It’s hot as blazes. Save your energy.
I detest hot weather. It’s too hot for jogging, one can’t legitimately drink hot drinks without confessing to a caffeine addiction, and my extensive scarf collection goes to waste. But even more than all of these things, I hate it when people turn their air conditioning on so high that I get cold inside! What do I wear when I leave the house: something that’s comfortable for the outside or the inside? What does it say about our nation that I’ve taken to carrying sweaters with me in steamy Tallahassee, Florida, in July?
I would like to proudly publish here that our own thermostat at home rarely goes below 83. At night, we use ceiling fans and a box fan in our respective rooms to stay nice and cool. Yes, it gets rather too warm sometimes, but it saves a lot on utilities. A recent article in Time by Joe Klein proposed that everyone immediately adjust their thermostats up 5 degrees in the summer and down 5 degrees in the winter. If everybody in the country did this, we’d save roughly 20% of our energy devoted to heating and cooling. Granted, put together that’s only about 11% of our energy expenditure, but it’s a relatively small sacrifice for individuals to make. Additionally, that’s something we can all do right now, even though the dreaded GWB is still in office.
Klein claims that in 2006, the US spent 4 quadrillion BTUs on AC, which is more than the total energy usage of all but 21 countries.
So, what’s your thermostat set on?
And, anybody got any more suggestions for living greener?
(Coming soon: the case against frequent showering…….Gotcha.)
Yeah, I saw that article, but decided not to read it because I thought (…and was evidently right) that it would try to make me feel guilty.
Luckily my mom is the green/cheap one, so our air conditioning only runs when it gets to be like upper 80s or if one of us sneaks to turn it on and shut the windows when she isn’t paying attention.
David M. Manes
16 Jul 08 at 4:08 pm
Almost no one has AC here, where I live (UK). The summers are very mild, and I’d guess there’s only 10-30 days a year where it get hots enough for an AC to be welcome. You just open the window (or door, if you can) and turn on a fan. The Pacific NW in the USA is like that too.
It’s in the south where people really crank that thing up as though they’re trying to ward off hell.
JH
16 Jul 08 at 4:21 pm
78 degrees in summer and 68 in winter. If I can manage that in a ground level condo in the most uncomfortable place to live that these United States have to offer, I’d say that others can manage.
I’m tempted to move to Iceland. There’s truly nothing worse than heading out the door at 730 AM and sweating through your dress shirt before you even get to Starbucks. There is no better reason that to be skeptical of the Founders’ wisdom than the fact that they decided to build our capital city in a damned swamp.
jkkuwitzky
16 Jul 08 at 4:36 pm
Everyone here (Brooklyn) makes do with a window unit or fans. We just have a couple of fans.
Steven
16 Jul 08 at 6:25 pm
As another southerner know that you have a sympathizer, but the problem is the damn humidity. If it weren’t so humid down here, the heat would be much more manageable. We keep ours here in Chapel Hill at 78, but still pay a good amount for utilities. I feel that all of the housing here is poorly insulated, and landlords don’t usually fix it because a) college kids don’t check for stuff like that and b) why spend money to fix a place that gets trashed all the time. Another way that shows how going green is good for the economy in more than one way.
Anyways, a friend and I just started our own political blog http://www.semipolitico.com. Y’all should check it out, we have been working hard on it for the past couple days.
Thanks,
John
John D'Alessandro
16 Jul 08 at 6:52 pm
It irritates the life out of me when I go to a store and they have the doors propped open in the middle of summer because it’s so cold inside. Where’s the sense in that?
Other green ideas:
Take care of errands to and from work or school. We live 5 miles out of town so if we run out of something we just do without until our next trip in.
Take canvas bags to the grocery store and cut down on the use of those plastic shopping bags.
Give up plastic water bottles. They are taking over the landfills and require oil to make and ship.
Pam
16 Jul 08 at 9:45 pm
Sorry, but I’m using my a/c like it’s going out of style. I’m on the beach in Croatia and it’s 85-90 every single day. I’ve been in Europe all summer and I had no a/c for the first 6 weeks of that. London was fine, but Strasbourg and Munich were damned uncomfortable. Now my a/c is set for 62-68 degrees depending on the time of day. I miss a/c and i miss a cold drink where the glass is full of ice.
