I have never understood the popularity of T-shirts, because of the reasons stated in the article as well as many others – they just aren’t that attractive on most people. Another thing I don’t get is the practice of men being required to wear suits in summer. People look at me in my long dresses and think I must be hot in summer. They could not be further from the truth. The ones I wear in summer are made of lightweight airy fabrics that breath – not polyester. In winter I wear a heavier weight and dress in layers including black long underwear tops and bottoms when the weather calls for it. And, I recently discovered capes/shawls. They were in style this year but as with long dresses, even when they are far out of style, I will be wearing them.

I have often said that air conditioning is one of the major reasons that children are getting outside less and less. So into any, especially upper scale, neighborhood on a beautiful day in July when the temperature has cooled down to mid seventies by a recent rain and – even if the people have come outside, you will hear the air conditioners going. Another thing I’ve never understood is why air conditioning unites are usually place in back of the house near a patio or deck.

One thing that there seems to be less of to go around these days is “common sense.” To people who grew up without air conditioning, it is commons sense that you want shade trees around you house and build houses with widows all around to create cross breeze opportunities. It’s common sense that you open the windows at night and in the morning close the windows and pull the shades or blinds on windows that are not shaded. It’s common sense that you would not build a house with a deck on the west side, unless it was shaded by a large tree, where it will be in the heat of the sun in the evening when you are likely to want to use it. And, it is common sense that fans make you feel cooler. The schools are air conditioned. When I go inside in warm weather, at first if feels cooler but after a few minutes inside, it feels stuffy and then hot because my body us used to the air movement that is going on outside on even the hottest days.

I could go on and on but I have volunteers coming.
Roberta

Another amazingly perceptive entry! Coming from Chicago…you know a lot about Arctic air blasts!regards, Donna

Patty, in N. Louisiana

Living in south central VA now (heat zone 8, the hottest part of the state) we are the last to turn on our A/C (usually make it to July) and we turn it off for periods in the summer when heat and humidity are less intense. I know our neighbors think we’re strange because we sit on our front porch day and night (in all seasons but winter) rather than indoors. We have a very shady garden and spend a lot of time there too. Visitors universally enjoy the way it looks but often don’t want to hang out there for long because it’s still hotter than indoors and there are bugs, heaven forbid.

Our house buying strategy always dictates that large and plentiful trees in the yard and lots of windows in the house are the paramount variables in selection. Living in an old house we appreciate the wisdom of the architects and builders of an earlier time. All of the screened porches/sunrooms in our 1920s-1930s neighorhood have these additions on the east side, so they’re comfortable at the hottest parts of the day and cooled-off at night. Likewise, our large front porch is designed to be blocked by a wall of the house from the late afternoon sun. I don’t know if modern developers take these kinds of things into account (doubt they do).

To put it more succinctly, I love summer but loathe going anywhere (work, shopping, restaurants) then because of the artificial chill. I have to take a long-sleeved shirt or sweater with me everywhere. At home I can dress for the climate in tank tops because I’m outside whenever I can be and we don’t turn our A/C below 80 degrees when it is running.

I know I’m coming across as an old crank but that’s the way it goes. Keep it up George!

I’ve been wondering if the real AGW effect comes from the heat given off by our cars, refrigerators, and heaters. After all, we burn and release not just gas, but the energy from the sun that was stored in coal and oil. It seems to me that the major effects we have from heating our surroundings might be found in … cities.

Sure enough, there is an urban heat effect, it just isn’t big enough to matter. So, actually releasing the stored energy itself is nothing to worry about, but the less-reactive end product, a minor greenhouse gas, is?

Nahhhh.