Stan Cox thinks the excessive use of air conditioning can bring problematic consequences. Cox argues usage of air conditioners in everyday life can be fatal. Its usage should be limited in the premise of hospitals, archives, and cooling centers.
The air conditioner reduces humidity, busts electricity- bill and fills the atmosphere. So it's wrong to use air conditioners everywhere.
Cox advocates for A.C free Washington because excessive use of A.C can cause long summer business hours at work. They don't have to carry sweaters or space heaters to work in summer. A.C free Washington would take back ceiling fans, window fans, and desk fans. After the absence of A.C ceiling fans, window fans, and desk fans take back and for that matter, paperweights will be brought back to America as they may get blown away by the air produced by fans.
At home, it creates renovation and new constructions like high ceilings, better cross ventilation and most of all home utility bills plummet.
In urban areas, people spend more time outdoors. Neighborhoods start to socialize. There are more people outside, streets in high- crime areas become safer. Deaths from heat decline. People look out for one another during heat waves, checking in their most vulnerable neighbors. As a result, elderly people don't die inside sweltering apartments. Children and others take bikes and scooters, because of the cooling effect of air movement. In the absence of infectious gases, green plants get sprouted on the roofs. The layers of soil and vegetation insulate interiors from the pounding sun and water from the plants provide evaporate cooling.
While discussing the positive effects of reducing the use of air conditioning Cox ignores the negative effects. He doesn't think about the situation when some of the crucial normal activities get inactivated.
If the government keeps adjourning to formulate laws, policies, and schemes, that creates a lack of time to explore them adequately. Consequently, more resources will be required that increases expenditures.
Aside from hospitals, archives, and cooling centers, I think there are other facilities and groups who need air conditioning are the people working in a mass like in classrooms, conference rooms in hotels, and hostels.
Cox says that air conditioning uses a lot of energy; running air conditioners burns fossil fuels, which emits greenhouse gases that raise global temperatures, which in turn increases the need for air conditioning. He believes that air conditioning should be used more sparingly.
Cox says that reduced air conditioning use in Washington would result in more flexible work schedules (businesses, including governmental ones, closing and adjusting for heat), renovation for buildings to better accommodate heat, decreased use of heat-generating appliances, and increased socialization resulting from time outside. These changes could apply to other towns and cities across the country as well.
Reducing air conditioning use could be difficult for people who do not tolerate heat well; they may feel as if they are confined to spaces that have air conditioning and have difficulty functioning during the summer. This could also pose problems for pets who are intolerant to heat.
Grocery stores, pet stores, animal shelters, care facilities, factories, and gyms would all need air conditioning. People who are sensitive to heat, such as the elderly, those with disabilities, and young children should be able to use air conditioning freely as well.
Without air conditioning, people would make use of alternative cooling devices, like fans. Since fans create an air current, people would need to begin using paperweights to keep their papers from blowing off their desks.
Many people have grown quite used to air-conditioning and cannot imagine life without it; it has helped make summers much more comfortable and it is hard to deny these benefits. For Cox to suggest that this comfort should be taken away is a challenging idea for many people, especially since his tone is very idealistic and treats this decrease as a very simple task. This, combined with how difficult it is to fully grasp the impacts of air conditioning on global warming, explains the outrage this article generated.
Cox's essay was published during an intense heat wave; there was probably an enormous amount of air conditioning use around him during this time that prompted him to write this essay.
Cox was born just in time to watch air conditioning rise in popularity; he has been able to see first-hand how its use has evolved over time as it spread from hospitals and businesses to individual homes. Judging by the way he speaks about energy usage contributing to global warming in his first few paragraphs, climate change is likely an issue that was already on the author's mind.
I agree with Cox's statement here. Even though I certainly am guilty of the lavish use he describes, I do believe I could get by if I reserved A.C. use for only the hottest days. His use of the word "lavish" shows that he sees excessive air conditioning as selfish and those who overuse it as spoiled; this is his bias. This word, in my opinion, does not weaken his thesis. It is a good word to describe what he means. He is not suggesting that air conditioning should be done away with altogether, but he does think that we have reached a point where we are using it more than we need to.
In his quote, Baker cites the relief felt by both the nation and lobbyists when Congress was forced to adjourn during the summer heat. He also raises a point about how costly it is to maintain congress with the air conditioning running at full blast.
Cox likely is thinking about a less extreme version of what he is describing. His tone is extremely optimistic; it would be foolish for someone to genuinely believe that a world like the one he describes is possible. Cox's choice to exaggerate like he did was a way to list as many benefits of reducing A.C. as possible in an attempt to persuade the reader.
This essay focuses on the effects of reducing air conditioning usage. The focus on effects is indicated by phrases like "In a world without air conditioning," (pg 345) "with the right to open a window,"(pg 345) "With more people spending more time outdoors,"(pg 346), and "because of the cooling effect" (pg 346).
The scenario Cox is describing is a very optimistic one, almost excessively so. It can be difficult to imagine a world in which all of the things Cox discusses actually happen. His use of the present tense makes the effects he discusses feel more immediate and vivid; they seem more plausible in this tense. He could have used the future tense, but his choice to use the present tense was more unexpected, which helps make his writing more interesting.
Cox's closing statement was intended to reinforce his idea that reducing air conditioning use would lead to more time outside as well as a more environmentally-friendly world; he is imagining the very consumerist-oriented environment of the mall being replaced by a nature reserve.
This statement is consistent with the rest of his essay, which imagines an alternate reality where such changes are widespread. His use of this statement as a conclusion is an effective choice because it serves as a symbol for the rest of his ideas.
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