On Sunday, July 11th, The Washington Post ran a great article by Stan Cox about our over-dependence on air conditioning. We learn that air conditioning dependence is a vicious cycle of heat waves resulting in increased AC usage, which, in turn, releases toxins into the environment, which leads to global warming. And so we turn on the AC again. According to the author, it is unconscionable to depend on air conditioning when we are not experiencing a heat wave.
Our planet would be better served if we patterned our lives after the "simpler times" of the previous century. Well, maybe not the part where abortion and drugs were aberrations, but the part where we suffered mercilessly in the heat, walked to the grocery store every morning to buy fresh food for dinner because we did not have a Frigidaire, and hung our laundry outside in the sun to dry. And used an outhouse.
And possibly, some people, who were in charge, would be exempt from this because they would have important business to attend to downtown. Or across the country. Or in France. (Oh wait, no one does business in France. Not even the French.) Fortunately for us, the author is more idealistic, and less hypocritical, than 98% of the heads of Big Gov't and Big Business.
Here is my favorite part of this insane article: the author's take on how rationing air conditioning would effect the business sector.
"In a world without air conditioning, a warmer, more flexible, more relaxed workplace helps make summer a time to slow down again. Three-digit temperatures prompt siestas. Code-orange days mean offices are closed. Shorter summer business hours and month-long closings -- common in pre-air-conditioned America -- return.
Business suits are out, for both sexes. And with the right to open a window, office employees no longer have to carry sweaters or space heaters to work in the summer. After a long absence, ceiling fans, window fans and desk fans (and, for that matter, paperweights) take back the American office.
Best of all, Washington's biggest business -- government -- is transformed. In 1978, 50 years after air conditioning was installed in Congress, New York Times columnist Russell Baker noted that, pre-A.C., Congress was forced to adjourn to avoid Washington's torturous summers, and "the nation enjoyed a respite from the promulgation of more laws, the depredations of lobbyists, the hatching of new schemes for Federal expansion and, of course, the cost of maintaining a government running at full blast."
Post-A.C., Congress again adjourns for the summer, giving "tea partiers" the smaller government they seek. During unseasonably warm spring and fall days, hearings are held under canopies on the Capitol lawn. What better way to foster open government and prompt politicians to focus on climate change?"
Where is Normal Rockwell when we need him? Can you not just imagine a delighted Nancy Pelosi under the canopy fanning herself to keep her make up from running down her face? On the other hand, I can imagine America's most powerful CEO's hoofing it to work, walking up all those stairs to their corner offices, using an abacus because computers use electricity, which run on, gasp, fossil fuels. No one would wear suits, so there would be no way of guessing which person was the CEO or the secretary or the janitor. What a model of equality.
Did you know that there is a "Take Back Your Time" movement? Google it; on their website you can print out posters to hang...somewhere. (France is their favorite model: employee and environmentally friendly. It has worked out pretty well for everyone involved over there. Greece, too.) As expressed by the TBYT leaders, communes and universal health care are a natural extension of this low AC, environmentally friendly lifestyle.
Certain aspects of living a simpler life, such as eating delicious, fresh food, living within your means, being a good steward of the Earth and it's resources, and spending quality time with your family beget a sense of abundance. Great blessings come when we live conscientiously and with integrity. But when the government forces us to choose a certain path, that seemingly little loss of freedom quickly translates to the loss of inalienable rights granted by our Creator.
One hallmark of Facism is that there is a group of people making decisions because they know better than the public. As in Hillary Clinton thinks that it takes a village to raise a child (The government needs to run commercials in public places about how to care for a child. BTW, it takes a village to support the parents, mom in particular, as they care for their child.) As in the government should tell us what an acceptable level of comfort is. (Turn that AC off until it hits 100F outside.) As in the government should tell us where we should live and what transportation to use. (Urban sprawl is a big no-no. You don't need that back yard, that's what a community park is for. Oh, and trade in that gas-guzzler.) As in the government should tell us how we can best pursue happiness. (You should not go into business unless you want to help a struggling non-profit. You should not go into Law. You should go into a service, like a teacher or a nurse or a maid. You don't want creepy student loans.)**
Unlike the romantic ideas of this Washington Post author, we all know that sacrificing to save the environment is the burden of the little man. Just ask Al Gore. The oceans would never dare rise all the way up to his curb on the beach in Malibu. George Orwell says it best, as always, "ALL ANIMALS ARE EQUAL, BUT SOME ARE MORE EQUAL THAN OTHERS"
In conclusion, I grew up believing that the role of government was to perform those tasks that were too big for private industry. Roads, money, defense. It turns out that protecting the environment is a pretty big job. The role of the government is central to this important debate. Should they use their political capital and influence to dictate thermostat settings? What a waste.
**Both President and Mrs. Obama have made statements to this effect in the past few years.
PS-If the government had less regulation on the Oil and Gas industry, we would still be in the same situation in the Gulf. So, for all of the money the government spent regulating this industry, we have nothing but an entire ecosystem and millions of lives destroyed. Fabulous. I'd like an itemized accounting of that budget, Mr. Obama and, to some extent, Mr. Bush. Thx.
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