My parents fought all the time. He was a loyal Republican. She was a liberal Democrat. And they were both passionate about politics.
But they seldom argued about politics. Instead they argued all the time about the time, and about climate change. You might say they lived in two separate time zones, and in two different climate zones.
My dad insisted if you weren’t fifteen minutes early—you were late. On the other hand, my mom insisted that if you got somewhere within fifteen minutes of the scheduled time, then you weren’t late. Disparaging members of my family said my mother was on “Sylvia Time.” But my father was just as obstinate. Even if they had plans to leave by six to go to a restaurant, with no designated reservation saying when they were supposed to be there, my father would get all bent out of shape if my mother was even a few minutes “late.”
“Sylvia! It’s already five after six! We’re late! What the hell are you doing?”
“Bob, don’t rush me. We have plenty of time and I’ll be ready in a minute.”
Paradoxically, the more my father rushed my mother to be early, the more she resisted his unreasonable punctuality, and the later she was. And likewise, the more my mother delayed, the harder he pushed her to be punctual. My mother was literally late for her own funeral.
But this was nothing compared to their arguments about climate change—that is, changing the climate in their house and car by controlling the air-conditioner setting. In the summer, my father was uncomfortably warm if the temperature was over 70⁰. My mother was uncomfortably cold, unless the temperature was at least 80⁰.
“Bob, I’m freezing! We don’t need to put on the air-conditioning. All we need to do is open a window and let in a nice breeze.”
“Are you crazy? It’s over 90⁰ outside! Shut that window. I can’t afford to air-condition the entire neighborhood!”
They argued more about the windows being open or shut than they did about the thermostat. My father would try to make it cooler by increasing the air-conditioning. My mother would try to make it warmer by opening the windows.
Today, climate change, or as I prefer to call it, catastrophic climate change, is here and now, deadly and dangerous. But it has become increasingly apparent to me that virtually nobody is going to do a damn thing about preventing or ameliorating catastrophic climate change, if they have to do anything that might interfere with being perfectly comfortable.
My parents didn’t argue about whether air-conditioning was bad for life on the planet. They argued about what temperature provided the most comfort.
Americans are notoriously spoiled and selfish. Republicans either deny climate change and global warming altogether, or simply don’t want to do anything about it. Democrats have a better attitude toward this issue, but even Democrats don’t want to anything about catastrophic climate change if it means being the least bit uncomfortable. Instead, we luxuriate in air-conditioned comfort, content that Biden has already done all we need to do to stop deadly global burning. Dream on.
In Hawaii, over a hundred people were burned to death by a wildfire exacerbated by catastrophic climate change. According to the Washington Post:
The links between human-caused climate change and fires are well-established. Global warming means plants can more easily dry out, because warmer air hastens the evaporation of water. As the air sucks more moisture from the land, fire risks are increasing.
Hawaii is, on average, two degrees warmer than it was in 1950, according to state climate data. Scientists said that likely provides the strongest connection between humans’ fossil fuel consumption, which emits greenhouse gases that warm the planet, and the likelihood of fires in Hawaii and elsewhere.
Rising temperatures have also intensified the heat that has baked the Southwest this summer — and which sent hot, dry air toward Hawaii this week. And climate change is helping to strengthen hurricanes like the one that passed south of the islands this week, probably increasing the strength of winds that fanned the flames.
Wildfires in Canada were so bad, it impaired the air breathed as far south as South Carolina. In New York, the pollution was so great you could barely see the New York skyline.
This summer was the hottest the world ever recorded.
Yet the number one rule of politics dictates, “A man with an umbrella has no concern about anyone else caught in a downpour.” As long as we are comfortable, we have no concern, if any about someone else burning to death. Oh, we feel sympathy for the victims of catastrophic climate change, whether they die by hurricanes, fire, or flood. It’s just than none of us are likely to do anything different that takes us out of our comfort zone.
So before I throw stones at others, allow me to offer my own meager contributions to saving the planet.
- I recycle. This was a bit of a chore when the city paid for recycling. I had to force myself to pay $17 a month to continue recycling by hiring a private service.
- I put solar panels on my roof. Admittedly, this was a good financial investment. My electric bill has been reduced about 90%. Even so, I keep my thermostat at 78⁰ in summer. Turn the system off in Spring and Fall, and keep the thermostat at 68⁰ in the winter.
- A few years prior to that, I put more insulation in my attic.
- A bought a Prius which got close to 50 mpg.
- My next car will be electric.
- I bought a new electric lawn mower. Also, I don’t use gas-operated lawn equipment like leaf-blowers.
Yet, regardless of political persuasion, every day I see virtually everyone disregard climate change as something that should actually change their behavior one iota. As long as we are comfortable now, we have no fear or worry about being comfortable in the future.
But there is a downside to being vigilant about trying to save the planet, so my grandchildren don’t have to watch millions of people die due to climate catastrophes. When I see others, obliviously killing the planet, it drives me nuts.
- One evening, taking a walk through my neighborhood, I saw a neighbor I was friendly with using a leaf blower to remove leaves from the entire street that was adjacent to his house on both sides. His house was on the corner. He wasn’t just blowing leaves out of his gutter. He spent over a half hour blowing all the leaves off these two streets. Gas- powered leaf blowers are terrible for the environment. But then again, he is proud of having the nicest lawn in the neighborhood.
- Last Saturday, I drove to Asheville to play Table Tennis. A close Republican friend of mine, who lives a couple of miles from my house, also drove up to Asheville in his own car. I offered a dozen times for him to carpool with me, and said I would gladly pay for the gas. He always has an excuse not to. A couple of years ago he argued that climate change was a myth.