I don’t really care that much about the environmental impact. I’m sick and tired of being hot.
krjohns
17 Jul 08 at 5:28 am
Sell your car.
S.C. Denney
17 Jul 08 at 7:42 am
I crank my AC down to 60 all day. Sometimes I even open a door or widown cause I like a warm breeze to come through in the middle of the day. In the Winter I keep in in the 80’s.
My bottom line is this….who the hell is Joe Klein (or Barack Obama, or you for that matter) to tell me what to set my thermostat on? Do you think Americans are that stupid? If energy prices are too high, we curb use to save money. People will do what is best for their pocket books and so you have to trust them when it comes to conservation.
I’m so damn sick and tired of being told what to do by arrogant people who think they are so smart and so good for telling me to give stuff up. I will not give up my water bottles, my AC, my car, my gas, my incandecent bulbs, my plastic bags or anything else. We believe in freedom in America, not in a government that tells us what to do in our own homes.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go start my car and let it run for half an hour to get it nice and cold. Then I plan on making 28 trips back and forth to Wal-Mart (where they have no unions and the pay is low) cause I like to buy one thing at a time and have it triple bagged in plastic. I hate carrying everything at once. Good thing the house is nice and cool when I get back.
It may bother you that I feel this way…..but it’s my right, and you won’t make me feel guilty for it. Beats the hell out of box fans…
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 11:57 am
Wow, Derek. Did you miss your nap, my friend?
Way to make the rest of us environmentally conscious Americans look bad. I’m petrified that people like you represent America. Perhaps this is why we are viewed so unfavorably amongst the world’s population.
And another thing. Throwing around caustic and asinine remarks to my fellow blogger and friend, who is a very knowledgeable, earth-caring, and politically savvy person is down-right absurd. Your remarks are not only crude and unintelligible but reflect poorly upon your personal character.
Besides, she didn’t “tell you” to do anything. She recommended.
And you call yourself a Christian, Derek? My friend, I think you’re better than that.
Shame on you.
S.C. Denney
17 Jul 08 at 12:10 pm
Allow me to clarify a few things…
First off, if a few of the words I employed in my comment were offensive, I am sorry. I wrote this out of some pretty fierce frustration and I could have been more careful. Now I observe that I am not alone in using some of these words so perhaps we could call it like we see it??? Regardless, I cannot betray who I am and how I prefer to conduct discussion by behaving in that manner. I hope you will see that it was a poor choice made in the interest of being slightly more dramatic.
Now that I have satisfied my conscience let me reaffirm that I do not offer apology for the basic thrust of my comment. My comments were not aimed at Katie but rather at the “holier than thou” attitude that goes along with being environmentaly minded. When I said “you” I was refering to anyone who held this view. Obviously no one is forcing these ideas on me, but they certainly come served up with a nice side order of arrogance. That is what I was attacking. Satire anyone???
Now that we have that out of the way…I invite you to answer my argument.
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 2:14 pm
Someone might answer your argument if you actually made one. It seems all you did was rip off a talk radio style rant intended to try an get them libruls all angry. I’m not sure who you think is going to come and stop you from acting like an ass, but I’m pretty sure ignorance isn’t illegal.
jkkuwitzky
17 Jul 08 at 2:32 pm
In all seriousness, I think this is a perfect example of a disconcerting phenomenon that is all too present in the blogosphere. It seems that conservatives always feel the need to argue with their mental caricature of a pinko-commie feminist enviroNazi rather than with the actual liberal who they are allegedly trying to have a conversation with (liberals are often all too willing to return the favor). The relative anonymity of the internet seems to tempt people toward this kind of behavior, and I guess there isn’t much you can do about it other than not take that sort of act seriously.
jkkuwitzky
17 Jul 08 at 2:38 pm
And I thought this was just going to be a non-controversial, lazy summertime type blog post.
Derek, as far as answering your argument goes, of course you’ve got a right to do whatever you want. However, if everyone really had their air conditioning on 60 degrees in the summer time, your grandchildren will not have that right. If we keep using our resources like they’re going out of style, we do so at the peril of future generations.
