecological sensitivity but it has not succeeded in changing their harmful habits of consumption which, rather than decreasing, appear to be growing all the more. A simple example is the increasing use and power of air-conditioning.
Now, it seems to be open season on air conditioning. From a raging Facebook debate over an article that claims that air conditioning is an oppressive tool of the patriarchy to an article in the Washington Post that calls the American use of air conditioning an addiction and compares it unfavorably to the European willingness to sweat through the heat of summer, air conditioning is under attack. So I want to defend it.
Understand that when I defend air conditioning, I do so as something of a reluctant proponent. I grew up in the Midwest, and I have always loved sitting on the screened-in porch, rocking on the porch swing, drinking a glass of something cold. I worked in Key West during the summer after my sophomore year of college, lived in an apartment with no air conditioning, and discovered the enormous value of ceiling fans. A lazy, hot summer day can be a real pleasure.
(Excerpt) Read more at fee.org ...
I do have air conditioning. I choose not to use it unless I have to. Mainly because after two years of working in an office where the boss kept it down at 64 I start having upper respiratory problems whenever a lot of A/C blowing on me.
I think I have pretty clearly said that Pittsburgh has more summer days where that is liveable than most of the country does.
I think the Pope’s rantings on air conditioning are absurd. I am both amused and annoyed that my Church continues to hit me up for a monthly contribution to pay the A/C bill, given how he feels.
I think you will find that my postings are rather hard on the Pope. To the point that some of my fellow Catholic FReepers start to admonish at me.
I feel so ashamed in my pleasant comfortable air conditioned house.
When I lived in Ohio I had an apartment around the corner from some type of freight terminal where they unloaded pigs. Sometimes on a hot summer day while I was at work the air would kick on, and suck all of that pig-smell straight into my little 1BR flat.
A very rude surprise for me when I got home.
I lived on a hill, fortunately. And not close to anything smelly thankfully. I did spend an inordinate amount of time in the Library and Walmart at nights and on the weekends when I could. And thankfully church had a/c.
At least your ‘hot season’ wasn’t as long. It was truly miserable in my little apartment until the first week of October. Although nights in September got a little more comfortable 3rd or 4th week in. It started getting miserable at night in early May though. That was the worst. I’m OK being hot during the day but it really does interfere with sleep.
Yankees will be cranking up THEIR A/C over the next few days with temps in the 90's...humid, too.
If God didn’t want us to use air conditioning; He wouldn’t have subjected us to heat waves.
Having raised market hogs and pissed off the cidiot who decided to plant a 5100 sq. Ft. Mansion 150 ft. From the pens.....that’s the smell of money. :)
I have worked with women who will micromanage the temperature controls and get extremely pissy if anyone touches them. So the rest of us wear parkas to work and they are finally comfortable. I just think it’s funny how the Green Freaks are trying to make air conditioning a “women’s issue.” Talk to those of us who have been in close quarters with other women who have unregulated thermostats.
I grew up in the southwest US where sometimes the temps can top 115-120 degrees in the shade. Having air conditioning is a necessity of life in the Sonoran desert of Arizona.
And I currently live in Florida where the humidity is off the charts. It is insufferably unbearable in the summer when the temperatures heat up with high humidity. I would not be able to live here without air conditioning.
Years ago, I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that declared that Houston, Texas would never have developed into a major metropolitan city had it not been for the invention of the air conditioner. It just was too inhospitable to humans.
Let these smug global warming idiots spout off about what they know nothing about and put their money where their mouths are. Move to one of these locations I have mentioned and see how long they sing the same tune.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.