- Went to a new dentist for the first time. Almost froze when I entered. Everyone was wearing professional jackets, often black in color, which retains heat. When I had to go back a week later, I made sure I dressed warmer.
- Driving past Brushy Creek Elementary school, I saw hundreds of cars lined-up bumper-to-bumper, as parents waited for probably at least a half hour, until they could pick up their little darlings and take them home. Of course, virtually every car was running their engines to activate the air-conditioner in the Carolina August heat, even though all the cars were standing still. When my kids attended this same school, I walked them to and from school.
- When I go to the Pavilion, the county recreation center near my home where I play Table Tennis, I see people parked in their huge vehicles letting their engine idle by the hour, so they can play on their cell phones in air-conditioned comfort. The idle rich.
- Inside the Pavilion, I enter the huge room, about double the size of an average gymnasium, chilled to a frigid 64⁰ to 66⁰, when the temperature outside is well over 90⁰. I complained at the front desk. “It’s cold, it wastes energy, and it wastes money.” I was told only the manager (who wasn’t there) knew how to re-set the thermostat. They lied. After I saw the manager finally re-set the thermostat from 64⁰ to 68⁰, I now reset the thermostat myself, putting it at 70⁰. I was told those who play Pickle ball like it cold, so they don’t have to sweat.
Excuse me? Am I missing something? Since when is sweating to cool off a bad thing? I’ve both run and played Table Tennis in 100⁰ heat, although I will admit anything over 85⁰ is uncomfortable. All you have to do is drink plenty of liquids with water and electrolytes. My preference is Gatorade Zero, with no sugar. Sweat doesn’t smell. However, if you haven’t showered or bathed in a while, bacteria builds up on your skin. When you sweat, the bacteria, which smells bad, goes into the air. An easy way to prevent body odor is not to avoid sweating, but simply shower before you exercise. If you are too delicate to sweat, then you are too delicate to exercise!
Not everyone, of course, is harming the planet. I went to a shoe store and bought two pairs of shoes. The temperature was in the upper nineties. When I left, I saw an elderly man sitting on the passenger side in the car next to mine. The windows of the car were rolled down and the engine wasn’t running. He looked hot, and noticed he didn’t have anything to drink. So I gave him a spare unopened bottle of Gatorade I had in my car. I am not prone to doing such acts of kindness. I just wanted to reward him for not having the air-conditioner on. Maybe their car didn’t have air-conditioning.
Yet as frustrating as it is to see strangers wantonly do things that are globally bad for humanity. It is even more challenging when friends and family do them.
My son-in-law asked me to drive him to the used car lot where he saw a Jeep Renegade he liked. On the way, seeing the recent spike in gas prices posted at a gas station, I asked him if he knew why the price of gas went up. “Because people will pay almost anything for gas, and as demand goes up, so does the price.” So I asked him how good was the mileage on the Jeep he was interested in buying. He said it was decent.
“You mean it gets terrible mileage.”
“No, it gets about 19 miles per gallon.”
“That’s what I said, terrible mileage.”
“Not for a Jeep. Besides I won’t drive it that much.” The only difference between a man and a boy, is the price of the toy.
About a week later, my girlfriend said a member of her family bought a Denali truck. Actually, the mileage of this over $80,000 truck is a little better than the Jeep, but it was her comment that bothered me. She expressed the attitude that as long someone has the money, they can do whatever they want with it.
In other words, if you are rich enough, you have an umbrella of protection, and should have no qualms that your luxurious comfort means others will eventually suffer.
I was a bit chagrined after she got back to my house and I invited her in. She said first she needed to smoke a cigarette. I suggested she smoke outside.
“Oh, I would never think of smoking in your house.” Then she started getting into her car.
“What are you doing?” I asked.
“I need to sit down.” Not I want cigarette, or I want to sit down. By saying need instead of want, we give ourselves permission to do whatever we want, regardless of the consequences.
Then she turned on her engine to turn on the air-conditioner, even though her window was down. It was after dark. The temperature was in the low 80’s. I asked her why she needed to use the air conditioner. “Because I’m hot.”
Talking to her previously on the phone she said she liked to cool her apartment to 70⁰. I told her I preferred 78⁰ but if she came over, I would meet her half-way and lower it to 74⁰. Inside, she complained she was too hot and said I needed to lower it to 70⁰. I said I would lower it one more degree. She complained that wasn’t enough. I went to the thermostat. I saw I had already lowered it to 73⁰, but since I promised to lower it one more degree, put it down to 72⁰. When I was at her apartment, I was so cold I had to put on another shirt. Now my own home was only a couple of degrees warmer.
If it was just a question of comfort, it would be one thing. But air-conditioning is a vicious circle. The more we use it, the hotter the planet gets, the hotter the planet gets, the more we use it, and then soon what used to be a luxury becomes a necessity. Only millions of people don’t have air-conditioning.
I have submitted several diaries about climate change. I think my best was The Two Degree Solution—Only You Can Prevent Climate Change. I also recommended two books by experts on air-conditioning: Losing Our Cool by Stand Cox, and After Cooling by Derek Wilson.
The gist of the Two Degree Solution is simple, if you raise your air conditioning thermostat two degrees, say from 72⁰ to 74⁰, in less than two days you’ll never even feel the difference.
There are myriad ways to prevent catastrophic climate change from creating impending harm to our environment. But based on my experiences, if people have to choose between feeling slightly less comfortable today, even if that means they will be extremely uncomfortable and facing life-threatening conditions tomorrow; they will choose more comfort today.
Last night I talked to my girlfriend on the phone. Her air conditioning is kaput. Apparently, so many people were running their air-conditioning that the system collapsed. Until it is fixed, she can’t even stay in her home.
We’re killing ourselves with comfort.