The hot weather arrived a few days ago. We will still have days of moderate or temperate weather, but the hot and humid days will return again and again until they arrive to stay. Every year I hold off turning on the air-conditioner until June 1 if I can. I live in the middle south and our summers are always hot and humid for at least two months. With global climate change, it will be for three months (or more) in the years to come.
I closed my windows to create my climate cave shutting out all the sounds from outdoors. I lose the bird and animal sounds and the sound of the wind pushing through the fat green leaves, but I do not mind closing out the teenage girl's loud radio that sits on her dock across the river every weekend. I do not mind missing the sound of the lawn mowers and speed boats and barking dogs. I do not mind muffling the loud museum concert that is being held just two miles away in the outdoor garden that I help weed! I live in the woods where there should be little sound, but the water is a perfect surface for carrying the abundance of man-made noise on weekends.
Once the AC is on, we become spoiled. We go outside to work or shop or visit early in the day until the sweat drips from our brows and nose and then we quickly retreat to the cool space of this house and rarely go out again. We tend to hide and find indoor things to do in the middle of the day. We get better about combining errands.
I find that I must also remember to bring sweaters to restaurants and movie theaters and museums because they crank up the AC much higher than I do. I am always amazed at the way stores in the beautiful climate of Hawaii find it necessary to create rooms like refrigerators for shopping.
When I flipped the switch this year I was even more aware of how big a decision this was. Even with zoned cooling, I am burning fossil fuels to heat rooms with high ceilings that I rarely use. I am pushing artificially cooled air down hallways and into upstairs bedrooms. What a luxury to burn this fossil fuel while people all over the world deal with the climate into which they were born, without AC! Here in the mid-south people used to quit housework early and sit on porches under fans and pant until the sun set and they could move once again. What a luxury to be able to afford this expense...for now. I cannot help but think we as a society in North America are at the peak of of our life style. I cannot help but think generations to follow will have many compromises to make in how they live their lives that would surprise us if we were here 40 years from now.
I closed my windows to create my climate cave shutting out all the sounds from outdoors. I lose the bird and animal sounds and the sound of the wind pushing through the fat green leaves, but I do not mind closing out the teenage girl's loud radio that sits on her dock across the river every weekend. I do not mind missing the sound of the lawn mowers and speed boats and barking dogs. I do not mind muffling the loud museum concert that is being held just two miles away in the outdoor garden that I help weed! I live in the woods where there should be little sound, but the water is a perfect surface for carrying the abundance of man-made noise on weekends.
Once the AC is on, we become spoiled. We go outside to work or shop or visit early in the day until the sweat drips from our brows and nose and then we quickly retreat to the cool space of this house and rarely go out again. We tend to hide and find indoor things to do in the middle of the day. We get better about combining errands.
I find that I must also remember to bring sweaters to restaurants and movie theaters and museums because they crank up the AC much higher than I do. I am always amazed at the way stores in the beautiful climate of Hawaii find it necessary to create rooms like refrigerators for shopping.
When I flipped the switch this year I was even more aware of how big a decision this was. Even with zoned cooling, I am burning fossil fuels to heat rooms with high ceilings that I rarely use. I am pushing artificially cooled air down hallways and into upstairs bedrooms. What a luxury to burn this fossil fuel while people all over the world deal with the climate into which they were born, without AC! Here in the mid-south people used to quit housework early and sit on porches under fans and pant until the sun set and they could move once again. What a luxury to be able to afford this expense...for now. I cannot help but think we as a society in North America are at the peak of of our life style. I cannot help but think generations to follow will have many compromises to make in how they live their lives that would surprise us if we were here 40 years from now.
Your days sound much like what I experienced in Arizona summers once the humid times arrive. Will, indeed, be interesting what adaptations people will make -- especially along the seashore with the oceans encroaching.
ReplyDeleteYou are right. Here we use what they call evaporative coolers or swamp cooler. They add moisture to the air and this creates a cooling effect. No freon just water and air. Only works in dry climates. In warm moist areas of the country, you need to remove moisture from the air to cool. And you use freon.
ReplyDeleteI like the swamp coolers...and you can keep windows open....it adds to the cooling effect.
Hugs
SueAnn
Ahh.. talk of hot weather. It is becoming the end of civilization here in North India!