To me, being environmentally minded has always been about stewardship. As a Christian, I try to do what I personally think is best with every aspect of what God has given me. I’ll put living on box fans in the same sort of category as giving blood: I don’t mind needles, so I’m a frequent blood donor. But if someone hates needles, he shouldn’t be forced into giving blood. Just like if somebody hates hot weather and AC is available, he can go ahead and use it.
If the environment isn’t your cup of tea, just make sure you stand up for what’s important to YOU. That way, all of the bases get covered.
By the way, it’s Karie.
Karie
17 Jul 08 at 2:45 pm
It’s a shame that the environmental issue invites so much absurdity from the right-wing opposition. There are legitimate discussions that need to be had about how to best balance business interests and environmental concerns, just like there are necessary discussions about balancing individual liberty and environmental sustainability. These discussions are impossible, however, when one side approaches the issue in such a child-like manner.
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 2:53 pm
You know Derek, you absolutely have the right to run your AC as low and as long as you want. But you have to get passed the mindset that we Americans can just gorge ourselves at the expense of the rest of the world.
America and her actions affect the well-being of the entire world. If you think we are snobbish for caring about how we affect everybody else, sorry, we just care.
Its quite funny how on social issues, liberals equate social pressure with government enforcement and the conservatives squirm, yet on economic issues conservatives do the same thing.
If you want us to believe in the free market, Derek, you have to convince us that private citizens can do the stewardship things that you are so afraid of the government doing.
Chris McNeal
17 Jul 08 at 2:59 pm
Oh and by the way, its nice being on the blog again. I’ve been pretty busy doing construction work this summer and haven’t been on the blog much.
Be sure to check out Ryan and John’s blog at http://www.semipolitico.com. They have some good stuff going on there.
Chris McNeal
17 Jul 08 at 3:01 pm
Karie’s post was about private citizens doing the right thing. I just read through it again, just to make sure, and nowhere in it does she suggest authoritarian government-enforced measures to promote environmentalism.
What do conservatives like Derek have against individual liberty, anyway? :)
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 3:03 pm
Why do you assume he’s conservative? What’s he conserving?
JH
17 Jul 08 at 3:19 pm
I want to clear a few things up.
First off, it should be known that my comments were not directed at any one person (esspecially not at Katie). I use the word “you” in the universal sense to refer to those who hold a holier than thou environmental position. I have noticed that environmenatlly minded folks tend to serve up their opinions with a side order of arrogance and that is what I was after.
I wrote this comment in a fury of frustration and I was attempting to be dramatic. In doing so I employed some words which were out of line. While I point out that I am not the only one here who has done this, it is certainly not indicitive of the way I wish to behave or dicuss issues. For that reason I apologize and ask your forgiveness.
That being said, I do not apologize for the tone, or other statements contained in my satire and I invite you to challenge me.
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 4:24 pm
oops….didn’t mean to post again…trying to work off my blackberry and it’s not doing well. Ignore the previous two posts
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 4:28 pm
I already fixed it for you. But I still don’t know what you mean by that invitation to challenge… I really don’t find any cogent arguments in any of your posts at all. Do you have a position besides advocating immature, short-sighted environmental pillaging? It’s somewhat amusing, like in a Colbert sense, but I have a feeling you aren’t being clever like that.
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 4:30 pm
Ok I think I have the technical issues straightened out now. You have all missed the point. This is satire. The point is that the logical conclusion to this green movement is that laws will be passed to dictate how we live. I strive to be a good steward of the environment God gave us but I refuse to belive that I am powerful enough ti destroy what God has created. My issue is the pride with which greenies talk about what they’re doing for the environment. There is a huge level of arrogance behind all the suggestions that we are under moral obligation to sacrifice our comfort so that we can feel less ashamed around our European friends. The logical end of this thinking is taxes a regulation on business and citizens. I am against that …plain and simple.
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 4:44 pm
This discussion is awesome.
JH
17 Jul 08 at 4:49 pm
“I strive to be a good steward of the environment God gave us but I refuse to believe that I am powerful enough ti destroy what God has created.”
