Air Conditioning

August 7th, 2018

The weather in Paris has not cooled appreciably---98 degrees is predicted for today---but I promised my manifesto against air conditioning and I will deliver.  (I have said on occasion that I want my tombstone to read something like "Brave Fighter in the Campaign Against Over-Air-Conditioned Spaces."  It will, however, be difficult to justify such an epitaph unless I actually launch this campaign.  So let this be the first call to arms.)

Air conditioning can be lovely.  It can help people sleep at night.  It can provide a welcome respite from stifling heat.  It can even save lives.  I am not anti-AC.  But enough is enough.  Every summer in the US, I am so sad to be unable to wear summer clothes to the office because I will spend the day shivering.  I am sad when the streets empty out and the life of the city is stifled by doors and windows hermetically sealed from the summer heat, everyone safely closed inside the artificially-cooled environment.  I am sad to have to always carry a sweater because I don't know how cold a restaurant or shop will be.  And I am sad for the shocking use of energy to cool spaces well below a level that many people find even tolerable in the middle of the summer.

Living in Paris this summer has reacquainted me with my pre-AC existence of my childhood.  Buildings in Paris are often difficult or impossible to retrofit with AC.  Furthermore, Parisians have the deeply-ingrained tradition of moving to the sea or the mountains in August.  Therefore, AC is practically absent.  A few restaurants, some shops, some movie theaters, and some museums have AC, but neither our apartment nor our offices do.  Yes, I have been hot.  Yes, I have sweated.  Yes, I have complained about the heat and humidity on a number of occasions.  (My complaints have been more of a shared social experience rather than actual, serious grievances, though.)  I have even wished for just a tiny bit of air conditioning so that I can sleep more soundly at night.  

Human beings are clever at making adjustments, though.  Adaptations like wiping myself off with cool water several times a day and even running a cool bath to just sit in mean that I do not find the heat particularly unpleasant.  I carry a small accordion fan in my purse and use it regularly.  I wear thin, drapey linen clothes that catch the breeze.  On balance, I am happier with no air conditioning than with unpleasantly cold buildings in the middle of the summer (although, obviously, this all-or-nothing choice is not one we have to make in the US).  I have been so happy this year in Paris to be able to actually wear these summer clothes and not have to carry thick sweaters everywhere.  I have been so happy to have my windows open and walk by many others with their windows open and shops and restaurants with doors open, spilling out onto the street and adding life to the city.  I have been happy to do my part to not add needlessly to excessive energy usage and climate change.    

As I said, though, excessive AC versus no AC is not a choice that we typically have to face in the US.  We are well-equipped to make the choice to turn on the AC on occasion when it gets really hot, but not to overuse it.  We can choose to wear weather-appropriate clothes so that "I have to wear a suit to work" does not become an excuse for making many people around you uncomfortable.  We can choose to, sometimes, feel a little hot, or even sweat.  It's not the worst thing in the world.  We can choose to try a fan or a cool shower before turning on the AC.  We can choose to equip our houses with passive cooling technologies and plant shade trees around them.         

Years ago, Americans were admonished to turn their thermostats down to 68 degrees in the winter to save energy.  This was pitched as a civic duty, and most tried to do their part.  At the time, there was little reason to admonish them to turn their thermostats up in the summer because air conditioning was relatively rare.  Let me be the first:  Americans, turn your thermostats up at 78 degrees in the summer, or, even, consider turning off your air conditioning!  (And here I speak mostly to controllers of thermostats in office buildings, malls, movie theaters, restaurants, but you can listen, too, even if you only control your home thermostat.)  Do it for energy savings!  Do it for the health of the planet!  Do it to bring back the linen dress and the seersucker suit!  Do it for the comfort of your fellow Americans who are actually wearing linen dresses and seersucker suits despite the air conditioning!  But just do it!!