ReplyDeleteI also think that air conditioning adds weight to people. Before it was "too hot to eat or bake", now with AC we just turn the oven on and pig out.
ReplyDeleteI woke up today at my mom's house appreciated sleeping in a room with two open windows but also had to complain a bit about the sounds which I don't have at home. We don't need AC in Floyd but maybe with climate change more are getting it. I had it in Houston and understand what you wrote.
ReplyDeletePeople sweat. Even the beautiful ones. We don't like to acknowledge that.
ReplyDeleteHi There, It was hot here this past weekend --but has cooled off a little now. I am one who absolutely hates Air Conditioning. Luckily (since we are 2000 feet up) we don't need it very often. Last summer, when it got so hot for so long, we had the AC on --but I still hate it (although I don't like the heat either)...
ReplyDeleteYou asked: The filter that George uses 'allows' for a slower shudder speed...
Hugs,
Betsy
I love a/c and use it most of the time. It gets humid in Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteI live in Hawaii and we have no air conditioning. We have overhead fans and an attic fan, and all our windows are open to let the trade winds blow through. The trees we have planted that have gotten large also help to keep it cool in the house. It's pretty quiet in the neighborhood, but I really don't mind some noise, anyway.
ReplyDeleteI think air conditioning is unhealthy. I'd rather live with the climate and take it easy when it's on the warm and humid side. We're built for that anyway, as a species.
AC is rare in the UK, modern supermarkets are usually cool, but that might just be due to the many fridges and freezers in them. We went to the theatre yesterday and, as it is an old building, it has no AC to speak of.
ReplyDeleteI don't know any private houses with AC, we all have windows and doors open; when there's a breeze, we put blocks under the doors to stop them slamming.
We are lucky, Valley's End is quiet, but when somebody plays loud music, you just grin and bear it. The UK gets very muggy (hot and humid - to 30 C in high summer), everybody complains and people suffer in trains and other public transport, but it is just part of life.
I seldom use my A/C. Ceiling fans whirl along with large floor fan.
ReplyDeleteUp early with doors open for the coolness to hopefully come inside
along with the sounds of the woods.
In a few hours the doors are shut.
I like it quiet and very seldom turn on radio or tv.
Being alone a lot has spoiled me in many ways....
I like it
Like you I always carry a sweater on trips to town...
We have already had our AC on for a month. Yesterday I received a birthday card and our electric bill in the mail. I hoped there was money in the birthday card:)
ReplyDeleteWe moved to central Colorado from north Texas a few years ago, mainly to get away from the oppressive humidity and heat. Just now, we were sitting on the front porch reading, with the sound of birds and the feel of a soft breeze across our shoulders. We talked about moving back to Texas in a few years to be near our daughter, but my husband reminded me of how we'd be burrowed inside an air conditioned house and how different it would be. Being able to spend a lot of time outside is good for the soul.
ReplyDeleteSueAnn, we had an evap cooler in AZ and I, too, much preferred the cooling effect to A/C during the dry months. Then as the Phoenix-Scottsdale area building mushroomed with more green golf courses being watered, swimming pools, residents, the humid months increased in number so we went to A/C.
ReplyDeleteHere in So Cal we initially had lots of smog problems so eventually went the A/C route. Fortunately, our environmental efforts have significantly decreased the smog the past twenty or so years, but now that I'm older I like the A/C since I experience the heat as debiiitaing.
SueAnn, we had an evap cooler in AZ and I, too, much preferred the cooling effect to A/C during the dry months. Then as the Phoenix-Scottsdale area building mushroomed with more green golf courses being watered, swimming pools, residents, the humid months increased in number so we went to A/C.
ReplyDeleteHere in So Cal we initially had lots of smog problems so eventually went the A/C route. Fortunately, our environmental efforts have significantly decreased the smog the past twenty or so years, but now that I'm older I like the A/C since I experience the heat as debiiitaing.
While I love hot weather and enjoy it as much as possible, I do adore air conditioning and make use of it all the time. I remember days in my youth with no AC (and worse nights, trying to sleep in the heat.)
ReplyDeleteI still have no AC here- Don't like it. Fans dry my eyes too quickly (no tears must put in more drops), but do use small ones. Also bad for my allergies n must be cleaned constantly to avoid probs- the work one does me in!
ReplyDelete