How do I argue with this? Other than saying that’s scapegoating.
Furthermore, how do I argue with someone who is too stubborn and arrogant to sacrifice his igloo of a house to save on energy costs? You’re getting comfort, liberty, and civic responsibility all mixed up in a cluster of a poor argument.
I’m with everyone else, I’m not sure what you’re arguing.
S.C. Denney
17 Jul 08 at 4:50 pm
Woah, that was satire about the 28 trips to Walmart?
You only think that the logical conclusion after holding opinions like Klein’s or Karie’s is to tax and regulate. That is because you are obviously operating out of a very authoritarian political paradigm where everything is black and white and people should be forced to do the right thing. I don’t think that is logical at all.
Derek, I find it amusing that you mention “arrogance,” especially in the context of a suggestion that some private citizens may choose to give up some minor comforts for a greater cause. Your (singular and plural) arrogance in the entire environmental issue is astounding. You are arrogant enough to believe that Americans deserve the right to consume more energy, emit more pollution, and destroy the environment more than any other people on the planet. You are arrogant enough to believe that nothing we do can ever permanently damage the environment. In addition to being arrogant, it appears that you (singular and plural) are singularly uninformed on this issue.
All that being said, I did find your original comments amusing in the same way that I really love the Colbert Report. But I can only take so much of either before it makes sense to talk about the issues that matter in a serious way.
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 5:01 pm
My energy costs are my business…that’s the whole point. If you want to turn of the AC, good for you. If I don’t want to, good for me. The judgemental attitude you exhibit is the most troubling factor in all of this. You conserve and think you’re wonderful. I choose to live comfortably and I’m a jerk. Give me a break
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 5:04 pm
You don’t judge people who disagree with you on any issues? Same-sex marriage, abortion, corporate taxes, health care… really? Maybe we should all be more like you.
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 5:08 pm
Lets not pretend that there is a solution to the climate issue that doesn’t involve some kind of government regulation. Derek is right. Under the next administration (regardless of who wins the election), there is going to be some kind of cap and trade regime (I’d prefer an actual carbon tax, but that’s another discussion I’m not sure some here could handle).
On his general point (now that we seem to have finally pinpointed it)… laws are passed to “dictate how we live” all the time. Thats what laws do. Unless you are some sort of Rothbardian libertarian (which I’m fairly certain you aren’t), then your points about “freedom” are little more than ignorant solipsism masquerading as intellectual certainty. People disagree on the types of laws they want to see enacted. The vast majority of laws and proposed laws that are bandied about these days are well within the mainstream of political thought. Are there environmental extremists? Absolutely, just as there are implacable maniacs on the fringes of almost every issue we face. Choosing to argue with an absent extremist shows a lack of interest in the actual subject.
Lastly, regarding the sentence Steven excerpted above, I’ve heard this line of argument before and I’m genuinely fascinated by it. Are you saying that god (who, for the record, I do not believe exists, but that is irrelevant to this discussion) would intervene to prevent a man-made calamity that would otherwise destroy the earth? Or that man is actually incapable of destroying god’s creation? I would think that nuclear weapons would render that idea so laughably absurd that no one could possible hold it, but I’ve been surprised before when god gets involved. I really am interested in what you meant by that.
jkkuwitzky
17 Jul 08 at 5:31 pm
The Carbon Tax vs. Cap and Trade debate is extremely interesting. I hope we can explore that issue some on this blog soon. I’m sure you’ll be around for it, Kolby, and since you’ve already taken your side, maybe I should advocate the opposite just to be consistently inconsistent.
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 5:44 pm
Why would we want to agree? That would be booooring.
jkkuwitzky
17 Jul 08 at 5:49 pm
I’ll have to brush up on the current stuff and find some articles to link, but last time I looked into it, I was convinced that the Cap and Trade system was better primarily because of its ability to be worked into international agreements better than a Carbon Tax.
