In light of the latest heat wave to blanket this country of ours, I thought I’d take a moment to reflect on the wonder that is air conditioning.
First off, I’m old enough to remember when certain stores operated seasonally or kept different hours to avoid weather extremes. The Dairy Queen located in the next town over was closed all winter. Some local retailers would close up shop by one or two in the afternoon in the summertime because they didn’t have A/C. I remember walking into stores like Ben Franklin’s and the noise from the floor fans was so loud that you could barely hold a conversation without yelling. I’d go clogging with my grandmother out at the livestock auction barn (don’t ask) and all the dancers would be sweating like pigs in their poodle skirts and bolo ties. I can see in my mind that little bead of sweat that would collect on my grandmother’s upper lip and her permed hair all matted down around the temples of her forehead. It was hotter than three kinds of hell in that place, everybody waving cardboard hand fans and cackling like magpies. Looking back, I guess nobody seemed to mind the stifling heat all that much.
But most vividly, I remember the old farmhouse I grew up in. My bedroom was upstairs, and to make matters worse, one of my windows was painted shut, which made a good cross-breeze impossible. Every summer my bedroom window had a box fan in it, the oscillating fan on my dresser blew nonstop, and eventually I inherited a wind machine that sat on the floor vibrating like a jet turbine; I’d usually sleep with my head at the foot of the bed for maximum air velocity. Let’s just say it was warm up there. And to this day I can’t really sleep well without hearing the whirring of fan blades.
When it was just too hot for me to be in my room my parents would let me unfold a sleeping bag on the floor of their bedroom. My dad worked shift work at the aluminum factory and because he slept during the day sometimes they bought an A/C unit for their bedroom window. Some days we’d hang out in that room all day, playing cards on top of the bedspread and eating ice cream.
It’s hard to imagine a life without A/C now. I’d hate to be trying to raise a child in a house or apartment without it, yet I know many folks still do. My mom still lives in West Virginia, where close to 90% of the entire state lost power over a week ago and most still don’t have it back. I feel for them and the misery they must be experiencing. And yet, not so long ago, this was just the way people lived all the time. They figured out all sorts of exotic ways to stay cool, or try to at least. In the South, people just didn’t work as hard or as long during the summer months. And now, with global climate change upon us, we might not be long for feeling that heat more intensely than ever, and maybe overwhelming our energy resources in the process. China, India, and other hot spots in the developing world are situating themselves in the synthetic wonderment of A/C. Once people get a taste of coolness, it’s hard to go back.
I was reading a blog today about the air conditioning and its history. Someone named Stan Cox has actually written a book about the invention and development of A/C and its effects on modern life. It’s called Losing Our Cool. The guy who effectively invented A/C was a man named Thomas Midgley. He also, coincidentally, was the first to suggest refining gasoline with lead. Here’s a little bit from Cox’s book:
The breakthrough CFC refrigerant, Freon, was invented in 1930 by chemist Thomas Midgley, working for General Motors' Frigidaire division. Midgley earlier had found that the problem of car engine knocking could be solved by adding lead, which wound up causing serious air pollution and health problems. On the strength of his two momentous discoveries, Midgley was credited by historian J.R. McNeill as having "had more impact on the atmosphere than any other single organism in earth history.”
So, on this ever-warming planet, and during our latest heat wave, we should give thanks to Mr. Midgely…I guess, for keeping us cool. Cool with ramifications we can’t yet fathom.
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