This Just In ...

UPDATE: Air conditioning: A liberal nightmare

Posted by Kevin Fischer on July 13, 2010

Last week, I featured a review written by Salon’s Ryan Brown about Stan Cox’s book, "Losing Our Cool: Uncomfortable Truths About Our Air-Conditioned World (and Finding New Ways to Get Through the Summer)."

Brown writes, “Stan Cox argues in his new book, the dizzying rise of air conditioning comes at a steep personal and societal price……providing a clear explanation of how A.C. made the leap from luxury to necessity in the United States and examining how we can learn to manage the addiction before we refrigerate ourselves into the apocalypse.”

AC.

We’ve paid “a steep personal and societal price” for not sweating to death.

AC will cause us to “refrigerate ourselves into the apocalypse.”

This week, the kooky flako author speaks out on his own in the Washington Post. Wacko Stan Cox says cranking up the ACs duirng intense heat and humidity “isn’t smart.” You hear that. If you turned on your air the past week, you’re stupid.

AC, you idiots, is evil.

“Air conditioning is one of the worst power-guzzlers. The energy required to air-condition American homes and retail spaces has doubled since the early 1990s. Turning buildings into refrigerators burns fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases, which raises global temperatures, which creates a need for -- you guessed it -- more air-conditioning.”

Cue the kumbaya music…

“Saying goodbye to A.C. means saying hello to the world. With more people spending more time outdoors -- particularly in the late afternoon and evening, when temperatures fall more quickly outside than they do inside -- neighborhoods see a boom in spontaneous summertime socializing. Rather than cowering alone in chilly home-entertainment rooms, neighbors get to know one another. Because there are more people outside, streets in high-crime areas become safer.”

Most outrageous is Cox’s diminishing of the jeopardy living without AC brings. According to the National Institute of Environmental Health Science (I’m sure Stan Cox has heard of it) heat is the primary weather-related cause of death in the United States.

Slate (Another source I’m sure Stan Cox is aware of) reports, “Heat waves kill more people in the United States than all of the other so-called natural disasters combined. More than 400 Americans die from heat-related illnesses in a typical year. Annual mortality from tornadoes, earthquakes, and floods together is under 200. Heat-wave deaths aren't the worst natural disasters only in quantitative terms, but also in qualitative ones because they're slow and preventable. There's no telling when an earthquake will strike. But dangerous heat always comes announced, and it's fairly easy to prevent human damage. Victims of heat tend to wilt gradually, alone and at home, out of touch with family, friends, and social-service providers who could save their lives simply by treating them with water or bringing them to an air-conditioned place.”

That’s small potatoes according to Cox:

“A.C.'s obvious public-health benefits during severe heat waves do not justify its lavish use in everyday life for months on end.”

Without supporting data, Cox makes the ridiculous claim that turning off the AC reduces heat deaths.

G-O-O-F-B-A-L-L.

I just love the thought processes of liberals. Hope Cox has stocked up mightily on Right Guard.