David M. Manes
17 Jul 08 at 5:58 pm
In brief, I’m convinced that a direct carbon tax is simpler, less corruptible, more easily calculated, and cheaper/less bureaucratic than cap and trade. In the end, they are pretty much the same thing, except that one has the word tax in it (making it much scarier). Our eventual discussion of this seems destined to involve numbers and charts. That makes me sad.
jkkuwitzky
17 Jul 08 at 6:13 pm
Are you a better Christian than me simply because you conserve energy? Does the conservation make a significant difference? You say you’re proud to keep the temp up at home…should I be ashamed cause I don’t?
I think the real disagreement here is because I reject the premise of man-made global warming. I believe that if conservation and alternative fuels are cost effective and profitable then we’ll get off of oil. Until then we must stop subsidising energy phantoms like wind solar and biofuel. We have got to stop confusing energy policy and environmental policy.
p.s. I’m glad you appreciate my humor at least somewhat David. I didn’t mean it like Colbert would but I was trying to demonstrate absurdity by being absurd.
Derek Glover
17 Jul 08 at 8:14 pm
Annnnnnd…… scene.
jkkuwitzky
17 Jul 08 at 8:40 pm
I wouldn’t step out to say that they are calling themselves “better Christians” Derek… but I would venture to say that they are certainly more considerate of their fellow man and future generations to come…
And that is their choice. You have obviously made yours.
Stephanie O'Brian
17 Jul 08 at 9:18 pm
I hate to get back on this, but it’s hot in Croatia. I haven’t had a/c for 6 weeks. I want to be nice and cool when I get back to my room from the sweltering heat. I therefore turn up my a/c. Maybe I should be looking to the future and turn it up in the summer and down in the winter. And I do at home. I ran my heater 3 days last winter. (In Indianapolis, no less.) There was no need for it on the second floor of my building. I keep my a/c at a reasonable temp (70-74) but that’s when I have an American a/c that works. The bottom line for me is this: I don’t like to be hot. If I can avoid that through other means, so be it, but if a/c is all I’ve got, that’s what I use.
krjohns
18 Jul 08 at 2:16 am
Have you had any beer there, yet, Kyle?
David M. Manes
18 Jul 08 at 3:00 am
Again I feel the need to state that I reject the notion that energy use now is harmful to future generations. As time goes on the free market will lend itself to the creation of cleaner and more efficient types of energy. I’m all for research, conservation and the like. But I want the market to dictate that need and not arroant, elitist politicians. Extremist or not, what all of you are advocating seems to end at the same place. “People aren’t capable of making the right choice so we’ll let legislators make it for them”. I think people are smart enough to make markets work and we have to be smart enough to let them.
You think gas is high now? Pass cap and trad or a carbon tax and tell me what you think about the price. I want cleaner cheaper energy…but I want a free market too and the liberal idea have yet to combine both.
Derek Glover
18 Jul 08 at 2:57 pm
Your hands-over-your-eyes faith in the free market is just as cute as your identical faith that God would never let people permanently damage the planet. However, neither of those beliefs make any sense at all.
The market can do a lot of things, but it is not perfect, and only ideologues or the pathetically uninformed could have such blind faith in it. Free markets are notoriously short-sighted (hence bubbles and recessions) and fickle. The free market needs additional encouragement to move in the direction of renewable, sustainable energy that can help secure our needs for the future and to ignore that is sort of like how GWB ignored the looming terrorist threat until 9/11 hit him square in the face. We don’t have to be 100% reactionary with this one because we can see the end of oil in the future and we can see the beginnings of environmental depredation right now.
David M. Manes
18 Jul 08 at 3:02 pm
Please give me an example of a short-sighted market? Most of what you call fickle behavior is normal but any major issues are fairly quickly corrected. The test of a good economy is one that can be easily predicted. We have that and any disruption (such as the slowdown we are in the midst of) can usually be attributed to over reaction by government.
My blind trust of the market is founded in history and fact…unlike the blind trust liberals have for government to produce benifical results.
I choose to conserve energy. But it’s not because it is a moral obligation or because my kids need me too. It’s not because politicians or journalists or liberals say we should. It’s because it makes sense to my pocket book…just as it should be.
This isn’t like lying or committing adultery. It’s economics, and the market can take care of our energy and environment…moral elitism cannot.
Derek Glover
18 Jul 08 at 11:58 pm